The Impact of Media Technologies on Child Development and Wellbeing - Assignment Example

The Impact of Media Technologies on Child Development and Wellbeing Introduction The twenty-first century continues to experience the increased use of videogame, Television, internet, iPod, as well as the cell phone among children. Pediatric occupational therapists hold that significant milestones for motor and sensory development in children do not meet the recommended standards. Furthermore, increased use of media and technology by children negatively influences their academic performances and literacy achievement. Similarly, professionals note that there are increased incidences of psychological, childhood physical, and behavior disorders that comes along with the prescription of psychotropic medication. The impact of technology and the media on the growth and development of children remains philosophical. This explains why physicians and the rest of the society largely need to evaluate the exposure of children to the media. In the process, parents also need to offer regulation on the right age for children to use the media among them radio, television, music, the internet, and video games. This paper aims at exploring both harmful and beneficial influences of technology and the media on the physical and mental health of children. Apart from other members of the society, the discourse identifies various ways through which physicians can counsel families and families with the aim of enhancing the appropriate use of the media and technology by children in their environments. Likely Benefits of media technologies The developments in the media sector come from the developments in the information and communication technology. Video, television, games, mobile phones, and music as well as the internet continue to bring substantial changes experienced by children in the present society. In most cases, the changes find parents and guardians in addition to the society largely unprepared to handle the challenges accompanying the use of media technology (Bernard-Bonnin, 1991, p. 50). In the end, parents do not comprehend various ways and levels of regulating the use of the media by the children. Today, substantial evidence from health practitioners proofs the effects of the media on the health of children. Research across many countries including Australia and Canada shows that families prefer what media technologies provide. Educational programs offered by the media contribute a lot to the improvement of academic abilities and knowledge of children. This starts early and physicians encourage parents and guardians to introduce them to their children while they are young. Choosing programs for children makes a big difference to the knowledge and skills of children when they start schooling. The television for instance, provides children with a wide variety of programs covering life situations and avenues to pursue when they go out to play. It is possible for children to use the media to expand the knowledge of their surroundings. It also teaches them good social behaviors (Media Awareness Network Young Canadians in a Wired World, 2001, p. 25). A channel such as the discovery gives room for children to learn about wildlife in addition to the flora and fauna. Benefits derived from these programs last through their adolescence. Isolated viewing of television programs among academically gifted children improves their academic abilities in school. Improved academic results of children emanating from television-related programs helps parents improve their skills of making choices over appropriate programs for their children. The ability of children to learn quickly might also come from watching video games with academic content, selected information, as well as problem solving techniques. Precisely, they help to improve the abilities of children with learning problems (Dietz, 1985, p. 810). The kind of information accessible on the internet also helps in increasing the knowledge of children about the world. Factors that influence media-related outcomes Professionals aver that children with emotional development problems have issues in comprehending advertising as well as television compared to their peers without development problems. Such children remain highly vulnerable to harmful content in the media. Therefore, parents and guardians need to give them special attention while accessing content in the media. Life experiences and understanding of television techniques determines that capacity of children below the age of ten fully internalize the full effects of television programs. Exposing a child to more television programs increases their chances of failing to mature on the influences of television programs. There is a rising concept in the society that the neighborhoods and streets remain unsafe to children. It is likely to create a situation where guardians and parents restrict the movement of their children making them remain indoors for longer (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2001, p. 1225). A report published by UNICEF in two thousand and two took a survey among parents asking them where they directed their children to play in case they are not in a care or learning institution. The back yard was the most popular response at sixty-nine percent, those asking their children to remain in the house rated fifty-eight percent, and twenty-nine percent of the respondents asked their children to play in the park. Additionally, twenty-four percent wanted their children play with relatives and friends while only eleven percent wanted their children to stay on the street. Twenty-two percent of the parents summed up the survey by stating that they ask their children to play in the neighborhood. Sociologists posit that attitudes shown by parents play a significant role in choosing what their children watch. Attitudes