EFFECTS OF SCREEN MEDIA EXPOSURE ON CHILDREN
Exposure of media to children has triggered many discussions over the years on how it may affect a child’s brain’s cognitive growth. Cognitive growth involves the development of the brain to understanding and processing information and concepts. The media has many effects, positive and negative, on both children and adults. However, children are most likely affected more because they are still in the growth and development stages.
Anderson and Subrahmanyam (2017) discuss the effect on media on children’s development at different stages of growth, including infancy, preschool-aged, and older children. According to Anderson and Subrahmanyam (2017), children at an early age of approximately two years learn better from real-life experiences than videos. However, they emphasize that the case is different when the videos are made to look like real-life situations and are played on repeat for long periods. Anderson and Pempek (2005) affirmed that at this age, the transfer deficit is high. Transfer deficit means that the children are likely to imitate what they say in real life compared to what is behind the screens. In most cases, children begin to be exposed to television at the age of 6 months, but their interest increases tremendously when they turn five years old.
The adversity of the media’s effect on infants’ cognitive thinking is majorly reliant on the content displayed on the platforms, the exposure to the content, and the social circumstances under which they view the content. Anderson and Subrahmanyam (2017) note that the effect is mostly negative to these infants’ brain development, especially because the programs are designed for older persons. At the young age of 2 years, the children will consider television programs as background television due to little to no comprehension of the events occurring on the screen. This is part of the negative impact since research has portrayed that background television rob children of these age an opportunity to interact with their parents and time for toy play, which is crucial for children’s growth.
Children begin comprehending what is displayed on screens of media platforms at the age of two and a half years. They are mostly able to grasp less complex events directed to younger persons, and their comprehension of more complex content begins to increase at the age of twelve. Anderson and Subrahmanyam (2017) indicate that it is at this stage that the content begins to affect cognitive development through the children’s comprehension. Even though the results of this influence are portrayed as all negative in most cases, there are some positive effects involved for children’s exposure to media at this age. Some of the positive impacts include learning new vocabularies, the use of media as an academic tool for literature, and the improvement and development of social skills.
In the preschool years, children are commonly known to watch television programs for the entertainment process. At this point, they get access to adult content. It can be mostly attributed to the fact that there is less adult supervision at this stage. It is where they gain access to violent adult content, which will negatively impact their cognitive growth. The negative effects are hypothesized to include time consumption, meant to be spent on books, but otherwise spent on watching violent content. Anderson and Subrahmanyam (2017) note their focus on other aspects of life, including social and academic life, is likely to be interrupted by exposure to violent adult content on media platforms.
Media, therefore, affects the cognitive growth of children of different ages differently. While exposure to television affects infants by denying them vital maternal, paternal time, and playtime with toys, it has serious adverse effects on older children. Christakis et al. (2009) supported this philosophy in that infants are likely to vocalize less while at the same time, their parents or caregivers speak to them less when the television is turned on, resulting in relatively lower overall language scores. Post- preschool-aged students affect cognitive skills as the activities meant to develop cognitive thinking are replaced by spending hours on a screen. Anderson and Subrahmanyam (2017) added that cognitive thinking could be increased by activities like playing games and reading books. It contrasts with previous research on how violent computer games can lead to hostility and antisocial behavior.
Screen media exposure keeps increasing with time. In most countries like the USA, children have been identified as spending most of their time on screen than they do on any other activities (Rideout et al.). Media plays an important role in children’s lives, especially when used as an educational tool. However, technoference, the ability of media to disrupt education, is more prevalent than its benefits. In their research to assess the relevance of media, specifically the use of DVDs to help children learn new words, Richert et al. (2009) discovered that parents’ lessons are the most effective.
It is not rare for cartoon programs to contain violent scenes involving superheroes, and adult films containing sadistic scenes. As much as the cartoon characters may be considered to teach the children moral lessons and entertain them, the violent scenes have negative effects on the children. Lefkowitz et al. (1977) researched the correlation between child aggression and television violence. Their findings indicated that violent shows are more popular among boys. Watching violent shows at the age of nine was reflected later at the age of nineteen as these boys were rated by their peers as aggressive. However, boys rated as aggressive at age nine did not turn out to watch violent films at age nineteen. The results of the study by Lefkowitz et al. (1977) signify that watching violent shoes at a young age may trigger aggressive behavior at a later age, but it is not necessarily that aggressive people will love to watch violent films.
