Session explores violence in the media
A group of boys taunt another boy, calling him names and pushing him to the ground. He later responds by forcing their truck out of control. A mob of angry workers rally to attack people different from them.
These are a few scenes from Saturday morning cartoons shown during the session "Media Violence for Youths and Adults" at the Scientific Assembly.
Jeannette South-Paul, MD, of Bethesda, MD, and Carolyn Lopez, MD, of Chicago invited children and their parents to be aware of media violence and to monitor the appropriateness of TV programs and electronic games. The doctors are chairs of the family practice departments at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD, and Cook County Hospital in Chicago, respectively.
In general, children spend three to four hours a day watching television, Dr. Lopez said. By the time they graduate from high school, they will have spent more time in front of the TV than in the classroom.
Dr. Lopez encouraged FPs to take a "media history" from patients to identify potential problems:
- What are your rules about watching television?
- How do you decide what to watch?
- Do you require other activities are done before children can watch TV?
- Who decides what to watch?
- Where are TVs in your house?
- Do you eat in front of the TV?
- How late do you watch television?
- What are the most-watched shows in your house?
"As FPs, these are questions we can ask our patients," Dr. South-Paul said. "Why is this important? Because studies are linking media violence with aggressive behavior."
Doctors can counsel parents to discuss real-life consequences of violence with their children, watch TV and play electronic games with their children to better understand and discuss the content, help children understand the difference between fantasy and reality, and promote nonviolent reactions to confrontation.
After showing about 10 minutes of clips from cartoons, the presenters asked audience members to describe the attitudes shown in the cartoons. Some answers: retaliation, fighting for whatever you want, violence as a means of resolving conflict, prejudice, violence without consequence, and gender discrimination.
Dr. South-Paul noted that the number of violent acts in Saturday morning cartoons (about 20-25 per hour) exceeds the number of violent acts in prime time TV shows. "These are things on regular network television and they're in your homes," she said. "The behaviors we're seeing here are not the kinds of behaviors we want our children to model."
Dr. Lopez pointed out that, not having children, she hadn't realized the amount of violence in programs aimed at them. "FPs should be aware of what's on TV and what children are watching even if they don't have young children at home," she said.
Following their presentation, Dr. South-Paul met with parents to further discuss the issue while Dr. Lopez helped the children create posters about alternatives to watching TV. Winners of the poster contest were: Lara Peschke, first place; Laurie Frey, second place; and Lindsay Gerdt, third place. Each artist received a US savings bond.
- FP Report is published by the AAFP News Department.