Why parents should be concerned about children’s media consumption

However, while the media offers resources and opportunities for learning, it is also a place an unsupervised child can easily run into trouble. Unfortunately, while many parents eagerly purchase the newest and shiniest gadgets for their children, many youngsters still have very little rules guarding their exposure to the media.

Risks of Media Use

Negative Influence

Exposure to media content depicting risky behaviours in teenagers including substance abuse, alcohol, self-injury, violence and sexual behaviours can create strong inclinations towards such a lifestyle as they begin to see such behaviours as normal and desirable.

CyberBullying

Giving children access to long and unsupervised hours on the internet increases their chances of becoming victims of internet bullies. Cyberbullying usually happens on social media, email, web forums or online games. It takes the form of hateful comments and messages, humiliating and untrue rumours about the victim. Cyberbullying can lead to depression, anxiety and academic struggles.

Sexting

Sexting involves sending images with nudity or sexually explicit text messages to someone else through social media, chat rooms, email or SMS. Many times, sex offenders take advantage of such platforms to exploit and manipulate young children.

Poor School Performance

The media can be very distracting and time-consuming. Without the necessary precaution from parents, time meant to be spent studying or completing homework can easily be diverted by children to enjoy entertainment media. Other times, a child may be tempted to multi-task - studying and texting. Such behaviours can have a negative effect on school performance.

Sleeping Problems

Exposure to screen light and stimulating content from the media can delay or disrupt sleep. Many children also develop unhealthy sleep habits because they deprive themselves of enough sleep in order to enjoy long hours of movie watching, gaming or texting.

Parental Control

Without your help as a parent, your child may not be able to fix the right boundaries and find the balance necessary for his/her healthy development. As the media increasingly becomes an enormous part of everyday living, it is most essential for parents to nurture children with a culture of responsible media consumption. It is your responsibility to set up the rules for media use in your home.

Why parents should be concerned about children’s media consumption Pulse Nigeria

What is recommended?

Be responsible for the media content your child interacts with by making the choice of what platforms they have access to.
Restrict the number of media options your child can have at once. Moderate the number of media channels they enjoy as well as the devices they use.
Set a media curfew. Keep devices out of their bedroom and most importantly out of your child’s reach during their bedtime.
Make time to partake in your child’s media usage once in a while. You can choose to co-watch a TV series or play a video game together.
Be strict with age ratings on movies. You can also read an online review of the movie before deciding to let your child watch it.
Teach them how to behave on social media. Discourage hateful posts and comments and remind them to speak up if they feel harassed by anyone online.
Regularly check up on their social media activities, by following them on social media.
Encourage them to go outdoors and enjoy other forms of entertainment.
Allow very minimal access to the media for your toddlers and instead opt for games that build problem-solving, reasoning and motor skills.
Spend time with your child to build their trust in you while understanding the areas where he/she needs your support the most.

At Lifeforte, our concern for our children extends from the classroom to other parts of their lives. We are committed to the all-round development of our students. This is why we work closely with parents to nurture every child for the best.

Reach us today at www.lifeforte.org. Let’s talk about your child’s future in our care.

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