raj's report

Effect of Advertisement on Children

Seminar Report submitted for Requirements for the Degree ofSeminar Report submitted for Requirements for the Degree of

MBA

ByBy

Rajveer Singh

Under the Supervision of

Dr. R. Shringi

DEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIESDEPARTMENT OF MANAGEMENT STUDIESUNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING

RAJASTHAN TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY, KOTA

MAY 2010

Acknowledgment

For all we would like to express our deep gratitude to the

Master of the Day of Judgment, who enabled us to reap the

fruits of our efforts in an effective way.

Our healthy gratitude and sincere thanks to our devoted course

instructor “Miss Wajiha Kazim”, who has always been a source

of guidance for us. It would have been impossible for us to

complete such a comprehensive report on our own.

There are also some others who assisted us for this

achievement, especially our Parents and friends. So we also

are very grateful to them.

Effects of advertisement on Children

Executive Summary

How media affects the children is undoubtly one of the hottest issues all over the world.

The main focus of this term paper is on “Impact of Media on Children”. In this report we have

mainly discussed electronic media especially in terms of television and games. We have also

briefly focused on the impacts on advertisement on kids.

We added some charts and graphs showing the time children spend with different types of

media and also one showing the opinions of parents regarding impacts of media on their

children.

We have also recommended some ways to maximize media’s positive effects on children

and minimize the negative ones.

To sum it all we have described how the researchers actually concluded this issue and then

we also added our suggestions on the issue.

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Table of ContentsTable of Contents

CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION

“CHILD”..................................................................................................................................... 8

BIOLOGICAL DEFINITION................................................................................................................8

“MEDIA”.....................................................................................................................................8

CHAPTER 2. EFFECT OF ADVERTISEMENT

Chapter 3. Positive Effect

EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM.................................................................................................12

MAKES A CHILD FEEL MORE CONFIDENT.........................................................................13

BRAIN DEVELOPMENT......................................................................................................13

ENHANCE IMAGINATION AND CREATIVITY..........................................................................13

POSITIVE EFFECTS OF CARTOON.....................................................................................14

HELPS IMPROVE VOCABULARY AND LEARN NEW LANGUAGES..........................................15

STATUS AND ROLE..........................................................................................................15

DEVELOP PARENT-CHILDREN RELATIONSHIP....................................................................16

EFFECT OF COMPUTER AND VIDEO GAMES......................................................................16

SOURCE OF ENTERTAINMENT...........................................................................................18

CHAPTER 4. NEGATIVE EFFECTS..........................................................................................2

PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECT...................................................................................................2

UNHELPFUL CARTOONS.....................................................................................................3

ADVERTISEMENT................................................................................................................3

IMPACT OF HORROR MOVIES AND CARTOONS....................................................................5

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IMPACT OF MEDIA’S PORTRAYAL OF PERSONALITIES.........................................................5

MEDIA EXPOSE EVERY THING TO CHILDREN.......................................................................6

MOVIES INSPIRE CHILDREN TO SMOKE,USE OF LOOSE LANGUAGE AND BEHAVIOR............6

OBESITY............................................................................................................................6

POOR ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE.......................................................................................7

MEDIA & VIOLENCE............................................................................................................8

CHAPTER 5. STEPS TO MAXIMIZE POSITIVE AND MINIMIZE NEGATIVE MEDIA

EFFECTS................................................................................................................................... 9

PARENT RATINGS ON EFFECTS OF MEDIA: 2006..............................................................11

Conclusion.............................................................................................................................. 11

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Chapter 1. Introduction

Electronic media have long been criticized for their potential impact on children. With respect

to children, we emphasize the importance of content in mediating the effect of television on

cognitive skills and academic achievement. In today's fast paced world we have allowed the

media to become the leading touch of persuasion. The media is technology’s most powerful

tool. Unfortunately it does not always teach positive lessons to our children. It has provided the

opportunity for children to distort reality into fallacies using such sources as television, music,

video games and a number of new aged gadgets that we consider indispensable. For over

thousands of today's children the media has gained the power to, in fact, becomes the other

parent. We’ll try to summarize the literature review, relevant research, articles, and studies

from different newspaper and provide suggestions for maximizing the positive effects of media

and minimizing the negative effects. The consumer in this era is in target of massive media

attacks effectively planned, and enlighten with glamour as per the emotions, needs, wants and

demands of the consumers. Marketers and companies are spending billions of dollars on

consumer research and to know the important factors involved in consumer decision making.

