Media and Children

Media and Children Overview

Today’s children are spending an average of seven hours a day on entertainment media, including televisions, computers, phones and other electronic devices. Meanwhile, advertising aimed at children is no longer confined to TV commercials and product placement in movies. Today, children are exposed to messages from social media influencers, hidden ads in video games, data collection across many platforms, virtual reality encounters with strangers in games and targeted social media advertisements that are intended to make children take action. It’s no wonder that parents come to pediatricians with so many questions. It also underscores the importance of the need for continued research on the impact of media on children’s health and useful resources that help improve a pediatrician’s ability to counsel families on the healthy use of media in all forms.

Once such resource is the Family Media Plan . Designed to help families make wise media choices, the AAP recommends that parents and caregivers develop a plan that takes into account the health, education and entertainment needs of each individual child as well as the whole family; and then follow the family media plan together, revising it when necessary.