Words: 753
Medal In many different forms surrounds people and their everyday lives. A 2005 study done on children and the media showed that American youth between the ages of 8 and 18 spent an average of 6 h hours a day using media . Throughout a typical Child’s day they are surrounded by so many deferent forms of media: books. Television, movies, music, videotapes, and the internet.. Children are all affected differently by their media exposure depending on their age, sex and personalities. Mass media, and its components, are all very powerful and can easily influence a person’s mind, especially children.
Children are more vulnerable to the media and its messages due to their eagerness to learn, less real-world experiences and less developed cognitive skills. The studies shown in the book, Children, Adolescents and the Media (Strasbourg, Wilson, Jordan. 2009) were all performed in 2005. Although 8 years ago does not seem like a long span of time, when it comes to technology and it’s constant growth- it could feel like a century. In 2005, a typical American child’s media of choice was the television. As a child, I loved to watch the television, but I also really enjoyed listening to music.
During the first few years of my life, all I did was eat, cry, sleep and watch Barney. Barney was my favorite show, with all the fun songs to sing along to; which I could still recite 19 years later. Then as I got a little older, my parents bought me a CD player and which enabled me to listen to all my favorite bands Like N*Sync and The Backstreet Boys. Old walk around the house with my earphones on, switching the CDC once I got bored. Now that we’re in 2013, we have smart phones, with all forms of media right at our fingertips.
Then there’s pads, and tablets, and laptops and so much more. It takes one click of a button to go from listening to music to watching a movie. When I was a child, my parents considered the time I spent around media too much. My 8 year old brother Is always flipping through channels, or playing his video games on his OXBOW, and pad. He is constantly “media multitasking’ and my parents are a lot more lenient with his media usage than they were with me. Since there is so much technology readily available, It is hard to control how much media a child is exposed to everyday.
As a child, I had a strict bedtime, no television in my room and here was always time during the day to walk to the park with my dad. Now my brother is up late watching television in his bed, or taking his pad to his room and playing games. In my opinion, parents used to be much stricter with their children. Now with all the newest technology that surrounds everyone it Is so hard to monitor the amount of time spent on the internet or play video games. As my little brother grows and develops, he is Influenced by the media more and more.
No one in my family is big sports fans, but every since my brother was a doodler he has had a love for baseball. He plays on two different teams, and when he’s not playing on the field he watches ESP. or plays it on his xx. It amazes me how much he absorbs from watching sport talk shows and documentaries about the players. At Just 8 years old, he knows more about players and retired players than t Off conversations with grown men about what players they’re trading, how they’re playing and even statistics. On the other hand, sometimes he absorbs information that’s not-so-good.
Since my parents don’t necessarily control what he watches when e goes to sleep, he’ll watch movies and TV shows that aren’t the most appropriate. There’s times where he’ll quote a movie, or a Joke that he is way too young to be saying. Media exposure has changed so much from when I was younger to now watching my younger brother grow up. With all the new development of technology, it is so hard not to find yourself scrolling through your internet feeds, or playing a game on your phone to kill time. The media has always been a part of a person’s daily life, but in this day and age the exposure to media and it’s content is increasing.