While talking about the marketing mix now a days marketers main focus is on designing

persuasive messages/commercials to attract the target customers. Because the major chunk

of the population and among all consumption of household a considerable portion is of children

Products. So marketers are focusing and trying to attract and influence the children by

designing ads that are considerably attractive for children and persuasive enough for their

emotional attachment with the product. While common notion is that the mother is the targeted

customer for marketers of baby care industry. This notion is quit logical but now media and

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marketers are succeeded enough to generate emotional attachment of children with the

products so that they can insist on purchasing the specific product for their use.

This concept has created a war of massive attacks on children of this age and forced to

conscious people of society about the negative impacts of these massive advertising attacks

on children memory and behavior.

Especially, the media, advertising and entertainment industries, collectively known as mass

media, are powerful because they penetrate every segment of modern-day society and

effectively influence how consumers view themselves, their neighbors, communities and the

world. Although the mass media denotes outlets beyond newspapers, radio and television, and

the scope of media influence now extends to digital spectrum, cable and satellite technology

and the internet, it remains a fact that the TV is the single major and foremost communicator of

our times. As the world has global village so now through our electronic media, access to all

international channels is also easy. All these factors have contributed in the increasing

aggressive attitude in youth as they see violence on electronic media in one form or another.

The media, now a day, is promoting violent culture, which leave a deep impact on youth. It has

caused the aggression and violence of youth instead of promotion of peace and harmony.

According to, American Academy for Pediatrics Committee on Communications (AAPCC,

1995). Media violence can lead to aggressive behavior in youth. Over 1,000 studies confirm

this link. It also says that Media violence is especially damaging to young children (under age

8) because they cannot easily tell the difference between real life and fantasy. Violent images

on television and in

Movies may seem real to young children. Viewing these images can upset them. Media

violence affects children by increasing their fear of becoming victims. Making them less

sensitive to violence and to victims of violence. Increasing their appetite for more violence in

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entertainment and in real life. Media violence often fails to show the consequences of violence.

This is especially true of cartoons, toy commercials and music videos. As a result, children

learn that there is few if any repercussion for committing violent acts.

“Child”

A child is most often defined as a young human being between birth and puberty; a boy or girl.

The legal definition of "child" generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger

than the age of majority. "Child" may also describe a relationship with a parent or authority

figure, or signify group membership in a clan, tribe, or religion; or it can signify being strongly

affected by a specific time, place, or circumstance, as in "a child of nature" or "a child of the

Sixties."

Biological definitionBiological definition

Biologically, a child is “anyone in the developmental stage of childhood, between infancy and

adulthood”.

In this term paper we consider a person child from “toddler to age 12”

“Media”

In general, "media" refers to various means of communication. For example, television, radio,

and the newspaper are different types of media. The term can also be used as a collective

noun for the press or news reporting agencies. In the computer world, "media" is also used as

a collective noun, but refers to different types of data storage options.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adulthood

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childhood

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parent


We are discussing media mainly in terms of television and games.

New Study Finds Children Age Zero to Six Spend As Much

Time With TV, Computers and Video Games As Playing

Outside

“One in four children under two have a TV in their bedroom

Children in “heavy” TV households are less likely to read

Parents believe in educational value of TV and computers”

Even the very youngest children in world are growing up immersed in media, spending hours a

day watching TV and videos, using computers and playing video games, according to a new

study released today by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Children six and under spend

an average of two hours a day using screen media (1:58), about the same amount of time they

spend playing outside (2:01), and well over the amount they spend reading or being read to

(39 minutes).

Chapter 2. Effect of Advertisement

Impact on children's health

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Result of a study showing average hours Spend by children each day with different types of media


The 1995 National Nutrition Survey found an alarming proportion of children consuming non-

nutritious foods and not enough children consuming healthy foods. The non-nutritious foods

consumed by children, e.g. hamburgers, pizza, confectionery, soft drinks, are also those

promoted heavily during children's TV viewing times. (Australian Bureau of Statistics and

Department of Health and Family Services, Commonwealth of Australia, 1999)

At the same time, the number of Australian children who are overweight or obese is rapidly

increasing. (Magarey, Daniels and Boulton, 2001)

Pester power increases

Children are very powerful influencers of family purchases of everything from the breakfast

cereals to the evening meal choices. See MacNeal, 1992.

