Other Resources

Article:
Title: Parents Should Limit Children's Exposure to Violence in the Media
Author: Madeline Levine

Based on the experience of a psychologist and mother of a 3 year old son the article pretends to define what is too scary for children. The sensorial experience in children is experienced differently according to their age and the way they become familiar with the story. An example is the difference of watching a movie and reading a book, where in the second case the child chooses how scared he or she is depending on the attention he is paying to the story or the reader. Children in preschool age don’t have the ability to distinguish what is apparent and what is real, for example in the movie Jurassic Park preschool children were scared by the dinosaurs while children between the ages of 6 and 7 were perturbed by the fact that adults jeopardized the safety of the kids in the film. Between the ages of 8 and 9 children are capable of understanding that television or movies are a product of imagination and are more affected by the news because it’s a narration of real events. A good example of this is the case of a girl called Polly who was abducted from her house and murdered, and after these news many children showed signs of anxiety and post traumatic disorder. Parents have a duty to protect their children from media violence and a good method is dosing the world according to their age and stage so they can expand their knowledge and develop their abilities.

Reference:

Levine, M. (2001). Parents Should Limit Children's Exposure to Violence in the Media. In J. D. Torr (Ed.), Current Controversies. Violence in the Media. San Diego: Greenhaven Press. (Reprinted from Parents, 1996) Retrieved from http://ic.galegroup.com:80/ic/ovic/ViewpointsDetailsPage/ViewpointsDetailsWindow?disableHighlighting=false&prodId=OVIC&action=1&activityType=BasicSearch&javax.portlet.action=viewPortletAction&documentId=GALE|EJ3010069212&catId=