The Importance Of Access To The Media

Screen use can be an essential learning tool for our children. Things such as computers and tablets have many things to offer. One argument people may make, is that there is bad content that children may be exposed to online. The screen use; however, is not the problem. It is the content. More media

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children under the age of two years have no screen time, with the exception of video chatting. Children younger than two benefit from a hands-on learning approach, therefore, introducing them to a digital device takes away time they need to be socially interactive to develop their cognitive, language, motor, and social-emotional skills. By the age of two, and through the preschool aged years it is recommended that children have no more than 1 ½ hours of screen time per week, and that screen time should be monitored to ensure it is educational as well as age appropriate. There are even television channels and computer applications that are dedicated to creating educational, engaging, and enjoyable content for such young viewers, however, it should be noted that

Add to this study a statistic from the Official Journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics “75% of teenagers now own cell phones, 25% use them for social media, 54% use them for texting, and 24% of them use them for instant messaging” (Gwenn Schurgin O'Keeffe). We have an entire generation that is developing socially and emotionally while “plugged-in”. This negative effect is not only caused by just internet use and cell phones, our old friend the television is causing us harm as well. With the invent of newer ways to deliver television shows, the ability to better record television shows, and watch “on demand” shows it shouldn’t be shocking to know that according to Neilson Ratings the average American household watches “5 hours and 11 minutes of television a day” (Who Watches What (and How Much)? U.S. TV Trends by Ethnicity). Psychologists have proven that too much television has been shown to “hamper development of the pre-frontal cortex -- the area of the brain responsible for planning, organizing and sequencing behavior for self-control, moral judgment and attention” (Abell) there should be no doubt that this fact and the fact that nearly “1 in 10 children in America have been

Technology has been part of our daily live more frequently than before. Screen time has been more popularly used on kids and adolescents. On a daily bases many kids seem to spend more time inside on their tablets, instead of having to spend time with other kids. This is a problem that is becoming more popular over the years,on whether kids need to spend that much time on technology or not. Parents either seem to have strict technology usage, or they either don’t. There has always been a huge controversy with experts, who either think that screen time is beneficial or could cause problems later on in life. There are many views towards this topic, from hurting kids brains, to helping them during school, and socially.

Many parents are becoming concerned with the increased amount of time, children of all ages are using technology. They think that spending less time using media would be healthy. The AAP is proposing that a two-hour limit of screen time for teenagers would provide those health benefits, however, most teens would find this limit impractical and unhelpful in their daily lives. Adults and children alike can learn new educational skills with the help of different apps, programs, and articles available through electronics.

While some young people utilize technology to create great content such as music, literature, or coding, it has created a budding effect of a generation that is obsessed with consumption. The truth is the majority of youth’s time has been excessively dedicated to passive activities like watching tv or online videos, gaming and scrolling through social media. According to Common Sense Media, when it’s summed up America’s youth is using an average of 6 hours of media daily, not counting for school or homework. That is a massive chunk stolen from a child’s day and the effects can be extremely damaging. It is leading the young generation of today to become overstimulated, over-scheduled and under pressure to perform both academically and beyond

The purpose of the research article from the scholarly journal Childhood Education (2014) is to discuss the arguments currently surrounding the topic of media, technology, and screen time (MeTS) and its use with young children, and create an international dialogue on what steps should be taken in the future on how to responsibly use MeTS in a way that is productive and developmentally appropriate. The authors first discuss what global issues currently stand referring to MeTS, citing statistics of television, video game, and computer exposure among young children (children younger than 6). It is described that in the United States alone, “83% of children under 6 years old use…two hours with a television and DVD player, 1 hour with video

With a click of a button, one can gain access to a world of material. The media consumes society thanks to its extreme accessibility. “On average, 45 percent of our waking hours are spent with media (an average of 7 hours and 5 minutes), and by using more than one kind of media at the same time, we cram in an average of 8 hours and 48 minutes media time every day” (Meikle and Young). Applications such as Instagram and Facebook allow a flow of information between continents, cultures, generation, and genders. Parents will have their children sit in front of the television or on smartphones for hours to keep them occupied. These children grow up watching the fake reality of television shows and mainstream