Many products advertised on television are displayed in the supermarket at child's eye level.

Pester power works.

Young children are influenced to want

Sophisticated and aggressive techniques are used in marketing to children. Techniques used

by television food advertisers include prizes, giveaways, animation, special effects, story

vignettes, jingles, and popular personalities. The predominant messages directed to children

are related to having fun, being cool and the food being tasty. (Hill and Radimer, 1997; Morton,

1990; Australian Broadcasting Tribunal, 1982)

Young children (under the age of eight years) are very susceptible to advertisements (See

related topic Overview of the effects of advertising directed at children). If an advertisement for

a product attracts their interest, they will ask for it even if it is a product for which they have no

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need or use. (There's the story of the five year old boy who was asked what he would choose if

he had just one wish. His answer was "A Tampax, because if I had that I could swim, ride a

horse or do anything")

Children get the message to eat fatty, salty, sugary and fast foods

The messages for food ads on TV are encouraging children to the view that what's good to eat

is "good for them". In fact, television food ads during children's viewing times disproportionately

promote foods of low nutritional value-foods high in fat, sugar or salt. The proportion of ads

promoting non-nutritious foods range from 50-84%, and average 72%. The largest categories

of foods advertised tend to be chocolate and confectionery, fast food restaurants and

sweetened breakfast cereals. (Hill and Radimer, 1997)

Thus, we can classify the effect of advertisement in two categories:

1. Positive effect

2. Negative effect

Chapter 3. Positive effects

Electronic media is a central focus of many very young children's lives, used by parents to help

manage busy schedules, keep the peace, and facilitate family routines such as eating,

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relaxing, and falling asleep, according to a new national study by the Kaiser Family

Foundation. Many parents also express satisfaction with the educational benefits of TV and

how it can teach positive behaviors.

Media have certain positive effects. These are given below.

Educational programEducational program

By watching educational TV children at every age learn so many things. Infants and toddlers

start learning different words, objects and their meanings. Math puzzles and many other

activities enhance children’s decision power and mental ability. Baby TV is very popular now a

day among children

The research found that there is evidence to suggest that educational television programs,

such as Sesame Street and Mister Rogers, can aid in the acquisition of general knowledge

plus improve overall cognitive knowledge among young children.

Dimitri Christakis cites studies in which those who watched "Sesame Street" and other

educational programs as preschoolers had higher grades, were reading more books, placed

more value on achievement and were more creative. Quiz programs like “KBC” or “Are you

smarter than a fifth grader?” are also very popular among school going children.

When a kid watches TV in his very early age, he learns many things before going school. He

takes up things easily and tries to learn how to speak and conduct himself.

To sum up TV is pre-school for toddler and early age kids.

Makes a Child feel more confidentMakes a Child feel more confident

While watching their favorite cartoon show, kids adopt many things and sometimes they talk

and behave in the same manner as their favorite character does.

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Doing so they feel more comfortable and confident that they can talk to people and even can

perform in front a crowd

Brain DevelopmentBrain Development

Neurodevelopment: Brain function and architecture are altered by exposure to audiovisual

media during critical development between birth and 2 years of age. This will be reflected in

long-term mental, behavioral outcomes.

The programs demonstrating healthy activities develop the brains of kids. These programs

urge them to think and explore the world around them. The new ideas

That they introduce in the programs attracts them and kids start using their intellects.

These kinds of activities are crucial and important for the kids of early age who cannot go

outside or they may need their parent's help to go somewhere, with which they take the

pleasure of life.

Studies have shown that television and games improve the General Knowledge and IQ of

Children.

Enhance imagination and creativityEnhance imagination and creativity

By watching different programs and cartoons children become more creative. They try to do

things in different ways. So there imagination and creativity is enhanced. There is also

evidence in the literature that children’s imaginative play can be positively affected by

television content. In fact, several experiments have found that television can teach specific

attention skills and strategies.

