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Kids and Television — Episode I: Huh?

“Grave?” Uh… “Pathetic?” Mmm… “Disservice?” Hmmm…

Surfing the social intarweb I came upon a link to a cute little video of a three year old girl explaining the plot of Star Wars from her own perspective. As you can imagine it was something both completely predictable (as in you knew it was going to be a cute kid pulling random details from the story and over-simplifying) and entirely surprising (in that ‘kids say the darndest things’ — possibly, trademarked). Immediately a thought crossed my mind resembling something along the lines of ’sweet! I can’t wait until MY daughter can do that.’ A few seconds later I scrolled down the page and noticed a comment posted just moments earlier that, and I quote, stated:

Yeah- all kids are cute but this is pathetic- kids this young shouldn’t be exposed to t.v. at all or violent films- their mind can’t process that kind of information- her parents are doing her a grave dis-service. [1]

“Grave?” Uh… “Pathetic?” Mmm… “Disservice?” Hmmm…

Time to put my skep/dad hat and roll into critical thinking parent mode: So, I’m a thirty-something guy who has been exposed to television his whole life. I don’t think I’m violent. I don’t think I was done a disservice. I don’t think my parents screwed up. But was that a fluke? Did I come up just short of some threshold that would have switched me into crazed serial killer mode or junked up porn star? Did I get too little television to break my mind, or did I get enough informal education to counter its effects? So many questions? Where do I start with my own kids? Help us Obi-wan, you’re our only hope…

I did a very quick search of the web the terms “kids and violent television” and one of the first (of millions) of the items to appear was an article from the American Psychological Association stating that “children who identify with aggressive TV characters and perceive the violence to be realistic are most at risk for later aggression” [2] and referenced the article quoted below:

Although the relation between TV-violence viewing and aggression in childhood has been clearly demonstrated, only a few studies have examined this relation from childhood to adulthood, and these studies of children growing up in the 1960s reported significant relations only for boys. The current study examines the longitudinal relations between TV-violence viewing at ages 6 to 10 and adult aggressive behavior about 15 years later for a sample growing up in the 1970s and 1980s. Follow-up archival data and interview data reveal that childhood exposure to media violence predicts young adult aggressive behavior for both males and females. Identification with aggressive TV characters and perceived realism of TV violence also predict later aggression. These relations persist even when the effects of socioeconomic status, intellectual ability, and a variety of parenting factors are controlled. [2]

Methinks there might be something to the rumor? But let’s not jump to conclusions. Obviously there are people far more versed on the subject than I. (And to be completely fair, while I’ve thought of this a few times before now, as a busy adult I don’t watch much television myself and haven’t deeply considered the impacts as a parent.) My daughter, less than half a year old now, is already curious about the flashing lights emanating from the little box sitting on our media center. She stares, jaw agape, mesmerized. We don’t encourage television watching at this age, but it is on (as a habit, mostly) in the background when we are in our weekend ‘lounging around the house mode’.

So what’s a skeptical dad to do? I don’t have the answers, but already my brain is working on understanding this topic a little better. Thus, some of my questions to ask (at least as much as I can start examining) are:

(1) Programming Content - Adult situations, violence, strong language, and anything else that goes against personal (so-called) family values. I’m not about to dictate what that is — heck, no. If you want to play the Ned Flanders and censor everything your kids watch, that’s your choice: But I need to ask the question of content as perceived by kids, and what (if any) impact that conveys on them now and in the future. And, does it matter if you walk your kids through it? Is there a line? Where is the line? Or is ANY television moment a ‘teaching moment’ for the often brutal realities of life and the universe?

(2) Activity Level - You don’t need to be a scientist to understand the correlation between television and inactivity. Kids who are watching television are not playing and engaging in social and physical activities. This is a whole other topic, but I thought I’d put it out there for thoroughness.

(3) Commercial Advertising - My personal peeve, and I’ll as I may try to look at this objectively. (*strain, grunt, grrr*) What is more appropriate for kids to watch? Violence or targeted advertising? Artful romance or commercial advertisements? Strong language or corporate slogans? Either? Neither? All? None? (There is a false dichotomy in here somewhere, I’m sure. Someone help.)

The reality is that few of us have the willpower or motivation to shut popular culture from our lives. We’re not going to turn off the television — let’s be realistic here. And neither are our kids. But study after study seems to suggest that “modifying the content that is viewed by young children may be warranted.”[3] Is there something to a results like this:

Adjusting for baseline Behavioral Problem Index scores and age, parental education, maternal depression, and cognitive and emotional support, violent television programming was associated with an increased risk for antisocial behavior for boys but not for girls. Neither educational nor nonviolent programming was associated with increased risk for boys or girls. [3]

Or are we playing the pattern-finding game and shifting responsibility for broken parenting to an easy target? Again, I don’t have the answer. But write something below and share what you think. I’ll look for more information and follow up later…

[1] youtube.com comment
[2] Longitudinal Relations Between Children’s Exposure to TV Violence and
Their Aggressive and Violent Behavior in Young Adulthood: 1977–1992, Developmental Psychology 2003, Vol. 39, No. 2, 201–221, http://www.apa.org/journals/releases/dev392201.pdf
[3] Violent Television Viewing During Preschool Is Associated With Antisocial Behavior During School Age, PEDIATRICS Vol. 120 No. 5 November 2007, pp. 993-999

Skeptical Tidbits

Off Topic #3: I heard from an acquaintance about something called “Naked Potty Training” — if anyone has more information (or a primary source) I can’t seem to locate it. Please share. It smells fishy. (And leaves stains on the carpet, I understand.)

The SkepDad Blog is meant to casually reflect on questions surrounding parenting and raising kids to become critical thinkers by asking questions and examining parenting ideas with a skeptical eye for facts and science. Each article is one dad's personal opinion, backed (where relevant) by literature and published research, or otherwise based on personal experiences and insights. SkepDad welcomes balanced discussion, comments, and ideas.

February 27, 2008 by Brad
Filed as: Encounters of the Mind

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Comments

2 Responses to “Kids and Television — Episode I: Huh?”

  1. Jess on March 5th, 2008 11:30 am

    On the point of commercial advertising, I found something I’d like to hear the skep/dad weigh in on:
    How to Inoculate your Children Against Advertising

    I realise that your daughter is more than a few years away from this stage, but it would be interesting to see if the results of this experiment can be duplicated.


  2. Brad on March 5th, 2008 11:49 am

    Ah, yes. An excellent experiment in subverting the power of advertising. I would add that I think the key line in the piece is the opening sentence: “I have a confession to make: I like commercials.” And this assertion is simply based on the fact that in order to think critically about something you need to pay attention to it first. I love commercials, too. I hate what they do, but I love them anyhow. (My confession is that I watch shows about commercials and sometimes don’t even click-forward on my PVR so I can watch for new ones.) But back to my point: parents who aren’t paying attention to advertising, learning to think critically themselves about what they are seeing, and understanding when they are being given “the sell” are not going to know where to start when it comes to teaching those same brain processes to their kids. And in fact this goes right back to one of my so-called themes… “over educated toys” that are really just clever marketing gimmicks.

    Though you are right… we’re a few years from this stage.


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