Ashley Mancera SmithMrs. JakuszEnglish 1113 March 2014 Investigating the effects of the media on children“As politicians - and as parents - we have a responsibility to examine the effects of the media on our children, a responsibility that this legislation can better enable us to fulfill. No one pays attention, in any systematic way, to the cumulative impact of today's new electronic media on our children,” says Joseph Lieberman, former U.S. Senator. This quote accurately portrays the effect of media on children. Media has an immense effect on how children represent the world and what they learn. Current media research has shown that media exposure, especially to 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 paid to the potential negative effects of media on children that parents and researchers have barely acknowledged the positive ones. However, If television and movies can teach children antisocial behaviors such as aggression, then it stands to reason that these same media can also teach beneficial behaviors. The challenge is to differentiate potentially harmful media messages from those of a positive or prosocial nature clearly experienced a significant amount of violence in the media, especially on TV, teaching children to act aggressively and antisocially, but the media can also teach... middle of paper... a greater risk of being overweight by age 6 This indicates that a child's eating habits should be monitored while watching TV and that children should be more active and exchange information one hour of TV for one hour of physical activity to decrease the risk of obesity. Furthermore, the media as a whole has a huge effect on children. The media is an influential source in a child's life, they learn from different types of media, they take what they see, for example on TV, and this becomes the way they see the world. Furthermore, children learn how to act from the media, learn both negative and positive social skills, also get their academic approaches from various technological means, and can become obese if they are influenced too much. Media plays a huge part in a child's life, it teaches them many lessons and contributes to them as a whole.