The Effect of Visual Media on the Social Behavior of Children

Common Sense Media, in its 2012 survey on children, teens and entertainment media, notes that children spend more time interacting with media than with any other activity except sleeping. Such interaction, which may involve watching television, playing video games or surfing the Internet, has become normal so that people do not realize how it influences them. As a mother, you should be alert to the kind of content that reaches your child through visual media. Exposure to visual media can have varied effects on his social behavior.

  1. Aggressive Behavior

    • According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, your son could develop an aggressive behavior resulting from exposure to media violence through video games, television news or movies. Such a behavior develops after he copies the things he sees in various visual media and thinks that violence is a suitable response to the challenges of life. It gives children the notion that the world is scarier or meaner that it seems to be.

    Increased Fear

    • According to a presentation in 2007 by Dale Kunkel, a member of the American Psychological Association, children exposed to visual media with violent scenes will become frightened of falling victims to violence. Such kids avoid real-life situations similar to a scene in the visual media. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the extent to which media content scares a child depends on his age. For example, 8-year old kids may become frightened after watching programs with scary characters while older children may feel scared by scenes depicting natural disasters or wars.

    Encourage Pro-social Behavior

    • Visual media depicting educational content can foster pro-social behavior among your children. They can acquire such behavior via observational learning, which involves learning by watching, retaining and replicating someone̵7;s model behavior. In this case, the visual media provides an opportunity to learn about different cultures and new things that they may never find in their surroundings. For instance, your kid could learn to share, assist others or empathize through exposure to episodes of Barney and Friends.

    Encourage Tolerance

    • Your child may become tolerant of people of different cultures when he watches a program showing characters from various ethnic and racial groups interacting with one another. This is possible through social learning where people acquire a social behavior by watching and copying the actions of an influential model. Portrayal of a minority group in a positive light by visual media can reduce stereotyping of such cultures by children watching the content. For example, watching Pocahontas may cause a respectful attitude in your child towards Native Americans.

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