TV and Video Game Violence
Just as a print-literate child learns to be critical of the things he reads, he should also be able to do the same with moving pictures and sounds. Your child can learn to understand both the obvious and hidden messages in all media. Once children learn media education skills, they will begin to ask questions and think about the media messages they watch, read and hear. And they usually will enjoy doing it.
Following are basic media education points your child should know:
People create media messages. Any media message, whether it's a magazine article or a TV talk show, is created by a team of people. Those people write it, decide what pictures to use and what to leave out. All of these things give the message a purpose. Each media form uses its own language. For example, newspapers make headlines large to attract readers to certain stories.
Media with sound may use music to make people feel a range of emotions. When children learn about these techniques, they are able to understand how a message is delivered instead of only being affected by it. No two people experience the same media message in exactly the same way. How a person interprets a message depends on things unique to that person's life. These can include age, values, memories and education.
Media messages have their own values and points of view. These are built into the message itself. Children should compare the promoted values against their own values. It is important for children to learn that they have a choice in whether to accept the values that are being promoted in any media message.
You can use these lessons as part of your everyday life. Besides asking how and why media messages are created, children of various ages can do everyday activities with you or other adults to help build media education skills. Make a game out of the following:
- Play "Spot the Commercials." Help your child learn to tell the difference between a regular program and the commercials that support it. This may be tricky during children's shows because many commercials advertise toys based on TV characters.
- Do a taste test to compare a heavily advertised brand with a generic or other nonadvertised brand. Try products such as cereals or soft drinks. See whether your child and his friends can tell the difference and whether advertising influenced their guesses.
- Look at the headlines, photos and placements of articles in a newspaper. How do these affect which stories your child wants to read? Read a few stories and compare their content with their headlines and photos.
- When you see a movie, video or video game with your child, talk about whether what happens on screen would happen in the "real" world. For example, would a person really be able to drive a car super fast, down narrow streets, without crashing?
- While shopping, compare products with advertisements your child has seen. Look at the ingredients, label or packaging. Is any of this information in the ad? Does the ad give any specific information about the product itself? How is the product different than it seemed from the ad or packaging?
- How many brands of beer, cigarettes or other such products can your child name? If he can name even one, this is a great way to begin talking about the power of advertising. Discuss the health risks of using these products and how the ads leave out that information.
- Watch a music video with your child. What stories are the pictures telling? Does the story on screen match the meaning of the words in the song? How does the video make your child feel? Can your child note any stereotypical, violent or sexual images in the video? Is there any tobacco, alcohol or drug use? Watch a music video with the sound off and see how it is different.
Starting when children are very young, most of their media use takes place in the home. This is a great opportunity for you to establish good viewin