related to educational that covers the academic levels, social that includes what parents prefer to relate with, as well as economic that deals with the level of the family income determine the content watched by children on the internet and television (Canadian Paediatric Society, 2002, p. 343). Those parents who consider the television an important asset to children prefer selecting educational programs for them. The reverse is possible for parents with little academic achievements because they do not comprehend the quality programs for the academic value of children. Such parents and guardians allow children to watch what they choose and this makes them vulnerable. Furthermore, these types of parents to regulate the quantity of time kids spend in front of the television both during the day and at night. The same behavior extends to cover video games. A study carried out in Queensland documented that the understanding of technology by guardians and parents relates to the time children spend watching and playing video games as well as the type of content, they watch (Josephson, 1995, p. 63). Similarly, the belief held by parents and what they consider possible benefits are central to the content their children watch. The more parents comprehend and discuss the content offered by the media, the higher their ability to regulate what their children watch. The viewing behavior of children also relates closely to particular family features. A high number of television sets means increased viewing. Younger children do not have control over the choice of programs in the presence of older children. Therefore, it can put children at risk of watching content meant for older people. Failure to supervise children after school gives them more room to watch television more compared to those under strict supervision. The Television The television carries the potential to generate both negative and positive influences to children. Various scholars in different disciplines continue to explore the impact of television on children. Most of the academicians studying this topic focus on the society but with specific attention to adolescents and children (Strasburger, 1993, p. 480). The development level of a child determines whether the television will influence him or her positively or negatively. It is true that not all television programs are bad. However, supporting evidence demonstrates that some programs use offensive, abusive, and vulgar language not appropriate to children. Data also points towards negative influences of inappropriate sexuality and violence. Nonetheless, this discourse recommends continued research in this area to full cover the influences of the television on adolescents and children. Existing literature holds that professionals in the health sector as well as sociologists can change the television viewing behavior of children and children in certain nations including Australia and Canada are exposed to excessive television content at longer periods. Sufficient amount of evidence exists to proof that a close relationship exists between exposing children to violent television programs and increase in violent behavior shown by children in the family and society. Health wise, too much television watching is a causal factor of obesity among children. In addition, spending too much time watching television programs negatively influences the academic performances of children and their academic abilities ultimately. Finally, exposing children to certain television programs builds irresponsible sexual behavior among children and the trend develops through their adolescents (Johnson, 2002, p. 470). On a positive note, the television remains an efficient medium for companies and other institutions to use in advertising different products for children. Taking Canada as an example, the average child takes fourteen hours each week watching television. This indicates that by graduation the child graduates from high school, he or she will have spend more time in front of the screen compare to the time in school or learning institution. However, the time spent on television varies from one age group to another. It is also different among various cultures. The statistics become relevant when handling the influences of television in disadvantaged communities or families. Comparatively, the amount of time spend by children in North America does not differ largely with data from Canada. The change in the trend is also not significant. The lowest levels are in Africa. However, it does not relate to proper guidelines but levels of income that are still very low. It is essential to note that a good number of children begin watching television at a younger age contrary to what experts recommend. Research by various scholars concur that time spend in front of the screen influences the chances of the television affecting both children and adolescents. Extended watching converts the world displayed on television to the real world, a fact that remains false most of time. Too much television viewing interferes with other imperative activities for a child. They include among others reading, playing, socializing with other family members and peers, learning to talk, which an important feature of communication skills, storytelling, exercising regularly for physical and mental health enhancement, as well as taking part in other fundamental mental, physical, social, and health skills. Other factors influencing how the television affects children besides time spend watching are individual susceptibility, the development level of the child, and company given to the child while watching television. Learning When used appropriately, the television can be a hitherto teacher. Toddlers can learn important lesson from watching programs such as Sesame Street. It teaches about cooperation, racial harmony, simple arithmetic, kindness, as well as