PERSPECTIVE
Effect of Electronic Media on Children
MUNNI RAY AND KANA RAM JAT
From the Department of Pediatrics, Advanced Pediatric Center, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research,
Chandigarh 160 012, India.
Correspondence to: Munni Ray, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Advanced Pediatric Center, Postgraduate
Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh 160 012, India. [email protected]
Radio, television (TV), movies, video games, cell phones, and computer networks have assumed central roles in our
children’s daily lives. The media has demonstrated potentially profound effects, both positive and negative, on children’s
cognitive, social, and behavioral development. Considering the increasing exposure of children to newer forms of media,
we decided to review the current literature on the effects of media on child health both in the Western countries and India.
It is widely accepted that media has profound influence on child health, including violence, obesity, tobacco and alcohol
use, and risky sexual behaviors. Simultaneously, media may have some positive effects on child health. We need to find
ways to optimize the role of media in our society, taking advantage of their positive attributes and minimizing their negative
ones. We need to understand better how to reverse the negative impact of media and make it more positive.
Key words: Media, Child, India.
O
minutes daily(2). Total media exposure time for most
of the children exceeded the time spent in all other
activities except sleep.
ne of the notable changes in our social
environment in the 21st century has been
the saturation of our culture and daily
lives by the mass media. Unfortunately,
the consequences of one particular common element
of the electronic mass media have a particularly
detrimental effect on children’s well being. It is now
not just kids in bad neighborhoods or with “bad”
friends who are likely to be exposed to bad things
when they go out on the street. A “virtual” bad street
is easily available to most youth now in their very
homes.
Although data from India is limited, a significant
portion of our children also have considerable TV
viewing per day i.e. >2 hours/day(3).
EFFECT OF MEDIA ON CHILDREN AND
ADOLESCENTS
Effects of the mass media have been found to be farreaching and potentially harmful in influencing the
health-related behaviors of children and adolescents,
many of whom are not yet mature enough to
distinguish fantasy from reality, particularly when it
is presented as “real life.” This is particularly
important for very young children who
developmentally think concretely and are unable to
distinguish fantasy from reality. Furthermore, time
spent with media decreases the amount of time
available for pursuing other more healthy activities
such as sports, physical activity, community service,
cultural pursuits, and family time.
MAGNITUDE OF MEDIA EXPOSURE
In the United States (US) over 80% of adolescents
own at least one form of new media technology (e.g.,
cell phone, personal data assistant, computer for
Internet access), and they are using this technology
with increasing frequency to text and instant
message, e-mail, blog, and access social networking
websites(1). A national Kaiser Family Foundation
(US) survey found that children aged 8 to 18 years
had an average media usage time of 6 hours and 21
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