Relation Between Children and Media

By Risa Nakajima

We live in an environment which is filled with many mediums such as TVs, newspapers, computers and cell phones. Especially children’s environment may be changed by increasing media. In fact, a book “Children, Adolescents, And The Media”says that a higher frequency of children are eating meals in front of the TV, and a higher percentage of children have TVs in their bedrooms. But some　parents are concerned about the number of media children use. And parents are trying to limit the amount of time children spend with screen media to 2 hours per day or less. There are several concrete suggestions that might be helpful for families trying to make the most of the media such a monitoring children’s time with all screen media, never putting a television set in a children’s bedroom, eliminating background television and so on.  How do you think about these parents?  I disagree. Of course, we should be concerned about children’s health like them. Watching TV or using computer for long time makes children’s eyes go bad. Also, children do not get exercise if they are absorbed in using mediums. But media has also positive affect. Media educate children. For example, children can develop their skills in typing by using computer. They can also know about circumstances of society such as politics, economy and so on by watching news. Comedy and music programs also make children relax. Cell phone gives people good chance of friendly relations. So children need to use many mediums. I think the idea of limiting the amount of time children spend with screen media to 2 hours per day or less is going too far.