When some specific research reports “an overwhelmingly negative impact,” attention must be paid. Recently the New York Times carried the story of a research project of Yale Medical Center, the National Institutes of Health and California Pacific Medical Center.
This measured the affects of media — TV, movies, Internet, newspapers, magazines — on children. The news is not good; not unless you want a child to smoke, be sexually active and physically aggressive which, come to think of it, is a recipe for criminal conduct.
“They (young people) have hormonal urges, but even those who don’t are led to sexual activity if they spend time with media that seems to be always about sex. Even TV, while not explicitly sexual, has a high content of sexually oriented programs. They get the message that everyone is having sex.”
This from Dr. Janet Belsky, MTSU professor of psychology.
“And as far as the aggressiveness is concerned, we’ve known for years that watching such TV and movies fuels aggressive behavior in the young. Now, these video games, about which I know little, are more violent, it seems, than TV.”
Researchers were surprised that 80 percent of their studies found a negative health impact when youths spend time with TV, films, music, video games, magazines and the Internet.
Belsky says, “I must point out that time spent on TV and the Internet can result in learning.” That’s a faint hope she admits. The research project found “practically no” positive results from media exposure.
They did find a positive correlation between media saturation and childhood obesity and tobacco use; however, this from Mizuko Ito, University of California, Irving:
“It might surprise parents to learn that it is not a waste of time for their teens to hang out online.” Uh, yeah, but he makes no mention of sex, smoking and aggression.
Emailing a friend from the old days, I noted our adventures playing ball on a vacant lot in the ‘hood. Then I added, “There aren’t any vacant lots any more.”
So what’s that youngster to do for his mental and physical health?
Read?
Walk around the block?
Do pushups?
Good luck with all that. |
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