Kids and media

Listening to the morning news, I hear reports of floods in the Midwest with 23 dead and many missing; a shooting in Tel Aviv with two dead and seven injured; then hear a reporter describe workers returning to the San Bernardino site where 14 people were killed and dozens injured by radicalized terrorists a few weeks ago.

Enjoying my morning coffee with wheat toast and huckleberry jam, I am unmoved. I’ve heard this news before.

Every morning, reports of killings, mass-disasters, kidnapping and war play visually and audibly on my 40-inch screen perched high on my living room wall. In my 20s, these reports disturbed me. In my 50s, I am numb.

I become habituated to tragic events outside my neighborhood. The farther away from my home these awful event takes place, the less emotional I am. As events happen in my neighborhood, I take notice.

“Look babe. They have to go all the way to Missouri to find a murder,” I calmly state to my wife as the local news reports a killing in Saint Louis. Again, I sip my coffee, pet my dog and dismiss this report as entertainment. Then I begin to think.

Why do I casually dismiss tragic events happening in other parts of the world while becoming emotionally present when reading about a local resident struggling with a difficult life-event? In my 50 years on this Earth, have I lost my sense of empathy and became callous to the plight of others? Is it the message or the messenger that causes my apathy?

Receiving tragic information from the same source which offers, “American Idol,” and “SpongeBob SquarePants,” muddies the importance of the message when reporting an ISIS suicide bomber attacking Iraqi forces at a base near Ramadi. My 50-year-old brain is usually able to make sense of the information. Mature brains filter information required for daily work and dismiss information not required for daily living making often important information unimportant.

What happens when a child hears the same information from the same source? Children 9 years old and younger have an innate ability to believe most everything adults say — particularly if it is written in the newspaper on the Internet, or said on television, it must definitely be true.

This developmental stage in a child’s life creates an amazingly innocent, gullible and moldable little person.

Take this little child who hears the same news, watches the same television and plays the same violent video games as the adults in his or her life and extrapolate the outcome. This child will see that when one hurts or kills on a video game, one often comes back to life with no negative emotion attached to the killing.

This child will see that most every conflict can be resolved in 60 minutes. The child watching most Disney television series will learn that it is OK for a child to be disrespectful to his or her parent.

The child learns that people are killed all the time and seldom is anything done to stop the killing. The child will become numb to the amount of violence one sees, and often play out that violence on the school playground or at home with siblings, not understanding the outcome of one’s actions.

Is watching television, playing video games or watching endless YouTube videos damaging to a young mind?

Possibly. Limiting time, content and watching media with an adult to answer questions when they arise helps a child navigate a possibly damaging life-event. A child models what he or she sees. If a child sees violence, the child will act violently. If a child sees kindness, the child will act in return.

Television and computers are akin to a babysitter who is abusive, gives your child too much ice cream and candy and lets him or her play in the knife drawer.

Your child might have fun with the babysitter for the moment but long-term exposure to the sitter will eventually have a negative outcome.