Friedrich and Stein (1973) undertook research to identify the significant difference in behavior between preschoolers watching violent crimes and preschoolers watching prosocial television programs. The research proved that watching aggressive programs can trigger violent behavior as the children exposed to aggressive cartoons were observed to play more roughly and act hostile. However, prosocial media advances prosocial behavior as the children in the research exposed to this type of media were found to have developed prosocial skills in just the short while in which the research was conducted.
Different theories have been adapted to explain the correlation between violent media and child aggression. Scientists have identified that one theory is that violent media material trigger aggressive behavior through arousal. Anderson and Bushman (2002) depicted that the violent scenes on programs’ excitement lead children to be aroused and energized. When the children are aroused physiologically, chances of them responding aggressively when provoked are high. Thoughts of acting in a hostile way in children will increase in cases where children have recently or numerously being exposed to violent scenes on media platforms. Scenes of superheroes fighting crime and villains trigger excitement among children.
It is also proposed that children become aggressive due to imitating what is displayed on the television screens. It is mainly common in superhero cartoons where they consider the superheroes as role models, and they, therefore, aspire to act and behave like them. Bandura (1986) used the Bobo doll experience and determined that, in most cases, children will imitate what they see, especially when they associate activities with heroes who they consider their models.
Another theoretical reason hypothesized is the desensitization of emotions. Funk et al. suggested that spending long hours on the screen causes children to detach themselves emotionally from other aspects of life. Friedrich and Stein (1973) depict that exposure to social development-designed programs promotes kids’ social lives. Drabman and Thomas (1974) noted that violent content on media platforms causes children to believe that aggression is acceptable. Children believing violence is acceptable is what encourages them to get associated with violent behavior.
It has also been hypothesized that the television’s violent scenes trigger aggressive behavior as children learn from what they see on the screen. Huesmann (1998) noted that the frequency of activation of violent thoughts is most likely to form a “script” in children’s minds. Such a frame of mind triggers understanding and reactions to violence.
Watching violent programs also triggers children to handle their emotions differently. Children get strong emotions that they feel they need to relieve through violence. This theory is called the cathartic theory. Kids are unable to control their strong emotions and therefore get breakdowns by releasing them through hostility.
Exposure to violent television scenes will result in both short-term and long-term effects, including acting violent and reacting negatively to aggressive circumstances. They end up accepting violence.
Reference
Anderson, C. A., & Bushman, B. J. (2002). The effects of media violence on society. Science, 295(5564), 2377-2379.
Anderson, D. R., & Subrahmanyam, K. (2017). Digital screen media and cognitive development. Pediatrics, 140(Supplement 2), S57-S61.
Anderson, D. R., & Pempek, T. A. (2005). Television and very young children. American Behavioral Scientist, 48(5), 505-522.
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Christakis, N. A., & Fowler, J. H. (2009). Connected: The surprising power of our social networks and how they shape our lives. Little, Brown Spark.
Drabman, R. S., & Thomas, M. H. (1974). Exposure to Filmed Violence and Children’s Tolerance of Real-Life Aggression.
Friedrich, L. K., & Stein, A. H. (1973). Aggressive and prosocial television programs and the natural behavior of preschool children. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 1-64.
Huesmann, L. R. (1998). The role of social information processing and cognitive schema in the acquisition and maintenance of habitual aggressive behavior. In Human aggression (pp. 73-109). Academic Press.
Lefkowitz, M. M., Eron, L. D., & Walder, L. 0., & Huesmann, LR (1977). Growing up to be violent: A longitudinal study of the development of aggression.
Richert, R. A., Robb, M. B., Fender, J. G., & Wartella, E. (2010). Word learning from baby videos. Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine, 164(5), 432-437.
Rideout, V. (2017). The Common Sense census: Media use by kids age zero to eight. San Francisco, CA: Common Sense Media, 263-283.