Jayde's Media and Human Development Blog

  I had no idea that children's TV programs had such effects on them! Believe it or not, Sesame Street, Blue's Clues, Super Why!, Daniel Tiger, and other kid's shows have some impressive benefits.  Sesame Street: watching at age 5 led to having higher grades in high school, reading more books for fun, expressing less aggressive attitudes, and having higher levels of achievement motivation. They also showed better outcomes in literacy and numeracy, health and safety knowledge, and social reasoning and attitudes toward out-groups! Blue's Clues: led to higher intelligence, vocabulary, information acquisition, problem solving skills, and prosocial behavior in addition to increased listening skills in English. Super Why!: showed higher language development, phonemic awareness, and letter knowledge. Daniel Tiger: showed higher levels of self-efficacy, emotion recognition, and empathy. Additionally, they were more prone to trying new foods! What other shows do you think might ...

  I was reading an article by F. Brady, published by the U.S. Department of Justice: Office of Justice Programs called Should the Government Regulate Violence in the Media? . Brady mentioned the idea of if it is the government's responsibility to regulate the amount of violence shown in media. He said that how children are influenced by violence in the media needs to be shown as a child protection and health care issue. This reminded me of the issue that books don't have a rating system. If violence in media is leading to less pro-social behaviors in children and possibly even increased violence in children and adolescents, then is it the responsibility of the government to regulate what is shown in media? Is it an issue of free speech or is the mental and physical health of children more important? Let me know your thoughts!

  While kids are still fooled by advertisements, as they get older, they get more skeptical of the ads they see. Younger children are more easily influenced by advertisements. For example, in a study about age differences in kids' trust of advertising, almost 60% of kids ages 4-6 said that toy commercials always tell the truth. However, less than 5% of kids ages 9-11 said that toy commercials always tell the truth. Additionally, 80% of kids ages 4-6 chose "always" to go with the statement, "Toy commercials look like fun. How much fun are they when you buy them?", whereas only 5% of kids ages 9-11 chose "always" to go with that same statement. So... maybe advertisers' time would be more effectively spent producing ads meant for kids ages 4-6!