My inquiry question is “how does that media affect the way we think?” and I will be exploring the topic of the effects on how the media affect the way children think.
They say that a child’s brain is like a sponge, absorbing all the information they can get. The things you learn in your childhood can subconsciously carry on throughout your adulthood. How much media and what you are consuming affect you, more than you think it does.
Shows such as Sesame Street are considered high quality media that teach valuable life lessons. However, when children are exposed to low media, it can lead to low self-esteem. A study shows that male characters continue to contribute to stereotypes that normalize traditional male gender roles (3). This creates a stigma for young boys around the discussion of their own mental health as it is seen as a sign of “weakness” (1). The effects of this can be seen in the fact that males are 3 times more likely to commit suicide than females (2). This is an example of how the media can have a negative impact on children.
Another way the media can impact a child is when parents do not explicitly teach them on certain topics (5). This leaves a space for the media to influence a child, whether that way be positive or negative. When parents properly supervise their child’s media consumption, the media can become a powerful learning tool. When parents also limit their own media use, this then creates a good role model for their children (4). It is found that children learn much more through face-to-face conversation, even in video calls, prove to help children with their communication than watching videos through the media (4).
It seems that the media may have a lot of negative impacts. However, when parents properly supervise their children’s media intake, the chances of these negative impacts can be decreased and the positive ones can become clearer.
- https://www.verywellmind.com/the-dangerous-mental-health-effects-of-toxic-masculinity-5073957
- https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/douglas-todd-silent-crisis-of-male-suicide-rates-getting-worse-across-canada
- https://kidscreen.com/2020/08/07/the-dangers-of-toxic-masculinity/
- https://www.healthychildren.org/English/family-life/Media/Pages/Tips-for-Parents-Digital-Age.aspx
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2792691/
Hey Aleah,
through you post, I was able to learn new terms such as high quality and low media! I never thought of looking at media through these two perspectives but it really does shine a new light on media.
As media becomes more accessible and ‘addictive’ to younger audiences at an earlier age would you say there is a certain age in which media should be introduced to a child?
while searching online for any prospective research that was conducted on this issue, heres a link to a 10-year research on the impact of media on adolescence.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0890856709603877
Hope you find some insight on this!
– Sanam
Hi Aleah,
I found your inquiry question super interesting. It is a very common thing amongst children right now since technology keeps on advancing and increasing within our everyday lives. I did not know about high and low quality media, but I found it very interesting!
Hi Aleah,
I totally agree that media does affect children going the wrong path especially when the parents don’t show them what they’re own age is supposed to look at. I also agree with the suicide information. I personally think that females may have a higher chance to suicide. This is because in social media girls tend want to become the influences they see and I myself agree with it as well. Girls expectations also raise so much higher in themselves and people around them. Which causes girls tend to be more insecure in themselves. Which then would lead to suicide because they wish to be those other girls on social media. Reading your inquiry project was interesting as I found out that boys are 3 times more likely to commit suicide thank you for teaching me something that I didn’t really know about!
-Estella
Hi Aleah! Your topic is very relevant to today’s society and I enjoyed reading your blog a lot! Topics like yours should be discussed more nowadays especially since children are starting to approach media at a young age.
It’s incredibly devastating learning how horribly media can impact a child’s mindset. Parents should definitely set boundaries for their children when being exposed to dangerous media, as children could be shown explicit content anywhere.
Tiffany Yao