alphabetical order following an educational structure. Discovery programs influence children to visit game parks, zoo, museums, bookstores, libraries, and other recreational sites. Educational videos have strong pro-social teaching tools. The value of education programs such as Sesame Street appears in their capacity to enhance their academic skills including simple arithmetic and reading among children. Under disadvantaged circumstances, the television turns out as an essential tool for learning. Watching television consumes time meant or working on homework and other assignments apart from time for reading. Advanced research proofs that allowing children to watch television for one to two hours without supervision negatively affects their academic performance. However, of all the sections, reading receives the biggest negative influence. Violence The amount of violence of television continues to rise. Statistics show that on average, a child watches twelve thousand violent acts on television in one year. Violent actions include terrible pictures of rape and murder. Many studies proof that exposing children to television violence increases violent behavior among children such as excessive aggressiveness especially among the boys. Other research studies relate newspaper publicity and television to increased incidences of suicide. Scholars enlist the following groups of children as having higher vulnerability to violence on television. Children who are emotionally unsettled, those from immigrant and minority groups, those children with learning disabilities, children facing abuse from guardians and parents, as well as those children who come from families experiencing distress. Nutrition Children exposed to television for longer periods feed on too much of junk food, high-energy snacks, and remain physically unfit because they do not exercise a lot. Television consumes a lot of time and takes children away from exercise activities and play. It explains why nutritionists hold that uncontrolled television watching contributed to the development of childhood obesity. One of the reasons to this is that television products unhealthy dietary behavior from their advertisements. In most cases, the content of fat in advertised foods exceeds the recommended levels much to the ignorance of children (Strasburger, 1986, 145). Most of the foods have high calorie including those from fats foods, presweetened cereals, and candy. Time spend in front of television determines the chances of children developing high cholesterol content in their bodies. Teenage girls also come on the extreme end of television viewing because of adapting poor eating habits after emulating thinner roles models appearing on the screen. Furthermore, parents and guardians ought to guard against eating while at the same time watching television because it a poor eating habit as it interferes with communication. The Internet Some parents and guardians consider themselves below the children in terms of the ability to use the internet. However, they need to embrace the fact that it presents a new medium of literacy among children in the present generation. Nonetheless, such feelings should and do not have to prevent guardians and parents from discovering the value of the internet. Dangers posed by the increased use of the internet are many, wide, and differ in the influences. They are also hidden many times. The society, guardians, and parents have a responsibility of unmasking the inherent dangers of the connected world because they need to learn different ways of protecting their children from extreme influences of the internet. The internet has the capacity to provide educational information to children and the youth and scholars compare it to the home library (Dietz, 1991, p. 19). One limitation is the lack of editorial limits and in the process makes it lack credibility as a source. Other concerns include spending time watching television as well as on the computer interfere with their postural development. The same way a television contributes to obesity, sitting on the computer does the same in addition to creating poor skills, and forming an addictive behavior. As much as it occurs at small scale, those with seizure disorders are vulnerable to attacks emanating from computer screens. Conclusion and Recommendations Adults in the society with parental responsibilities or expecting parental responsibilities should take the duty of keeping themselves updated with habits in the media. They also need to inquire about watching videos, listening to radio programs, and using video games. Families need to receive encouragement to explore the entire media in addition to discussing the value of the same to children. Encourage children to develop criticism skills that help them in evaluating the content delivered by the media is essential. Parents should restrict their children from having computers games, videos, and the television in their bedrooms. Putting these gadgets at a central location remains a priority. Such parents and guardians allow children to watch what they choose and this makes them vulnerable. Furthermore, these types of parents to regulate the amount of time children spend in front of the television both during the day and at night. The same behavior extends to cover video games. Television watching should be below one hour. Most users of the internet are below twenty-five years of age. The internet continues to influence the society greatly and rapidly. New communication behaviors are dimensional. Identified viewing of television programs among academically gifted children improves their academic abilities in school. Improved academic results of children emanating from television-related programs helps parents improve their skills of making choices over appropriate programs for their children. 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