I read an interesting artile by David Moore, who interviewed Jim Steyer about his new book "The Other Parent: The Inside Story of the Media's Impact On Our Children." The two talked about how Media has taken the place of the parent. For instance, childern spend on average 40 hours a week with media and only 17 with parents. Streyer writes to parents in his book, tellin them how they can overcome this phenomenon. He says that simply sitting with the childern when they watch TV and directing them to what is good and what is bad is crucial. Also from the start, parents should develop healthy media diets and habbits for their kids. He also thinks that government should step in and show public responsibilty. He thinks that positive TV has slipped out of the status quo and that no one has stepped up to be a leader in poiengering the postive change in TV media.
This article needs to be jammed into everyones cerebral cortex. Just think about the fact that media is taking the place of parents. The emerging youth is being parented by TV producer's ideals and ideology. David Moore is illuminating an important book and subject, how the media is teaching the youth how to be. Steyer is giving parents the tools to change this though, because it is a negative way to bring kids up.
We should care about this article because the future of our generation is being schooled by TV ideals that are there soley for entertainment and money. What will our childern be like who watch people getting drunk and picking up girls on MTV? What positive, extraordinary thing will come out of a generation educated on bullshit? I'm not sure. But if i was a parent i would raise my kids to the life lessons i learned and not what the TV teaches them. Parents should care about what their kids are learning about on TV. It is very easy to give up the role of "parent" to the TV. But the child will be that much better for it if the parent steps in and intervens.
http://www.medialifemagazine.com/news2002/jun02/jun17/3_wed/news4wednesday.html
It seems to me that more questions need to be asked about this article (and book). OK, so kids are only spending 17 hours a week with their parents. How does that compare to the amount of time spent with parents 20, 40, 60, 100 years ago? Are the 40 hours being spent with television per week in 2000 less wholesome or more influential than whatever kids were doing instead in previous generations?
ReplyDeleteWhy are parents allowing their kids to watch so much TV? Is it ignorance, or are parents physically less available in the home than they were in previous generations (due to single-parent homes, the need for both parents to work, etc.)? If the latter is the case, then it's not enough to "educate" parents about the alleged evils of TV; larger social change would be necessary so that parents had more opportunities to be at home with their kids.