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TV offers a kid more opportunities to express himself. He gets new ideas with which he can

show his talent. Like NAT-geo is a kids' channel where they perform experiments related to

science (e.g. “Big Bang”, “Backyard Science” etc.), play games, make art & craft stuff (“Art

Attack”, “Finger Tips” etc.), and sports. These healthy activities may lead a child to express

himself in healthy way.

Other TV shows like “How it’s made”, “I didn’t know that” and “How Stuff Works” shows and

lets children know about how things are made and how they work, thus satisfying their curious

minds and expanding their knowledge about the things around them.

Dimitri Christakis. "Smarter kids through television: debunking myths old and news”, Seattle

Times Newspaper, February 22, 2007.

Positive effects of cartoonPositive effects of cartoon

Infant, toddlers and preschoolers learn so many things from cartoons like Baby Looney Tunes,

Callous, and different cd’s of cartoon movies. By watching these cartoons they start knowing

different symbols. Words and many other gestures, they also know their meanings. They also

learn good things like sharing, caring about friends, keeping the surrounding clean, and doing

their duties (like homework) happily.

For example in Baby Looney Tunes where there are some children in a daycare and “Granny”

looks after them, she encourages them to do good and also reward them when they do so.

Similarly, when someone does a bad thing like lying Granny tells that ‘baby’ in a kind way that

what he has done is wrong and sometimes even punishes him by no giving him desert after

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dinner to make him understand. This helps a child understand that he/she must do the right

thing to be a “good child”.

Helps Improve Vocabulary and Learn new languages Helps Improve Vocabulary and Learn new languages

Good media increases the vocabulary of the kids. Children also learn to interact in various

languages with help of television media. For instance children who don’t have English as their

first language, learn English more readily, from media (TV, games and educational software)

as compared to their teacher and books etc…

Status and roleStatus and role

Media helps children to understand different status and roles played by different people.

Especially movies play an important role. Like in movie “Tary Zameen Per” children know that

Darsheel is playing the role of a mentally sick child. They also know that he is a brother, son

and a student at the same time. And now he has achieved the status of a child hero.

Develop parent-children relationshipDevelop parent-children relationship

When parents buy different storybooks, watch different cartoons and children programs with

their children or let their children to cinemas for watching movies. In each of the above case

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parents spend time with their children. As a result parents child relationship is improved. Many

researchers have shown that media influence parent child relationship.

The rise of Internet has facilitated new forms of communication and social interactions.

Grandchildren can now keep up with their grandparents via e-mail.

Effect of computer and video gamesEffect of computer and video games

Second most important media for children is Games.

Video game is a communicating device between user interface and video display unit to

generate visual effects.

In a typical day about one in four (27%) 4-6 year-olds uses a computer, and those who do

spend an average of just over an hour at the keyboard (1:04). More than a third (39%) of 4-6

year-olds use a computer several times a week or more; 37% in this age group can turn the

computer on by themselves, and 40% can load a CD-ROM.

Computer use and video games have been more optimistic, with the relevant research

seeming to support a link between both and cognition. They both are necessary for attention

development and spatial cognition.

Games develop the logical mindset of children. They are able to think logically

and it also increases there thinking and grasping power

Video games can develop the mathematical skills in children. Since for every

game the kid tries to reach the next level, he will eagerly count the points that he

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earned. In this way, even a mathematics-resisted kid can able to improve the

mathematical skills.

Another very important positive effect of video games seen in children in the

improvement in their hand-eye coordination. Psychologists have said that

there are children who benefit from the proficiency and coordination of playing

video games. .A player has to watch on screen while simultaneously operating

the joystick of the device in his/her hand to make moves. This requires the player

to be alert and well coordinated. Moreover, he/she can see his actions taking

effect immediately, thus getting a firsthand experience of his/her actions taking

effect.

Video games give the means to canalize one’s emotions in a positive way.

Anger, hatred and such other negative feelings in a person’s mind get a platform

to come forth by way of a game. Players get to enact their frustrations in the

virtual world.

Team spirit is another positive effect of video games. Many games require a

team of people or partners to play together. This fosters teamwork and

cooperation in children. It can induce leadership skills in a child.

