The Effects of Electronic Media Use on Children and Adolescents: Aggression, Attention Problems and Social İsolation

Objective:

Today, it might be a righteous argument to state that nearly all children are constantly intertwined with electronic media. As childhood and adolescence are parts of life cycle where ongoing development is prominent, insensible electronic media usage causes some problems. Therefore; children and adolescents’ interaction with electronic media products is becoming a more important issue that needs to be addressed. In order to provide favorable communication with electronic media products, this review study aimed to focus on the effects of electronic media use on children and adolescents".

Methods:

National and international databases on the subject (ULAKBİM, ISI-WEB, SCIENCE DIRECT, EBSCOHOST, PSYCH-INFO, GOOGLE AKADEMİK) were screened between July-September 2014. Keywords such as media child, adolescent media, time spent in front of the screen, media aggression, media violence, media social isolation, media attention defi ciency were used to search databases.

Results:

Reviewed studies indicate that violent images in the media increased aggressive and violent behavior. In addition, it was observed that time spent in front of the screen negatively affected processes of attention and socialization.

Discussion:

To reduce negative effects of the media, appropriate media interaction should be maintained. Major changes need to be provided regarding habits of children and adolescents, making families and health professionals undertake an important task with this aspect. Recommendations from experts within this fi eld might be summarized as follows, 1) making sensible media choices and viewing them with children, 2) limiting screen time (including television, videos, computer and video games) to 1 to 2 hours a day, and 3) Ensuring children's bedroom is free of media.