Too Much Media is Bad For Children

Report Shows Health Problems Linked to Television and Video Game Use

Dec 7, 2008 Suzanne Pitner

Too much media use damages children's health, resulting in higher risk of obesity, tobacco, drug, and alcohol use, and sexual activity.

A new study reveals what good parents already know. Too much media exposure can adversely affect a child’s health. Not only is it important to monitor what children watch and what games they play, but also how many hours a day they interact with media.

Barack Obama has been urging the American people to turn off the television and video games and spend more time with their children. Children spend an average of more than seven hours a day with electronic media, making them a powerful influence on their values and assumptions about life.

Negative Effects of Media Use on Children’s Health

Overall, 80% of the studies showed that the more hours children spend interacting with media, the more likely they are to develop negative health issues.

The strongest link was found between television viewing and obesity. 96% of the studies showed the more hours children watch television each week, the more likely they will become overweight. Common sense denotes that inactivity, combined with junk food consumption driven by advertisements, will create an obesity problem.

Fourteen studies addressed media use and sexual activity. Thirteen of these, or 93%, showed that more media exposure increases the likelihood of a child engaging in risky sexual behavior.

A strong correlation was also found between media use and drug or alcohol abuse, low academic achievement, and attention deficit hyperactivity behavior. On the flip side, the study revealed that the fewer hours spent on television each week, the more likely a child would earn a bachelor’s degree by age 26.

One Positive Result

Not all the results were negative. According to the executive summary, one study revealed a positive correlation between academic achievement and a certain type of website. Which type of website was not specified.

Implications of the Research

The results of this study send a clear message. Children should spend less time in front of media, get more exercise and interaction with people. Children should be taught media literacy at an early age, and learn how too much media can hurt them. Policymakers should develop public service campaigns that encourage healthy choices. Limits should be set on junk food advertising aimed at children.

About the Study

The National Institutes of Health Department of Clinical Bioethics, (NIH), paired with Common Sense Media to fund a meta analysis of the effects of media use on children’s health.

Reviewers of the meta analysis were from NIH, Yale University, and the California Pacific Medical Center. One of the researchers, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel of the Bioethics Department at the NIH, is the brother of the incoming Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel. This is significant because it is hopeful he will have a voice in developing White House policies regarding media.

A meta analysis is a research strategy in which the results of many studies are compiled to create an overall picture. MEDLINE, EMBASE, and other research databases were used to locate studies for this meta analysis.

If studies met five quantity and quality requirements they were included in the meta analysis. 1,800 studies conducted since 1980 were analyzed, and 173 met the researchers’ criteria.

The analysis examined seven health outcomes:

  1. Obesity
  2. Tobacco use
  3. Early sexual behavior
  4. Drug abuse
  5. Alcohol abuse
  6. Low academic achievement
  7. ADHD, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Research included television, movies, music, internet, video games or electronic games, and magazines. Journalism, advertising, and public service announcements, and social networking sites were not included.

Resources

Common Sense Media Executive Summary, Retrieved on December 7, 2008 from http://www.commonsensemedia.org/about-us/press-room/press-releases/study-reveals-media-damages-child-health

Stelter, Brian, "Report Ties Children’s Use of Media to Their Health", New York Times, December 1, 2008

The copyright of the article Too Much Media is Bad For Children in Media Literacy is owned by Suzanne Pitner. Permission to republish Too Much Media is Bad For Children in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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