ABSTRACT
The study of children, young people, and the media can be viewed as a microcosm of media studies. First, our field is occupied with the conventional three main realms of research of the field – audiences, texts, and institutions. Second, our research, policy debates, and initiatives, such as media literacy, demonstrate the importance of understanding the needs and capabilities of different types of audience. Third, in regard to audiences, media studies as a whole can learn from our field the importance of understanding that characterizations of populations, such as childhood, are socially constructed and culturally and historically situated. Thus, we understand that children are perceived to be a special, evolving, and dynamic group of people – characterized by unique developmental stages – who are gradually accumulating life experiences and developing knowledge as well as critical skills. All of these processes distinguish children and young people from older audiences. Indeed, they are often considered to be more vulnerable than adults to the influences of media. Hence the debate about whether some forms of protection and supervision should be required in order to insure the realization of young people’s most basic of human rights – healthy social, physical, and mental development and well-being. Living with a global media culture is one of the characteristics of childhood in the beginning
of the third millennium, as screens – of television, cinema, computers, mobile devices, and hand-held electronic games – are all part of everyday life. Sixty years of research of the most central screen in children’s lives, television, identified trends and key issues in regard to the roles of this medium, such as: long-term implications for behavior (e.g., violence, eating disorders, sexual experiences, consumer practices, pro-social behavior); cultivation of worldview and values (e.g., perception of gender, political attitudes, stereotypes of minorities); potential for learning (e.g., language, school-related curricula, cognitive skills); and, centrality in family and social life (e.g., structuring everyday routine, providing conversation topics, creating youth culture). Interestingly, while television continues to be dominant in families as well as for many individuals, this multifaceted medium is changing in front of our eyes. The device is now manufactured in every size and shape; audio-visual quality improves constantly and continues to perfect the illusion of mirroring a reality; and, perhaps, most important of all, the content offered is being integrated into the rapidly evolving media worlds of converging and mobile multiple screens.
