Action For Media Education

Be purposeful viewers. Plan your TV and VCR viewing. Make appointments to watch specific TV shows or movies with your family members.

Talk back to your TV. Do not be afraid to disagree or question out loud what you are viewing that you do not agree with. Engage in critical viewing behavior. It may drive your teens crazy but it changes the fundamental way most people view media today, passively and quietly. You become a role model for critical viewing habits by talking back to TV.

Watch with your children. A majority of parents cannot answer the question of what TV shows their children watch. It is important to know what shows are your child’s favorite and why. Try to engage them not criticize their choices. You want to help them be critical viewers of their own media not to defend their choices and run from your involvement.

Talk with your child about programming. As you watch TV or films with your children (especially younger ones) engage them in a dialogue about the story and the decisions of the characters. You can ask them to come up with different endings to the story that is more positive and less violent or more realistic.

Ask them about the actions of the characters and why they think they made the choices they did. Be an active listener. Remember, your goal is to give your children critical thinking skills to deal with media, not to change their minds about a particular show or movie.

Share your own values. Insure that your children know clearly what your family values are and why. Don’t assume they know. Be clear about your own beliefs and expectations. This will counter the value lessons being "taught" in media. Your children can better make their own decisions about the values they observe in media if they are clear of their own family’s values and beliefs.

Make your own media! Use your family camcorder or borrow one and have your children write their own stories and produce their own media. Making a video is a great way to de-mystify the process and help children be more media literate by peeking behind the "curtain" and seeing how media is created.

Also, check into your local cable provider for their Public Access opportunities. Public Access is a program offered by cable providers as a part of their local contract to provide free or for a minimum charge video production equipment, training and channel airtime to the community. It is a great and under-utilized tool for media literacy. Getting involved in making of your own media is very powerful.

Give feedback. Write letters or send e-mails to your local TV station or national media outlets about programming you think is inappropriate or programming that you think is positive. They do listen and assume for every letter that comes in another 500 people probably share that opinion.

Think in terms of "screen time" not just TV/VCR time. Screen time should also include computer time and video game time. Come up with your children on an agreed upon amount of “screen time” per day or week and stick to it. It can be re-negotiated but it is important to have a set amount of time. Again, you are developing purposeful and intentional media behavior.

Keep all TVs, VCRs computers and video games in common areas. This gives your children the message that you care about their media viewing and use of media. You are then more aware of what your children are watching and viewing and can monitor their use.

Become Videogame Aware. Most parents were not raised playing these games and thus have little or no understanding of their workings and their power. They also do not often play these games with their children and are unaware of the content or age appropriateness of the games.

There have been recent reports that playing video games improves hand/eye coordination and that may be true. It has also been reported that many videogames have violent content especially as the player progresses through stages and that the playing of violent videogames has negative effects on young people. Watching any kind of media violence over and over de-sensitizes viewers about violence.

Play these games with your children and at least watch them play the games to understand what content or messages your children might be exposed to. It is critical to understand the age labeling of videogames (the videogame industry puts certain codes on their games as to their age appropriateness but few retailers enforce these codes in selling the games) and find out what the games are about before you buy them for your children. It is just as important to be a critical viewer of videogame media as it is TV and films.

Links:
Game Smart Campaign
Entertainment Software Rating Board
Organize media literacy events. Talk to your school’s PTA about having workshops on media literacy, parent discussion groups or speakers come to talk with parents about these issues.

Become media literate yourself. You are the best teacher and role model for your child regarding the power of the media. As you would never allow a stranger to enter your home and teach your children unknown content, don’t allow the media to teach your children as well. There are many books and videos on the subject of media literacy that will help you to continue to become literate about the media.

Talk to your local school and community libraries. Ask them to provide books, videos, DVDs, and other resources on media literacy and media education issues.