Children and Media

In today’s society children are becoming more connected to the media than ever before. With so many entertainment mediums available, children are continuously being bombarded with both advertisements and messages, some of which are positive, however many of which are negative. Many of these messages have led children to wrongly believe that being rich, famous and beautiful is most important. Find out more about how the media influences children below.

In order to help combat the negative effects of the media, parents can help their children in a number of ways:

• Talk to your children about what they see on the computer or television. By encouraging them to think critically and be sceptical about what they see, they may become more inclined to think critically about other aspects of their lives in the future.
• Resist putting a computer or television in your child’s bedroom. Instead, place such items in more public areas of your home. This way, your child will not watch indiscriminately, and you will know exactly what is being watched.
• Ask your children to tell you what they like best about the people in their lives. By having your children make a list of these qualities, you can compare them to the most commonly liked qualities of celebrities (e.g. rich, famous), and demonstrate that most people are not liked purely for superficial reasons.
• Make sure you remain informed about the types of media that your children are viewing. By staying current, you will be able to have intelligent conversations with your children about the messages and content that they are being exposed to.