preview

Effects of Media on Children Essay

Good Essays

Introduction When was the last time you used the internet, watched television, read a magazine, read a newspaper, or even listened to the radio? The answer for most would be: not much. The media has carefully made its way into our everyday lives, and even made its use almost necessary. It is safe to say than an average person is exposed to the media several times a day. However, how many times have you actually paused and thought about its effects on us? Most would say: rarely, or close to never. More than that, have you thought about its effects on our children? How is media today affecting little Suzy, or baby Johnny? Living in the twenty first century, it is vital to think about various effects that we are encountered to. Many …show more content…

Those who watched the specific educational programs frequently gained more skills than those who did not. On top of that, frequent viewers of informative programs at age 5 had higher high school grades in English, math, and science than infrequent viewers. (Huston & Wright, 1998) Furthermore, having a wide audience, media is able to spread information vastly, helping campaigns raise awareness on various issues. Media campaigns have been reputedly employed to inform the communities about different issues. In addition, media campaigns offer the extensive spreading of information to the public with nominal costs. Media campaigns generally aim to reform knowledge, awareness, and attitudes on public issues, aiding the fundamental goal of positive behavioral changes. Evidence exists that media can positively affect the public. (Self-Brown & Rheingold & Campbell & Arellano, 2008) Another point is that pro-social games manifest their effects in children’s everyday life. The General Learning Model conducted studies in three different cultures ( USA, Singapore, Japan), using three different age groups, and three different study designs to test the hypothesis of whether media affects pro-social behavior or not. It was shown that students who played more pro-social games behaved more pro-socially. (Liau, Khoo, Bushman, Huesmann, Sakamoto, Gentil, Anderson, Yukawa,

Get Access