Nottingham Trent University professor Mark Griffiths says that video games can

prove to be a distraction for those undergoing painful cancer treatments. In

a study conducted in 2004 by Butch Rosser, a surgeon of Laparoscopy, he

studied the surgical skills of surgeons playing video games and surgeons who

did not. It was astonishing to know from the results that surgeons playing video

games were faster in action and made lesser mistakes during work than those

who did not play video games. There are careers building around video gaming.

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We have programmers working as video game testers and game designers.

Video games that include simulation of real world scenarios are becoming

popular. The United States has launched a game called

Source of entertainmentSource of entertainment

Television, Internet and other media are a source of entertainment for every child even for

infants and toddlers. Like infants and toddlers enjoy sounds and movement and at the same

time they also learn from it. Perceptually salient features of television such as movement and

sound effects drive attention of children to informative features such as dialogue and narrative

and they learn from visual and sound effects of objects

“The bottom line is that content is key — high-quality

educational programming can have a positive effect on

children,” said Dr. Dimitri Christakis, a pediatrician at

Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle.

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Chapter 4. Negative Effects

Children's exposure to electronic media such as television, video games, the Internet, and

music has increased enormously in recent decades. More than 100 studies have

demonstrated a causal relationship between exposure to violence on television and aggressive

behavior in children.

Other research points to possible relationships between children's media consumption and

obesity, smoking, increased isolation, decreased academic achievement, and exposure to

gender and racial stereotypes, among other issues. Numerous studies have found that many

parents do not limit their children's media intake, and that they underestimate how much

television their children watch.

There are certain groups of children who are affected by it at a large scale. They are as follow

1) Children from minority and immigrant groups.

2) Children who are emotionally disturbed or who have learning disabilities.

3) Children who are abused by parents.

4) Families in distress.

Some of the negative effects that media has on children are as follow

Psychological effectPsychological effect

The basal ganglia portion of the brain becomes very active when a person plays video games

and watches TV. And the body releases a chemical called dopamine. Ritalin (and cocaine)

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also works on the basal ganglia of the brain and increase dopamine. More dopamine is

released; the less neurotransmitter is available to do anything else.

Unhelpful Cartoons Unhelpful Cartoons

Preschoolers are not responding mindlessly to these physical features. Just as they are

beginning to develop scripts and other schemas that help them organize and make sense of

their experience with real life, it seems that preschoolers are also developing schemas related

to the formal features of television, and can use them to explore the medium. Children who

viewed the violent cartoons showed decreases in measures of self-regulation. Children who

watch aggressive cartoons with lots of violence can be more likely to engage in aggressive

behavior than those that do not.

A preschooler surprised her family by suddenly expressing fear and hostility toward “black

people” after seeing this in cartoon with her family. She described the scene that has

frightened her where a black slave was repeatedly whipped. She concluded that the character

must be a very bad person to be so severely punished, and therefore must be very scary. She

judges him entirely by the immediate and most obvious physical features in that scene, which

made his dark skin and pain-contoured face, appear both evil and scary.

Advertisement Advertisement

Television shows no longer just provide entertainment for children. Now they are a showcase

for "must have" items that parents are expected to buy. They teach children to become

consumers before they've even reached the age of 3.

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“A study published in this month's Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent

Medicine reveals the more time a child spends watching TV, the more

often they ask their parents to buy the products they see on the

commercials.”

Advertisers have created a separate market for children. They spend about $12 billion per year

on advertising to children in order to influence about $500 billion in spending.

Commercial messages found in all advertising - print, movies, videos, music videos, computer

games and the Internet. These messages depict how cool it is to use tobacco products,

promote consumption of candy and other unhealthy foods, and sanitize violence. All this could

create addicts as well as physically and mentally unhealthy people.

Advertising has had a powerful impact on today’s children. From songs, to logos, to

characters, advertisers keep in mind their audiences. Competition is the force which causes

advertisers to target children. While the impact on adults may be a problem, the outcome is

devastating for our children.

Advertising has numerous methods to hook the individual into “buying their products and

services.” The advertising company surrounds a particular candidate such as a child and

immediately sinks their teeth into the child’s mind to manipulate the child into desiring their

products.

