STFU Moffat

feministdisney:

I think it’s good to know some of the “science” behind why media examination is important, especially when kids are concerned, so here’s some excerpts from an interesting post in Psychology Today.

Young children are particularly vulnerable to being influenced and not being able to separate reality from television. Often times this leads to children reenacting such images… Since children are very impressionable such larger than life media images seem not only real but serve as role models….

To be clear, they’re not saying that a child is unaware that the TV is a separate place from their reality. Rather, “There is no fine line between what they see on the “boob tube” and what can happen everyday.” So: you and I might see a movie about 1000 snakes erupting from under a bed at night, and know it can never really happen. A child, though, could see this as a real possibility.

Studies suggest that parental involvement is a core factor in children understanding media or believing some of the “make believe” to be true. In my story my parents were not watching me - I was left to my 6 year old devices and luckily just sprained a wrist. Reports also reveal that kids also listen when parents interject into sitcoms (i.e. explaining not likely scenarios or not appropriate language usage).

Definitely a good idea to have these conversations if/when you can. However,  realistically speaking, parents and/or other adults will not always be around or involved in the media children consume. Which is why ideally you promote children’s programs that have good/healthy messages (like: not promoting shows with harmful critiques of girls’ bodies that could affect the body image of the viewer).