Parents and Media

Parent Concerns

• According to a recent survey by Common Sense Media, approximately 9 out of 10 American parents believe today's media contribute to children becoming too materialistic (90%), using more coarse and vulgar language (90%), engaging in sexual activity at younger ages (89%), experiencing a loss of innocence too early (88%), and behaving in violent or anti-social ways (85%).¹ The majority of parents believe that media negatively aff ect their own children in these ways.²
• More parents cite television (37%) as having the most negative impact and rank video games (19%) and music (17%) second and third.³ Almost half of all parents believe that viewing violence and sex on TV contributes "a lot" to children adopting violent behavior (47%) or becoming involved in sexual situations (48%) before they are ready.⁴
• At the same time, parents do not perceive media as monolithically bad: almost as many parents think that media can have a positive eff ect (58%) on their children as they do a negative eff ect (61%).⁵
• What generally concerns parents about their children's media use is the content rather than the amount of time: more parents are concerned about TV content than time spent watching, video game content than time spent playing, Internet sites than time spent online, and music lyrics than time spent listening.⁶
• The medium that evokes the most mixed response from parents is the Internet. An Annenberg Public Policy study on the Internet and the family identifi ed two main types of parents: parents who recognize the benefi ts of the Internet but are concerned about its harmful social eff ects, and parents who only see the positive qualities.⁷
• A recent study by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting found that more than 8 in 10 parents (83%) are pleased with their children's online activities, including more than half (54%) who are "very" satisfi ed. Parents overwhelmingly cite the Internet's educational value for their children (81%).⁸
• At the same time, the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that a majority of parents are worried that young people will displace more important activities by spending time online (72%), see and read inappropriate content online (62%), encounter advertisers who will exploit them (58%), and meet strangers who will contact them (57%).⁹ Parents who are more Web savvy are less concerned about their children's online experience.¹⁰

Key Sources

Several groups off er guidance to parents about the appropriateness of various media products for children. The following groups represent a range of ideological perspectives:

• Coalition for Quality Children's media, www.cqcm.org
• Common Sense Media, www.commonsensemedia.org
• The Lion & Lamb Project, www.lionlamb.org
• National Institute on Media and the Family, www.mediafamily.org
• Parents Television Council, www.parentstv.org

The Federal Communications Commission has a Web site to help parents monitor their children's media use at www.fcc.gov/parents.

Parent Actions

Despite concerns about media's infl uence, most parents provide a media-rich environment for their children, often with little supervision. In a recent poll, the majority of parents (65%) say they could do a better job supervising their children's media use.¹¹

• Four in ten children (42%) live in a home where the TV set is on in the background most of the time even when no one is watching. More than half (58%) live in homes where the TV is usually on during mealtimes.¹²
• Among children age 8 and older, two-thirds (65%) have a TV in their bedroom, nearly half (45%) have a video game player there, and a third (36%) have a VCR.¹³

Media Rules

Rules about media use are diffi cult to enforce in homes with multiple TV sets, media in kids' bedrooms, children of different ages and interests, and parents who are usually not in the same room when kids are using media.

• At least two-thirds of children report having a "no use" rule for TV, the Internet, and video games until homework or chores are done.¹⁴
• About half of all kids have some rules about how much or what they can watch on TV.¹⁵ About 7 in 10 kids say their parents set content restrictions for where they go online, and half report they may play only certain video games.¹⁶
• More children report time limits for going online (59%) than for playing video games (42%) or watching TV (39%).¹⁷ More teens have limits for talking on the telephone (47%) than for watching TV (40%) or playing computer games (35%).¹⁸
• What parents say they do often does not match what kids say their parents do: roughly half of parents say they limit video game playing time and check ratings to select game purchases, but only 13% of kids report time limits and fewer (7%) say their parents did not allow them to purchase a game because of its rating.¹⁹ Likewise, a majority of parents say they enforce time limits on Internet use, surf together, and check up on sites their children have visited, but most teens say they do not have time limits or go online with their parents, and less than one-third believe that their parents have ever checked where they have gone online.

Monitoring Media

Parents and children using media together and talking about it is the most eff ective strategy parents can use to help children become selective and critical media consumers.

• The best estimate is that parents watch TV with their younger children (ages 2–7) about one-fifth (19%) of the child's total TV time, and that they almost never watch with tweens (6%) and teens (2%).²¹
• The majority of children ages 6–12 (76%) say an adult is usually in the same room or nearby when they go online at home; for teens, that number drops to onethird (35%). Most parents (69%) and children (61%), including teens, believe that parents have a strong influence over which Web sites children visit.²²

Media Ratings

Media ratings and parental advisories were developed as guidelines to help parents select appropriate content for their children. Movie ratings have been used since 1968, music advisories since 1985, video game ratings since 1994, and TV ratings (TV Parental Guidelines) since 1997.

• While 9 out of 10 parents think that media ratings are a good idea and find them helpful when they use them, many are not aware of all the diff erent ratings and are often confused about they mean.²³
• According to a recent survey, almost 8 in 10 parents (78%) support the creation of a single, universal ratings system that would apply to all media, rather than the mix of ratings currently used. The majority of parents (70%) would also prefer that an independent group of parents, educators, and child development experts oversee the ratings.²⁴

V-Chip TV Sets

Parents who own a TV set manufactured after January 1, 2000 have a blocking technology called a V-chip that can be programmed to screen out shows with TV ratings they deem inappropriate.²⁶

• By 2001, 2 out of 5 parents (40%) owned a V-Chip TV set and 7% had used it to monitor their children's TV viewing.²⁷ Of all parents who have a V-Chip TV set, more than half (53%) don't know it. Of all parents who know they have a V-Chip TV set, two-thirds (64%) have chosen not to use it and one-third (36%) have used it.²⁸
• The two most common reasons parents give for not using the V-Chip are that an adult is usually nearby when their children watch TV, and that they trust their children to make their own decisions.²⁹

Internet Filters

Approximately one-third of parents with home Internet connections have installed blocking technology such as fi ltering software or Internet Service Provider (ISP) controls to prevent children from accessing objectionable material.³⁰