Through TV, cartoons and magazine ads, children are hit by one concealed message after

another. They are shown how this product will either improve their status by making them they

envy of all their friends.

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ImpactImpact of horror movies and cartoons of horror movies and cartoons

Children who watch horror movies, shows, may have some emotional or psychological

problems. Toddlers and young children who watch violent movies, including Halloween horror

films, television shows may be more likely to develop anxiety, sleep disorders, and aggressive

and self-endangering behaviors.

Impact of Media’s portrayal of personalities Impact of Media’s portrayal of personalities

Representations of males and females in video games can send harmful messages to both

boys and girls. Girls may try to achieve a feminine ideal that is presented in the games, and

their self-esteem is affected when that ideal cannot be attained. Furthermore, women are

taught that gender appeal is valued above all else given the uncontrolled objectification of

female game characters. Boys, on the other hand, develop unattainable expectations for

women and learn that it is acceptable to treat women un-respectfully. At the same time, boys

learn to associate violence and muscles with what it means to be male.

Magazines, television, video games and music videos all have a damaging effect, a task force

from the American Psychological Association reported. This type of portrayal of girls in media

can lead to a lack of confidence with their bodies as well as depression and eating disorders.

Such images also have a negative effect on healthy development in girls, the researchers said.

Experts: media images harmful to young girls (BBC, 2/20/07)

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Media Media exposeexpose everything to children everything to children

Television can show children what adults may not want them to know. A key example of this is

in the television show “Father Knows Best “here children are let in on perhaps the biggest

secret: those adult keep secrets from them.

Similarly children who use internet could know many unethical things

Parents more worried about internet than television, survey finds (san

franciscochronicle,6/07/06,by Garafoli )

Movies Movies inspireinspire children to smoke, use of loose language and children to smoke, use of loose language and

behaviorbehavior

There are many researches and studies which demonstrate that when children watch different

movies they are inspired be heroes and they start using loose words, behaviors and smoking.

Children adapt bad habits more readily, from media, as compared to any other source.

Study: movies inspire children to smoke (prediatrics, 11/05, by sergeant et al)

ObesityObesity

Marketing plays a central role in the rise in childhood obesity. On average, one food

commercial is shown every five minutes during Saturday morning cartoons. Young kids are

exposed to endorsements or "tie-in" from junk food companies with every click of the remote.

This manipulation is obvious but extremely lucrative — and the trend is growing.

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Since 1960 the number of kids who are overweight has tripled; childhood obesity is now

described as "epidemic" by the medical community. Additionally, it’s estimated that 80% of

adolescents who are overweight will remain so into adulthood. The American Academy of

Pediatrics calls the costs associated with childhood obesity "staggering."

84% of middle schools and 58% of elementary schools allow the sale of soda or other sugar-

laden drinks on their grounds. There have been numerous attempts by big-name food brands

to identify themselves with a healthy, active lifestyle. Many toys are co-branded with the junk

food industry; fast food establishments lead the trend by including movie-related toys in their

kids’ meals.

The role of media in childhood obesity (Kaiser foundation,2/04)

Poor Poor academicacademic performance performance

Too much media — for kids of all ages — can have a negative impact on their school

readiness and academic performance. Specifically, poor grades and low reading ability and

vocabulary are connected with too much media consumption. Plus, media usage and "multi-

tasking. This may contribute to kids paying less dedicated attention to their homework.

As an example of one study, a longitudinal study in New Zealand involving 1000 people

demonstrated that "television viewing in childhood and adolescence is associated with poor

educational achievement by 12 years of age". Many experts say that for academic success,

turn off the TV and many researches prove it.

study: for academic success, turn off the television (Cox News Service, 9/25/06)

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Media & Media & violenceviolence

Watching media violence significantly increases the risk that a viewer or video game player

will behave aggressively in both the short and long term. Children who observe violence or are

victims of it show more behavior problems than other children. Media Violence Linked To

Concentration, Self-control, Our brains hold many of the mysteries of who we are and why we

do what we do. Unlocking the mystery of how exposure to violent media affects our brains.

Television violence has also been found to have emotional effects on children. Children may

become desensitized to real-life violence, they may come to see the world as a mean and

scary place, or they may come to expect others to resort to physical violence to resolve

conflicts. Although some early research suggested that televised violence might allow viewers

to vent destructive impulses through fantasy instead of acting them out against real-life targets.

