Media Violence & Children
E-mail Discussion Lists

Every day, children are bombarded by messages and images from the mediamessages about how to behave, what choices to make and what to think. Children even try to emulate what they learn from television, video games and the Internet. They're more susceptible to these messages than adults, because they haven't developed good judgment or the ability to process the information they're given.

Top Ten Steps for Parents from:


The Other Parent: The Inside Story of the Media's Effect on Our Children by James P. Steyer, Chelsea Clinton
Steyer's investigation into how media affects children. Think about it. If another adult spent five or six hours a day with your kids, regularly exposing them to sex, violence and rampantly commercial values, you would probably forbid that person to have further contact with your children. Our kids are learning to live in an adult world before they are ready. They are besieged by images of sex, commercialism, and violence via mainstream programming.

Families Interested in Responsible Media Founded by James Steyer, F.I.R.M. is dedicated to helping families deal with today's media. To give parents tools and resources so they can make better choices.

Is media violence desensitizing our children? -- Should filmmakers be held responsible for copycat crimes? Is there a place for censorship in our society?

Is The Media Your Child's Other Parent?

Media Violence -- American children and adolescents are exposed to increasing amounts of media violence, especially in television, movies, video games, and youth-oriented music. By 18, the average young person will have viewed 200,000 acts of violence on television.

Where to place the blame? -- Families of 3 students killed in a 1997 high school shooting rampage blame media violence . They sued entertainment companies for $130 million, charging violent computer games, Internet porn and a Leonardo DiCaprio movie contributed to the attack.

Letter-Writing Campaign: Movies -- Despite the ratings system, children under 17 are able to rent and buy tickets to R-rated movies with relative ease.

Drive-By Journalism -- Rolling Stone's crime reports misrepresent young people and America's violence. Other than experts such as Princeton's John DiIulio ("adolescent superpredator") and Northeastern University's James Alan Fox, ("teenage crime storm") few have contributed more to the misportrayal of teenage crime in America than Randall Sullivan, Rolling Stone's contributing editor.

1950's Frederic Wertham -- A psychiatrist warned "comic books and the comic book culture in which we force children to live." By 1964, he was coming down hard on television as "a school for violence."

Kids and Violent Play -- Jane Katch reflects on her students' violent fantasy play and real violence. She talks about students' favorite games, such as suicide, and how parents and schools can work together to limit exposure to media violence. Tips for setting rules for recess and getting parents to set rules about media and violence. Education World

GetNetWise -- The Internet offers constructive opportunities for learning, entertainment, and personal growth but parents are concerned about the risks online. The challenge is for parents to educate themselves and their children about how to use the Internet safely.

Online Privacy Alliance -- Online communications provides tremendous opportunities and unique challenges for young children who do not understand the consequences of giving out personal information online.

Parents, Kids & Communications -- The FCC is providing parents with tools and ideas for communications technologies in broadcast television, cable television, the telephone and the Internet. For more information on any communications-related issues, contact the FCC at [email protected], or 1-888-CALL-FCC (TTY 1-888-TELL-FCC).

TV-Turnoff Network, formerly TV-Free America -- Rather than waiting for others to make "better" TV, we can turn it off and reclaim time for our families, our friends, and for ourselves.

Smart Guide to Kid's TV can help you choose good programs for your children. Along with reading, playing and time with you, the right mix of children's television can spur curiosity and discovery. American Academy of Pediatrics

Media Myths about Teenagers -- Today's media portrayals of teens employ the stereotypes once openly applied to racial and ethnic groups: violent, reckless, hypersexed, welfare-draining, obnoxious, ignorant.

Hitler youth? -- Cheap, easily purchased firearms. Bomb-making instructions on the Internet. Ultraviolent pop-culture images. Oppressive teenage cliques. Stressed-out, neglectful parents. Stressed-out, angry kids.

The Book Police -- Deemed offensive a memoir by Maya Angelou was threatened with censorship.

See No Evil: A Guide to Protecting Our Children from Media Violence by Madeline Levine

Stop Teaching Our Kids to Kill: A Call to Action Against TV, Movie and Video Game Violence
by Dave Grossman, Gloria Degaetano, David Grossman
The goal of this book is to make people aware of what the prolific use of violence in television, movies, and video games is doing to our children. Teaching Our Kids to Kill calls to the table the makers of this violence to address the myriad scientific research on the subject--research that couldn't make it clearer how solid and deadly the link is between this kind of graphic imagery and the escalating incidences of youth violence--and understand and change what they are doing and the dangerous effects their products are having on our children.

PLEASE CONTRIBUTE TODAY!

Kari & Associates
PO Box 6166
Olympia, WA 98507

Copyright Kari Sable 1994-2006

PLEASE CONTRIBUTE TODAY!
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