Ashley Mancera SmithMrs. JakuszEnglish 11 March 13, 2014Inquiry into the effects of media on children“As policymakers - and as parents - we have a responsibility to examine the effects of media on our children, a responsibility that this legislation can better enable us to address. fill. No one systematically addresses the cumulative impact of today's new electronic media on our children,” says Joseph Lieberman, former United States senator. This quote accurately describes the effect of media on children. Media has a huge impact on how children describe the world and what they learn. Current media research has shown that media exposure, particularly in young children, can lead to a decline in social skills, a decline in academic abilities, and an increase in childhood obesity. Media has a huge impact on a child's social skills. Television, for example, plays an important role in a child's life, teaching them how to act and showing them prosocial and antisocial behaviors. Barbara J. Wilson, author of "Media and Children's Aggression, Fear, and Altruism" argues that: "So much public attention has been given to the potential negative effects of media on children that parents and researchers have barely acknowledged the effects positive. Yet if television and movies can teach children antisocial behaviors such as aggression, then it makes sense that these same media can also teach beneficial behaviors. The challenge is to differentiate media messages that are potentially harmful from those that are positive or prosocial in nature. teach...... middle of paper ...... a higher risk of being overweight at age 6. This indicates that a child's eating habits should be monitored while watching television and that children should be more active and exchange one hour of television for one hour of physical activity to decrease the risk of obesity. Additionally, media as a whole has a huge effect on children. Media is a source of influence in a young child's life, he learns from different types of media, for example he takes what he sees on television, and this becomes his way of seeing the world. In addition, children learn to act from media, they acquire social skills, whether negative or positive, they also carry out their academic approaches using various technological means and can become obese if they are too influenced. Media plays a huge role in the lives of young children, teaching them many lessons and contributing to it as a whole..