Children in the US spend a significant amount of time watching TV and using the internet daily. TV shows aimed at children contain much higher rates of violence than other programming. Heavy TV viewers report more distress and fears. Parental monitoring of TV and internet use is low. Exposure to media is linked to higher perceptions of threats, concerns about body image, and more aggressive behaviors in children, especially through modeling of behaviors seen in media. Different media formats have varying impacts on children's memory and learning.

1. Media
Yi-Ping Lu

2. Statistic
98 % of American households have a TV set
66% of American youth aged from 8 to 18
have a TV set in the bedroom
70% of children's television shows contain
displays of physical aggression with 14
violent acts displayed per hour, compared
with less than four violent acts in non-
children's programming.

3. The Use of Media
Youth daily TV view:
3:19 for aged 8 to 10
3:30 for aged 11 to 14
2:23 for aged 15 to 18
Almost 20 % of youth between the ages
of 2 to 17 watch more than 35 hours of
TV per week
Youth with internet access use 1 hour
per day

4. Heavy v.s. Light Viewers
Heavy viewers are
more likely to report
distress and fears of
vulnerability to crime.
Heavy TV viewing is
associated with
elevated perceptions of
personal (but not
societal) vulnerability
to world threat such as
earthquake and flood
with high anxiety.

5. Parental Regulation
Children with no restrictions on their television
consumption watch more TV and tend to be
more aggressive than children who does.
Parental regulation doesn’t relate to the home
income/maternal use/ mothers’ age/ gender of
the children
27% of mothers monitor the quantity of
television viewing
26% have rules for maximum Internet use.
2.2% have rules for both television and Internet
use.

6. Threat Perception
Threat perception after being exposed to
massive media:
Children have greater societal
threat perception (Crime>
earthquake > hurricane/flood)
than personal threat perception.
The older the children are the
higher perception they have.
With higher TV use, children have higher
personal threat perception, but no
significant relation with Internet use.

7. Media Use as
Educational Tools
Included: Audio components, digital video
cameras, television, and computer-based
programs and games.
Active learning (using media): students take
control over their own learning and are more
active and participating in learning.
Passive learning (without media): replying
more on teachers' material.
Students who watched a multimedia story
recalled more story elements than students
exposed to only one medium.

8. Ideal Body Image from Media
Man Woman
Old ideal body shape Larger body Curvaceous shape
Current ideal body shape Muscular with physically Leaner and slimmer
fit appearance
Children who imitate the appearance of same-sex
media personalities tend to develop weight
concern and become constant dieters.
Reading beauty and fashion magazines lead to
restricting calories and diet pills taking for
female aged from 15 to 18.
Weight control behaviors and binge eating
increased in students as their frequency of
reading magazines containing diet related
information increased.

9. What is Media to Children?
Media said they should... Boys Girls
be slimmer Unsure/ disagree Agree/ unsure
be more muscular Unsure/ disagree Disagree/ strongly
disagree
gain weight Disagree/ strongly Disagree/ strongly
disagree disagree
As age increased boys agreed that the media tell
them that they should be slimmer.
The older the girls are, the more they believed
media influence them to be slimmer.
The influence of the media in children and
adolescents has linked the promotion of
thinness with body dissatisfaction and the
development of disordered eating
practices, particularly in girls.

10. Reaction to Media
Girls tend to adopt strategies to lose weight while
boys increase muscle mass.
Exposure to violent media leads to physical,
verbal, and relational aggression (using the
relationships as the means of harm via ignoring,
direct exclusion or by spreading malicious
rumors, gossip or lies) among young children.
Boys tend to use physical aggression, while girls
tend to use relational aggression to fulfill gender
specific social goals.
Higher socioeconomic states children tend to be
exposed to relational aggression via television,
video, and movies and tend to understand
and model these behaviors in the future.

11. Extra Video
xTEDx Children and Media

12. Annotated Bibliography
Christakis, D. (Writer). (2011). TEDxRainier - Dimitri
Christakis - Media [Online video]. Retrieved August 13,
2012, from Youtube.
Dimitri Christakis talked about the three experiments with
young children's (mice's) brain processing the outside
stimulation. The first experiment was to see the
differences of two different mice's (one's childhood was
in front of TV, one has regular stimulation) risk-taking
skill in an open field, and the second experiment tested
the two different mice's short-term memory. The third
found out there is a relationship between building blocks
game with language learning.

13. Annotated Bibliography
*Comer, J. S., Furr, J. M., Beidas, R. S., Babyar, H. M., &
Kendall, P. C. (2008). Media Use and Children's
Perceptions of Societal Threat and Personal
Vulnerability. Journal Of Clinical Child & Adolescent
Psychology, 37(3), 622-630.
doi:10.1080/15374410802148145
This was a study that exanimated the correlation between
television and internet use and the perception of societal
threat and personal vulnerability of 90 children from age
7 to 13 years old. They found that the more television
the children watched the greater personal threat
perception, but they didn’t find a significant correlation
with internet use.

14. Annotated Bibliography
*Daluz, C. T., & Mapoy, M. J. (2011). The Effect of
Interactive Media on Elementary School Childrens'
Story Memory. International Journal Of Research &
Review, 6(1), 108-119.
This experimental study exanimated first grade children’s
responses and the number of correct answers to the study
questionnaire after using four different computer-based
presentation modes. While the result was that the audio-
visual group had the best performance, audio group had
the worst performance. Surprisingly, the interactive
group had a similar performance as interactive
observers.

15. Annotated Bibliography
Lawrie, Z. Z., Sullivan, E. A., Davies, P. W., & Hill,
R. J. (2006). Media Influence on the Body Image of
Children and Adolescents. Eating Disorders, 14(5),
355-364. doi:10.1080/10640260600952506
This was an article focusing on the relationship
between ideal body images for boys and girls from
age 9 to 14 years old and media, specific fashion
magazines. While neither group of the gender
answered that the media was promoting bigger size
of muscle, both of them agreed that the media was
promoting thin ideal body shape.

16. Annotated Bibliography
*Messenger Davies, Mfire. (2010). Children, Media and Culture.
Retrieved from http://site.ebrary.com/lib/spscclibrary/Doc?
id=10403992&ppg=49.
This book talked about the combination of arts and media such as
television, gaming, and social networking in educating or
communicating with children. The modern convenience
technology had changed the way children live their childhood
lives, but there are some negative impact of this change.
Ostrov, J. M., Gentile, D. A., & Crick, N. R. (2006). Media
Exposure, Aggression and Prosocial Behavior During Early
Childhood: A Longitudinal Study. Social Development, 15(4),
612-627. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9507.2006.00360.x
This longitudinal study followed and documented 78 preschoolers’
current and future responses after exposing to violent media. They
found that after exposed to violent media, both sexes responded
differently: while girls tend to perform relational aggression,
boys perform physical aggression.