Children & the Media Flashcards
1
Q
Media and kids: the basics
A
- Media constantly changing -> media research is always lagging behind
- Watching TV is common amongst young children
- TV, computers, and video games common amongst older children/teens
2
Q
TV and children
A
- Most commonly used media in children
- Regular viewing typically begins between 2.5-3 years
- Viewing hours increase until kids start school (then slight dip), then increase into the teen years (then begin to dip again – likely because kids are getting involved in more extracurriculars and have more schoolwork at that point)
- Ex. From age 2-11 -> 3-5 hours/day; from age 12-17 -> 2-4 hours/day
3
Q
Aspects to consider when thinking about media guidelines
A
- Amount of media use
- Types of media (TV, video games, social media, etc.)
- Type of program (educational vs. entertainment media)
4
Q
AAP Screen-Time Guidelines (old and new)
A
- Old guidelines:
- 0-2 years: no screen time
- 2-5 years: 1 hour/day
- 6+ years: 1-2 hours/day
- Revised/new guidelines:
- <18 months: limit screen time (except video chat)
- 18-24 months: focus on high-quality, educational programming; parents should engage with children; shared use
- 2-5 years: <1 hour/day; no screen during meals or 1 hour before bedtime
- Critique: may not be based on research
5
Q
Media and Infants
A
- Infants can learn from screen media, but not as well as they can from face-to-face interactions -> “the video deficit”
- Having the TV on can change how parents interact with their infants -> when TV is on (even if it’s just in the background), parents interact less and are less actively involved with their children
6
Q
“Video Deficit”
A
- infant’s inability to learn effectively from screen media
- same issue also exists with learning from books
- May be because infants lack symbolic understanding (don’t understand that the 2D TV world represents the real world)
- “The video deficit” does not occur with interactive screen media (like Skype/video chat)
7
Q
Media and cognitive skills/school performance
A
- Children who are ranked as “excellent” in school watch less TV and play less video games; children who are ranked as “below average” in school watch more TV and play more video games
- Some evidence of a causal relationship between video games and negative school performance (ex. Wels & Cerankosky study)
- may depend on program/content
- may depend on SES
8
Q
Wels & Cerankosky study: video games and school performance
A
- Participants: 6-9 year-old boys without a video game system (but intent to get one)
- Randomly assigned to get video game system at start of study or 4 months later
- At 4-month follow-up, kids who got video games at the start of study were doing worse in school than the kids who hadn’t received the video game system yet
9
Q
Media and cognitive skills/school performance: influence of program content
A
- programs that are more interactive and invoke responses/speech from kids have been shown to be better
- ex. Sesame Street (kids are more ready for school and do better in school; effects last a long time), Blues Clues & Dora the Explorer (associated with increased vocabulary)
- ex. Teletubbies not good -> low interaction and vocabulary
10
Q
Media and cognitive skills/school performance: influence of SES
A
children with lower SES show less of a decrease in school performance from watching lots of TV than children with higher SES (but floor effect may be at play)
11
Q
WHY might media negatively affect school performance?
A
- Distraction/interference with attention (both short and long-term)
- Correlation between amount of TV watching in infancy (age 1-3) and later attention problems (ie. ADHD)
- Displacement (screen time takes time away from other activities, like socializing with friends, playing outside, etc. This can be a positive thing depending on what activities TV is displacing)
- In kids with high SES, TV is more likely to displace beneficial activities (ie. Schoolwork, family time), whereas in kids with low SES, it’s more likely to displace less beneficial activities (ie. Gang-related activities)
- Impact on tastes/preferences (behaviours modelled on TV may influence you)
- ie. Kids on TV saying school isn’t cool may influence your attitude towards school
12
Q
Media and Violence in Children
A
- Consistent relationship -> time spent watching violent media predicts aggressive behaviour
- Violent media is a higher predictor of violence than having abusive parents
- Replicated with correlational, longitudinal, and experimental designs
- Playing violent video games predicts more violent behaviours, violent cognitions, more aggressive emotions/feelings of anger, less pro-social/helping behaviour, decrease in physiological arousal
13
Q
WHY does Media influence violence in children?
A
- Modeling/imitation
- Shapes your view of the world (ie. Might normalize violence in everyday world; believing violence is the norm), shapes fear (ie. Believing that everyone is aggressive -> more fear -> primes you to be violent to defend yourself)
- Desensitization (seeing lots of violence makes you less affected by it)
14
Q
Przybylski & Weinstein study evaluating AAP’s Guidelines: question & method
A
- Question: is restricted screen time in 2-5 year-olds associated with benefits? Which guidelines are better? What’s the overall relationship between screen time and well-being?
- Well-being: curiosity, resilience/adaptive responding, attachment, positive affect
- Method: Tested data from telephone interviews using multiple statistical models -> vary in how low liberal/conservative the models are in finding significant effects (don’t need to worry too much about this)
15
Q
Przybylski & Weinstein study evaluating AAP’s Guidelines: Results & Conclusion
A
- Results:
- With liberal models, <1/2hrs/day -> higher resilience, lower positive affect
- No significant relationship with conservative models
- Screen-time use positively associated with attachment, up to 3.5 hours/day
- Screen time use positively associated with positive affect, up to 7 hours/day
- Conclusions: No overall link between screen-time use and negative well-being
