Viewing Characteristics in Children

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Viewing Characteristics in Children
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General Viewing Stats

• 98 of American households have at least on TV
  set
• Children aged 2-5 watch 14 hours of TV per week
• 66 of Americans eat dinner while watching TV
• Children request products by brand name 13-18
  times when shopping with a parent

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Viewing CharacteristicsPreschoolers (ages 2-5)

• have trouble distinguishing make-believe from
  reality.
• easily frightened by violence on television
• like shows which encourage participation

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Viewing CharacteristicsSchool-aged children
(ages 6-10)

• Hungry for information about the world but, at
  the same time, have many fears about life which
  television may accentuate
• Tend to watch cartoons and adult fare. The
  problem arising from exposure to adult shows is
  that children are flung headfirst into themes
  beyond their years.
• Still modeling their behavior on that of their
  parents

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Viewing Characteristics

• "TV takes children across the globe before
  parents give them permission to cross the street.
  They don't necessarily understand everything they
  see on television. But they are exposed to many
  aspects of the adult world that their parents
  might not have wanted to tell them about.
• (Children and Television Growing Up In a Media
  World by Joshua Meyrowitz)

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Viewing CharacteristicsYoung adolescents (11-15)

• Viewing generally drops at this age as
  preoccupations turn to schoolwork and friends
• "Teens are influenced by media representation of
  behaviors, attitudes and values. Their own ego
  identity may be impaired if media values are
  taken seriously, if popular culture dictates the
  teen's values, and if teens do not have a wide
  variety of interests, hobbies, and skills."
• (Television and the Lives of Our Children by
  Gloria DeGaetana, M.Ed., 1993)

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Kids Take on MediaNew Research in Canadian Media

• Canadian Teachers Federation
• 2003

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Television and Canadian Kids

• Children and adolescents whose parents
  supervise their TV viewing and who discuss
  violence, racism and sexism in the media, are
  more likely to be aware of the negative impact of
  media violence.
• Many children, however, are on their own.

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• 8 per cent of Canadian kids aged 8-15 have their
  own TV and 35 per cent of these have their own
  VCR.
• Nearly half the students surveyed say they
  receive no parental guidance on which TV programs
  they can watch.

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• In grades 3-6 roughly 30 of kids claim they
  never have adult input into what they watch. From
  grades 6-8 this rises to 60.
• Despite this most kids say that they watch
  television with their family close to 90 of the
  time.
• Young people themselves recognize the need for
  supervision. Their top-rated TV show is one they
  believe younger children should not be watching.

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• Research found that approximately 75 per cent
  of children and adolescents chose their favorite
  television programs because of two attributes
  "exciting" and "funny.
• The "violent" component was the least favored
  of all, ranking at the bottom of the list of 10
  possible attributes presented to children in the
  survey.
• These children are more likely to regard media
  violence as benign.

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• When asked why they disliked certain video
  games, "too boring" and "not enough action" were
  cited as the top two reasons.
• "This sends a clear message to the industry that
  violence does not increase the popularity of a
  program, and that educational programming has to
  compete with the best in order to be successful
  with children.

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• Frequent news watchers feel more worried about
  the world but also more motivated to do something
  about it.
• Younger children are the ones most frightened
  by the news, feeling their personal safety is at
  risk.

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• Girls are more likely to be sensitive to the
  harmful effects of media violence 60 per cent of
  younger boys play video and computer games daily
  and 75 per cent of kids in Grades 7-10 watch
  restricted movies at home.
• More than half the students surveyed in Grades 7
  to 10 said they had witnessed real acts of
  violence that mimicked computer games, videos or
  television shows. 

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