Good Media
Waking Up to Media’s Influence
Andrea Rock, contributing editor
Wow. There is so much research out there on the myriad ways that media may be shaping our kids’ values, self-image, their very lives! Each month it’s a struggle to know where to begin! So this month, I offer you a selection of but a few of the many marvelous books available, to us to guide us through the landscape of modern media. I’d love your feedback on any of these!
Endangered Minds: Why Children Don't Think And What We Can Do About It
by Jane Healy, Ph.D.
In this landmark study, Healy proposes that along with several other cultural factors, too much television, may be the root cause not only of the dramatic increase in cases of ADHD, but may in fact be changing the way that our kids’ brains are hardwiring. And those changes in hardwiring may compromise our children’s ability to acquire language, math and higher thinking skills. Even long-revered, educational programs like Sesame Street may be hurting them more than helping them. With recommendations for parents and teachers, this is a book not only to read, but also to give as a gift to every new parent!
Born to Buy: The Commercialized Child and the New Consumer Culture
by Juliet B. Schor
Schor combines research with anecdote, and paints a nasty picture of the corporate world that is targeting younger and younger children, transforming them into greedy, brand-loyal consumers. She reveals that the average American10-year-old has memorized about 400 brands, the average kindergartner can identify some 300 logos and from as early as age two kids are "bonded to brands." She offers solutions to parents, educators, and even the advertisers themselves.
Branded: The Buying And Selling Of Teenagers
by Alissa Quart
The author exposes, from her own research and from in-depth conversations with teens, how the corporate world takes advantage of teens’ fragile egos to get them hooked on brand-named goods that they “can’t live without.” She shows how companies target kids to be “teen trendspotters,” who in turn influence and create “buzz” among their peers. And she shows how girls internalize this buzz through a process of “self-branding” that leads them to obsess over getting “boob jobs” or to develop Weblogs about anorexia. This book is as painful as it is eye-opening.
Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture
by Peggy Orenstein
With marvelously engaging writing, Orenstein traces her own exploration of the media’s increasingly early sexualization of our daughters. As she shares her own experiences as a mother, she explores the world of Disney, American Girl Place and Pottery Barn, international toy fairs and even the world of child beauty pageants. She concludes that the “Girl Power” days of the 1990s have morphed into the present message: that girls get their power from their appearance. And she aggress with the American Psychological Association that our daughters are growing up at greater risk for depression, eating disorders, unhealthy body image, and risky sexual behavior. A must-read for parents and teachers.
CyberSafe: Protecting and Empowering Kids in the Digital World of Texting, Gaming, and Social Media
by Gwenn Schurgin O’Keefe. MD, FAAP
Published by the American Academy of Pediatrics and authored by a doctor, this book will help parents who may feel overwhelmed with the digital landscape — Facebook, MySpace, gaming systems, mp3 players, cell phones and more — and their children’s nonstop use of them. Dr. O’Keeffe includes vital information about brain development and psychosocial development at various ages. The book will help parents to help their children get the most out of technology, teach their kids how to deal with cyberbullying, and help them set boundaries for usage for each age group.
Video Games & Your Kids: How Parents Stay in Control
by Hilarie Cash, Kim Mcdaniel and Ken Lucas
Two of the authors are psychotherapists who believe that obsession with video games has risen to the level of addiction worthy of possible listing as a psychological disorder. Drawing from examples in their own practice, they show parents how video gaming may have physiological effects on their children, as well as a negative effect on both their academic and social skills — and they explore these in the context of childhood developmental stages. And a bonus: each chapter ends with practical advice, and the final chapter gives suggestions to parents who may need professional intervention.
