Today I am encouraged by the AAP’s (American Academy of Pediatrics) new statement on media use. For years, the AAP has recommended no screen-time for children under the age of two, and the new statement covers children of all ages, including teens. More and more studies are showing a correlation between media content (music lyrics and images, television programs, video games, etc) and dangerous, unhealthy behaviors in children and teenagers. The statement calls for pediatricians to take more active role in the media-lives of their patients.
“Pediatricians and other child healthcare providers can advocate for a safer media environment for children by encouraging media literacy, more thoughtful and proactive use of media by children and their parents, more responsible portrayal of violence by media producers, and more useful and effective media ratings,” the authors said.
The findings are published in the November issue of Pediatrics. Click here to read more.
For me, having many allies in the fight to get hold of media-influences on children’s development is a welcome and necessary step. As a classroom teacher, I’ve met kids who were growing up too fast, and were highly influenced by the media images aimed at older children. Not having the mental-health or medical background to help these students – at times I needed to find medical professionals to help. From those experiences, I know that parents and teachers need more help to teach and raise healthy kids in the current plugged-in, media-saturated world. Music, media and technology are changing at such a rapid pace that it is hard to keep up with what your kids are watching and listening to – especially as they get older – and kids are bombarded with images even when we try to protect them. Pediatricians can be a much-needed ally, and are now being advised to ask media-based questions during annual check-ups, and to recommend other forms of healthy entertainment. Excellent!
The report offers further suggestions. They make perfect sense. In some ways, they are incredibly obvious, but nonetheless it is good to have them formalized. Here are some:
Taking these findings into consideration, the authors recommended that pediatricians do the following:
- Become familiar with the role of music in the lives of children and adolescents and identify music preferences that could be clues to emotional conflict or problems.
- Become familiar with the literature linking music to behavioral problems.
- Explore with patients and parents the type of music to which they listen.
- Encourage parents to take an active role in monitoring their youngsters’ music and music video watching.
- Encourage parents and caregivers to become media literate.
- Help raise public awareness of these issues by participating in local and national coalitions to discuss the effects of music on children.
The group also made the following recommendations:
- Parents and public should be aware of and use the music industry’s parental advisory warning of explicit content.
- Performers should serve as positive role models for children and teens.
- The music video industry should produce more videos with more positive themes about relationships, racial harmony, drug avoidance, nonviolent conflict resolution, sexual abstinence, pregnancy prevention, and avoidance of promiscuity.
In other good news, the Disney company’s offer to refund parents who purchased Baby Einstein videos actually made the front page of the NY Times!
Geralyn –
Have your read Dr. Elkind's blog this week? It's right up your alley!
http://www.justaskbaby.com/blogs/professor-elkind/the-webkinz-scam
Enjoy!
Thanks, Harmony! Dr. Elkind's piece about Webkins confirms my feelings about the toy/site. It is excellent.