Children who consume high levels of media violence are more likely to be aggressive in the

real world.

Some experts, like University of Michigan professor L. Rowell Hussmann, argue that fifty years

of evidence show “that exposure to media violence causes children to behave more

aggressively and affects them as adults’ years later."

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Chapter 5. Steps to maximize positive and minimize negative media effects

Everyone around a child plays an important role in maximizing positive media effects

and minimizing negative media effects like teachers, parents, producers and

government. So following are the ways in which a person can maximize positive effects.

Parents avoid letting their children under age 2 watch television and that parents exert

caution — such as setting limits on TV viewing, helping children develop media literacy

skills to questions, analyze and evaluate TV messages, and taking an active role in their

children’s TV viewing for children over age 2 and view the programs with their children

to maximize the positive effects of educational media.

Parents can reduce the effect of television violence considerably if they refuse to

provide their preschoolers with toys related to violent television

Parents should chose such types of programs so that kids should sit with them and

watch and parents can also give some time to kids.

Parents should be emotionally present in their kids’ life.

Parents must affirm values and qualities of their children, independent of material goods

to prevent the children from being over influenced from ads.

Producers can take steps to maximize the positive effects of media and minimize the

negative effects by making well-designed, age-appropriate programs.

To keep kids healthy, ban television in their bedrooms.

Parents must remember that kids soak up all the messages that advertising sends out.

Until kids have reached the ages of 10 to 14, they don't have a critical perspective. They

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don't understand that some of what they see is real and some of it isn't, unless the

parents constantly remind them the reality.

Development of universal reliable and valid content-based rating systems that allow

parents to make judgments about the programs weather to allow their children to watch

a show.

Regulation for commercial broadcast stations.

More educational programs including children’s intellectual/cognitive or social/emotional

needs.

Television should create a comfortable familiarity with and acceptance of language and

behavior.

Teachers can also help children identify ad messages (The Oregonian, 1/26/06, by

Owen).

Parents can create their own family TV-viewing traditions, such as watching Olympic

coverage, the NHL playoffs, classic movies or a weekly comedy show.

Children below age 3 should not be allowed to play video games, as they are not

appropriate for these children. The hands and arms of these children will not develop

properly during this age period and there are chances of damage to the tendons in the

hands and arms. (There are some pre-school games for children of age around 3. Allow

your children to play such games, as they will not be violent. Also, make sure that the

younger children are not playing the games of older ones).

A parent should control the amount of time playing and content. They should allow their

children to play video games only after completing their homework properly. And should

also, see if they are behaving politely with good manners.

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Parent Ratings on Effects of Media: 2006

Bay Area Percent

Very Positive 8.5%

Somewhat Positive 42.1%

Somewhat Negative 25.1%

Very Negative 4.7%

Too Young to Say 13.8%

Conclusion

There is strong evidence that children older than two learn from educational

media, and there is moderate evidence that exposure to educational television

during the preschool years is positively linked with various measures of academic

achievement even ten years later.

Taken together, the research indicates that electronic media are powerful

influences on the lives of contemporary children. With advances in technology

such as larger screens that provide images in high definition, three-dimensional

surround sound, and greater possibilities for interaction, the power of media will

likely only increase for the foreseeable future. The influences can be both for

good and for ill.

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In conclusion, my opinion on the topic at hand is that the media has both a

negative and positive effect on our youth. We (the group members) feel the effect

is more negative than positive because of what we have seen, heard, and

researched. There are so many negative examples in the news of children acting

out due to media involvement. It is very hard for children to distinguish between

reality and fantasy. This causes children of today to act out based on what they

see. We strongly believe that seeing, hearing and interacting, for example, with

video games full of violence obstructs a child's vision of a healthy start in life.

There are only some positive actions that children portray from what they see or

hear from media. From our research on this project statistics say that the

negative effects are much greater. These of course can be controlled by the

parents through controlling the way their children take influence by media by

telling them about the reality and helping them distinguish between the good &

the bad.

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raj's report

Documents

effects of advertisement

time children

impacts of media

effect of advertisement

electronic media

impact of media

children executive summary

parentchildren relationship