Media Literacy Washington DC

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Usually, you can’t watch TV, go shopping, or surf the Internet without being flooded with advertisements. But you aren’t the only one who is exposed to ads. Your child sees them, too—in movies, music, and magazines and on the Internet and TV.

As an adult, you are able to see what a young child may not: the built-in bias in media ads. Research shows that kids under age 8 are more likely to accept ad messages as truthful, accurate, and unbiased. It is hard for the average child to see and analyze the hidden agenda in the 40,000 TV ads he watches every year.

Many ads for toys, snack food, cereal, and video games often are directed toward kids. But parents have to watch out for other ads, too. Beer or cigarette ads directed toward adults also can influence young children. According to researchers, beer ads, for example, are shown often during sports events and are seen by millions of children, creating both brand familiarity and more positive attitudes toward drinking in children as young as 9–10 years of age.

Young children can be swayed easily by advertising messages. Their belief that ad messages are truthful and unbiased can contribute to many unhealthy behaviors, including:

• Poor eating habits, a factor in today’s youth obesity epidemic. The most common ads directed toward kids are for sweets, sodas, and other snack foods.
• An increase in the likelihood of aggressive behavior and less sensitivity to violence if a young child is exposed to ads for violent video games, movies, or TV shows.

Commercials can also be the root of conflict between parents and children. Commercials often get children to want an advertised product. Then, children pressure their parents to buy it. Conflict occurs when parents say “no.”

As stated above, young children have difficulty distinguishing between programmes and commercials. To help them to learn the difference, you can play the “What are they trying to sell?” game. If you allow your children to watch commercials, have them try to guess what the commercial is trying sell. This game can help to teach your child that this is the only purpose of a commercial.

Another way for children to develop media literacy is to get them talking about what they are watching:
During television programming or movies, ask children, “Who is telling this story?”

• A 4 year old may identify the main character
• A 5 year old may realize there is a narrator
• A 6 year old may be able to understand that the narrator is a story-teller
• An older child will eventually grasp the concept of writers making up stories for TV

Other ideas include:

• Ask your child to re-tell a story that he/she learned from media. This is not to check for accuracy but rather to encourage your child to think and discuss what they see and hear in media.
• Ask your child to name some things in the background. This can help build the concept of a constructed set.
• Ask your child to describe how music makes them feel. This can help introduce the concept of media producers using sounds to influence how people react to their media.

Source: Susan Mims from The Sixty Second Parent Guide to Raising Preschoolers
               www.samhsa.gov

Read article at SixtySecondParent.com

Briley Philip L Phd

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Clinton, MD