Media and Child Health: Pediatric Care and Anticipatory Guidance for the Information Age

Abstract

1. Marie Evans Schmidt, PhD* 2. Michael Rich, MD, MPH* 1. *Center on Media and Child Health (CMCH), Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass After completing this article, readers should be able to: 1. Discuss major health outcomes associated with media exposure. 2. Describe what media children and adolescents use and for how long each day. 3. Know key media history questions to be asked at health supervision visits. 4. List recommendations that can be made to parents to decrease negative media effects on their children’s health. 5. Know resources for parents and clinicians to deal with media-related health issues. Today, American children and adolescents spend nearly half of their waking days exposed to an environmental influence that research has associated with increased risk of obesity, substance use, sexual risk behaviors, eating disorders, anxiety, sleep disturbances, and violent behaviors. Pediatricians were among the first to observe and respond to exposure to television, movies, and music, and now video games and the Internet, as risks to the physical, mental, and social health of children. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has been active in addressing the effects of media on the health and well-being of children since the late 1970s, when they resolved, in the 1977 Resolution Concerning the Effects of Television Violence on Children , to “actively oppose television programs emphasizing high degrees of violence and anti-social behavior which detrimentally affect the attitudes and social behavior of children” and made an effort to ban advertising to children. Since that time, the AAP has issued policy statements recommending that AAP members consider and respond to media exposure and its effects in their medical management. These statements have addressed exposure to and interventions on media use in general, the influence of specific media on children and adolescents, research associating specific health outcomes with media use, and strategies for intervening. The AAP also sponsored “Media Matters,” a national initiative to build awareness of media effects on child health. The result is that …