Children from two years old to the age of ten years old can be effected in a negative way. Sometimes parents give their children a tablet or their cell phone to entertain them while they try and get something important done. Sometimes they are out in public and their child is being too loud so they pull out the phone and let them watch T.V. on it so they can become quiet. The American Academy of Pediatrics explains, “Screens are distractions, not tools to soothe children. Television is not a “babysitter,” so parents should enforce rules about media use” (Roman). From the start of a child 's life parents should be careful about letting kids have the ability to watch too much tv or spend too much time staring at any type of technology. Parents tend to use their technology to keep

Nancy Shute from U.S. News and World Report states in her article ‘3 Ways Electronic Media Harm Kids’ Health and 3 Ways They Can Help’ “A dozen studies have correlated TV in the early years with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) later in childhood.” Kids today spend more hours on electronic devices such as computers, phones, and TV than sleeping. Having young children watch certain TV shows posed as a positive effect for the brain. However, with recent studies from China, it shows that no matter the affect having a lot of electronic experience is bad for the body. In “Screen Addiction Is Taking a Toll on Children”, Jane E. Brody argues that, although Internet addiction isn’t considered a clinical diagnoses here, more American youths are plugged out of “live” action for many hours of the day.

Instead of using a videogame system or tablet to keep them entertained, they were exercising not only their bodies, but also their imaginations. Cris Rowan, author for The Huffington Post, stated in her article “The Impact of Technology on the Developing Child” that “A 2010 Kaiser Foundation study showed that elementary aged children use on average 7.5 hours per day of entertainment technology, 75 percent of these children have TV’s in their bedrooms, and 50 percent of North American homes have the TV on all day.” Today’s generation of kids are glued to these devices and heavily rely on them to keep them entertained. Unfortunately, parents have not helped this issue become any better: instead, they are quick to hand their toddler a phone or tablet in order to keep them “occupied” and out of their ways. It’s no surprise either that children are this way considering the recent boom in technological developments and further societal integrations. But is the introduction of technology of any kind at a young age as beneficial as it is put out to be? Today’s generation of kids, referred to as “glow kids”, is suffering from the overuse of technology in their daily lives. Children's emotional, social, and physical developments are being majorly hindered due to the increased integration of technology within their daily lives that is distributed by parents and

Unlike previous generations who were “introduced” to the internet, television and social media, the present generation is “born” in it. By this statement, it is implied that children today are much closer to technology and media than adults are, and so, are more likely to be affected by it. Perhaps, the highest impact on the physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development of children and adolescents is by media due to its ready availability through Smart phones, tablet PCs and other portable devices. This paper attempts to evaluate some of the influences of media on various aspects of child and adolescent development.

It is widely believed by many that the ever-increasing proliferation of technology within entertainment has had detrimental effects on those children exposed to them, with many youngsters forgoing the more traditional pursuits in favour of digital interaction with online acquaintances or artificial intelligence. Entertainment now contains a wide variety of technologies including television (standard or interactive), music, computers, games consoles, toys and the internet, to name but a few. The aim of this study is to identify whether these technologies have an impact on the behaviour of children in either a negative or positive aspect.

The worth of media is a very controversial topic. Media has given us the ability to do things in new and creative ways such as how we learn and accomplish our everyday tasks. However, we do not always know how to interpurate this information. The technology available today is constantly impacting and influencing society in tremendous ways. Many of the impacts that are accocated with media are addressed in negative ways, but can be seen from a positive perspective as well. In the current generation, media and its influences can be found everywhere. These influences widely impact today’s adolescents and maturing teenagers because they are still developing into adults. Medias purpose is not only to inform us, but to allow us to mold ourselves in how we want to be perceived online. Also, it allows us easy access to unbelievable amounts of information. Living in an era known as the “information age” is riveting, but what are we suppose to do with all of this new technology and information?

There is no doubt that when it comes to American youth television is one of the biggest influences by far. Many parents would love to say that their child does not watch that much TV but in reality they are spending a lot of time watching television or using media in some way. “The study by the Kaiser Family foundation shows that children ages 2-8 spend an average of 5 ½ hours a day “consuming media” kids 8 and older spend even more time in front of the tube nearly 6 ¾ hours a day” (Kaiser Family Foundation, 2005 ). Astonishingly, more time is being spent with media then doing homework, studying or even spending time with family. A child’s retention of what