Concerns of Media

          This assignment was to interview a parent on how they feel about media today and to get their feel on how media is affecting their children. I decided to interview the mother of my high school friend and get her opinion on the topic at hand.
         
          First off do you think that media has more of a positive or negative effect on your children?
I would have to say that media has both a positive and negative effect on my children. Just to answer the question I am going to lean more towards negative. Television , for one, puts so much emphasis on being the best or having the best things or looking the best. I just don't want my kids, especially my younger children, to grow up thinking that they have to be beautiful or rich just to be successful. That's just not true which is why I lean more towards negative.

          How do you determine what your children may or may not watch and is there a certain time limit that they have on watching television?
I try to limit my children from watching lots of TV. I encourage them to join as many extracurricular activities as possible to keep them busy. This includes playing multiple sports at school and joining a number of clubs and organizatinos. This keeps them extremely busy throughout the week and when they get home for the day they are busy studying. They might cut the television on when they are studying but they are so focused on getting their work done so they can get sleep that they rarely pay attention to the show. Majority of their free time like on weekends they are at a game, playing the xbox or wathching games on tv.

          Which media products do you consider good or healthy for your children and which ones are you concerned about?
I really like the Nick channels and disney channel prograns and the shows for family and kids but my children tend to sway from those as they get older. But the shows that they mainly watch, like sportscenter and fox sports, I do consider healthy because it is dealing with sports which they play. On the other hand, I don't like when they watch family guy or south park. I just believe that those show have to much violence and profanity for kids, especially my children, to be watching.