Children's Television Viewing as Influenced by Parents

Children's Television Viewing as Influenced by Parents

Television can play a huge role in family relationships. How families decide to use it greatly impacts whether this role is positive, or negative. Below is a list demonstrating how families can cause their viewing habits to fall under either category.

Questions to consider:

Overall, do you believe that TV plays a positive role or a negative role in child development?

Can parents influence their children enough to decrease negative effects and increase positive effects?

POSITIVE

Parental mediation can lead to education.

Robert Abelman remarked on a research study conducted by Jerome and Dorothy Singer, examining the influence of family interaction patterns on preschoolers' television viewing. “They found that the comprehension of television by kindergartners and first graders, as well as their beliefs regarding the reality of the medium, were reliably linked with parental mediation of television and to more general patterns of interaction” (1991). Abelman found through his research that when parents speak with their children about television on a deeper level and form moral judgments, the children are able to learn more from the material and understand real life applications better than children whose parents simply talk about what they are seeing. Children raised in such an environment are “less fearful of being harmed, less aggressive, and more willing to wait patiently than are children with parents that simply comment on television’s array of people and events” (1991). Parents that are willing to interact with their children and discuss the material foster an environment through which their children grow intellectually and psychosocially.

Another study conducted by Ron Warren found that parental mediation can help children, specifically preschoolers, better understand what they are watching and help them to gain viewing skills that are typically developed over a longer span of time. The development of these skills is important as it helps children watch shows critically and learn from what they are viewing. According to Warren, “In combination with parental commentary, restrictive mediation was found to boost 5-6 year olds comprehension of plot elements, separation of fantasy from reality and comprehension of production techniques” (2003). This means that development that normally takes quite some time, such as the separation of fantasy from reality, can be enhanced by parental mediation. Warren found that parental mediation was especially successful when parents commented negatively on content that seemed objectionable.

Additionally, as discussed in a study performed by Sahara Byrne, it has been found that “interventions are more successful when they are evaluative, aim to increase emotional involvement with media characters, are taught in a fun tone, and encourage participants to be active in the process of learning” (2009). Byrne proves that this is scientifically accurate through her discussion of nodes, explaining that children are more likely to learn when there is a task linked to their learning. Links will be stronger, and learning behavior will last longer. “This age group is moving from the concrete to the formal operational stage of development and is expected to respond positively to learning critical thinking skills.”

Television can act as a discussion starter.

According to Pepukayi Chitakunye and Pauline Maclaran “television programs are a conversational resource at mealtimes in many families in both formal and informal settings” (2012). They can act as a mediator and spark conversation between family members, leading to connections and long-lasting bonds. Relationships based on sports in particular are hugely impacted by television. Families are able to relate to the same sports teams and create a shared identity through the sports and teams that they watch. Together, families experience wins and losses and are able to celebrate with one another throughout the process. Television gives children a way to relate to what their elders enjoy, and grow to enjoy similar hobbies as a result.

NEGATIVE

Children are not fully developed and may not understand content.

Ron Warren also recognized that children that are not closely mediated may experience negative effects brought on by television, particularly in the form of increased aggressive behavior. According to Warren, “Children experience the greatest aggressive effects because of their inability to distinguish fantasy from reality and to understand motivations for aggressive behavior” (2003). Basically, children see fantasized aggression and perceive it to be realistic, carrying it over into their own lives. The children believe aggression is a normal reaction because it is what they were exposed to on television.

Television can cause an unnecessary structural change in family interactions and mealtimes.

In a study performed by Pepukayi Chitakunye and Pauline Maclaran, it was found that television sets can play a very large role in family mealtimes. The television is typically not mobile, so homes are oftentimes set up around the television, usually making it so that television viewing can occur during mealtimes. As the researchers stated, this gives the television power to challenge typical eating behavior and norms. Family mealtimes have historically been a time of interaction and a coming-together, but televisions are taking away from that. “The informality associated with television viewing is also seeping into the formal eating environment” (2012). Families no longer feel the need to ask each other about their day or discuss plans. Instead families sit together watching television, either in silence or discussing the program. “When the television enters a network of existing family mealtime practices, it vies for meaning within that web (Epp and Price 2010), forcing family members to re-negotiate their mealtime relationships and consumption practices. Here, the agentive role of the television is central in managing family mealtime tensions and relationships.” The television, in this sense, decides how the family is going to interact and how it will be structured. Historically, mealtimes have been run by parents with children acting as subordinates. However, television takes away from this norm and makes the family meal an even playing field. This can create an odd family dynamic, and may even decrease the parents’ influence on their child.

Parents can unintentionally alter the way children view things.

Children look to their parents as social models for their behavior, relying on them to demonstrate how to act appropriately. Included in this behavior is television viewership. According to Sarah E. Vaala and Amy Bleakley, children have a tendency to imitate the behavior of their parents. “Research has found that the amount of time parents spend viewing television is predictive of adolescents’ and children’s time spent viewing TV” (2015). So, if a parent tends to watch a great deal of television, it is likely that their children will do the same. This will expose children to a greater amount of content, which likely will not be what the parents ordinarily want them to be viewing. Additionally, children will probably sit down with their parents to view their parents’ shows. There is a good chance that this content will be more mature than what they necessarily should be watching. Parents typically don’t restrict their own viewing to children’s shows, so children may be exposed to adult content.

Resources

Abelman, R. (1991). Parental communication style and its influence on exceptional children's television viewing. Roeper Review, 14(1).

Byrne, S. (2009). Media Literacy Interventions: What makes them Boom or Boomerang? Communication Education, 58(1), 1-14.

Chitakunye, P., & Maclaran, P. (2012). Materiality and family consumption: The role of the television in changing mealtime rituals. Consumption Markets & Culture, 50-70.

Nathanson, A. (2015). Media and the Family: Reflections and Future Directions. Journal of Children and Media, 133-139.

Vaala, S., & Bleakley, A. (2015). Monitoring, Mediating, and Modeling: Parental Influence on Adolescent Computer and Internet Use in the United States. Journal of Children and Media, 9(1), 40-57.

Warren, R. (2003). Parental Mediation of Preschool Children's Television Viewing. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 394-417.

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