Center on Media and Child Health

A Loss in the Field of Children and Media

This post was written by Dina L.G. Borzekowski, Ed.D. Associate Professor in the Department of Health, Behavior and Society at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Gerald Lesser was a wonderful, kind soul, who touched the lives of children (and families) all over the world. He passed away on Sept 23, 2010.

So many people who work in the world of Children and Media were trained directly and indirectly by Gerry.  He taught the importance of merging education and entertainment.  Also, he greatly valued how research could help shape how media is produced and received by children and adolescents.  Gerry's work was imaginative and influential.

I was one of Gerry's last graduate students and feel incredibly lucky that I had him as a mentor, advisor, and friend. It is my hope that my own work can be a worthy tribute to his spirit. Lastly, I will try my best to use simple, declarative sentences.

>> Read Harvard's tribute article with an opportunity to comment on how Dr. Lesser influenced your own work

Someday Melissa: Making a Movie, Changing Lives

The power of media lies in the ability to engage people in a story and influence what they know and think about a particular issue.  When Judy Avrin lost her teen daughter, Melissa, to an eating disorder last year, she chose to use the power of media to tell her daughter's story to the world. 

Her documentary, Someday Melissa, recently received attention from the New York Times and The Today Show, and Judy is discovering that the work she is doing to honor her daughter is already changing lives. We asked Judy to write to us about her view on the power of media:

Someday...

I’ll eat breakfast.

I’ll keep a job for more than 3 weeks.

I’ll have a boyfriend for more than 10 days.

I’ll love someone.

I’ll travel wherever I want.

I’ll make my family proud.

I’ll make a movie that changes lives. 

When I found this writing in my daughter's journal after she died in 2009, I made the decision to go public that she died from an eating disorder. I began work on a documentary called Someday Melissa.  The recent media attention has resulted in an overwhelming response: hundreds of messages from around the world, thanking me for having the courage to speak out and bring eating disorders out of the shadows.  I’ve received messages that calls to helplines have increased, and that children have gone to their parents saying they didn’t really believe they could die and they need help.  

Never could I have imagined the power of media in helping others.  My sweet Melissa is changing lives with the media she dreamed of being part of.

If you are suffering with an eating disorder, or know somebody who is, there is help.  Reach out to the National Eating Disorder Association [NEDA] at http://nationaleatingdisorders.org, or call for assistance at 1-800-931-2237. 

New Study: Alcohol Advertising on Public Transportation

Since we're located in Boston, we were thrilled to see a study in this month's American Journal of Public Health about alcohol advertising on Boston's public transportation system, the MBTA.  CMCH asked author Michael Siegel, MD MPH to be a guest blogger and tell us more about what he found.  Dr. Siegel is a professor at the Boston University School of Public Health and the author of Marketing Public Health: Strategies to Promote Social Change.

Every day, approximately 9,600 Boston schoolchildren take the T (short for the MBTA - Boston’s public transit system) to and from school. What their parents may not realize is that while en route, these kids are bombarded with alcohol advertising, thanks to the state of Massachusetts’ willingness to allow its property to be used for the marketing of alcohol to youths. Our study, which I co-authored with three students at the Boston University School of Public Health, revealed that through the MBTA subway trains, alcohol companies are able to achieve, in a single day, the same amount of advertising exposure among Boston youths as if they took out 5.5 Super Bowl commercials.

We studied the extent of alcohol advertising on the T by surveying four consecutive trains on each of the four subway lines on two separate occasions, one month apart. We found that on average:

• each subway car contains two advertisements
• these ads result in 18,000 alcohol ad exposures among Boston schoolchildren ages 11-18 each day
• on a typical day, alcohol companies are able to achieve the equivalent of exposing 54% of Boston youths to alcohol advertising, all thanks to the state’s willingness to allow its property to be used for alcohol marketing purposes.

These ads are clearly designed to appeal to youths and to entice them to use alcohol before they reach the legal age of alcohol purchase, which is 21. For example, one advertisement we found on the T showed a college student arriving to move in to his dorm. The two essential items depicted for move-in day were his furniture and a larger-than-life bottle of Absolut vodka.

A large body of evidence demonstrates that these alcohol ads not only appeal to kids, but they also influence adolescents’ decisions to start drinking. In other words, by allowing alcohol ads on the MBTA, the state is allowing its property to be used for the recruitment of new youth drinkers.

Massachusetts state representative Martin Walsh has introduced legislation that would eliminate alcohol advertising on state property. The bill (H-1113) is currently being considered by the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight.

In the mean time, the state continues to allow the promotion of underage drinking on state property through the daily bombardment of youths by alcohol advertisements on the MBTA subway system.

 

Reaction to the Australian Screen-Time Recommendations

CMCH asked Australian author Tania Andrusiak to be a guest blogger and give us the inside scoop on how people are reacting to the Australian government's screen time recommendations.  Tania is the author of Adproofing Your Kids: Raising critical thinkers in a media-saturated world.

Get Up and Grow, the new parenting guidelines aimed at fostering healthy habits in children, were released last week by the Australian government. Developed in conjunction with Murdoch Children's Research Institute and Melbourne’s Royal Children's Hospital, these are the first official recommendations to address children’s screen time: none at all for kids under age two, and a maximum of one hour per day for those aged two to five.

But here’s the rub: these guidelines fly in the face of real screen habits. Australian children under four watch a daily average of 154 minutes of free-to-air TV, or 194 minutes of cable TV – with four-month-olds exposed to around 44 minutes. Not surprisingly, this made for some healthy debate.

Patricia Edgar, founding director of the Australian Children’s Television Foundation suggested the guidelines reflected a lack of understanding about what really went on in the lives of Australian children. This sentiment echoed across many parenting message boards, with resentment over the government’s perceived intrusion into the right to parent as we wish. However, an equal amount felt that limiting young children’s screen time was simple commonsense, and quite a few were compelled to seek out further information.

And perhaps raising awareness is where ‘Get Up and Grow’ will make its biggest impact. While most forum participants agreed that TV limited children’s socialisation, it was clear that few were aware of the problems these guidelines were created to address: the impact on young children’s language development, attention span and active play. Only a handful identified that TV affects the ability of a caregiver to attend to children, or that kids routinely see images they find confusing, upsetting and scary. And the idea that TV made it hard for kids to concentrate on playing had some clearly puzzled: weren’t they just ‘multitasking’?

Kudos to the Rudd Government for introducing evidence-based parenting into discussions around children’s screen time. Often it’s hard to know what the ‘right amount’ is – especially when modern life, the habits of others and our children’s unique ability to get more than they need seem to thwart our efforts. While the success of ‘Get Up and Grow’ remains to be seen, at least it’s got parents talking, and that’s got to be a good thing.

I’ll leave the last thought to Katey, mother of a nine-month-old: "I cannot imagine that the TV could give my child more than I do. It cannot take her outside to play on the grass, cannot speak directly to her, cannot hold her while she pats a cat or a dog or a sheep, cannot respond to her babbling, cannot play the music she likes, cannot teach her the name of something she is pointing at." 

If only the Rudd Government had put it so eloquently.

To read more from Tania, check out her blog and Twitter stream!

The Cell Phone License

The following was written by guest blogger Dr. Richard Chalfen, Senior Scientist at CMCH.  Dr. Chalfen has guest blogged for us before, contributing a 3-part series on the phenomenon of sexting. 

The popularity of cell phones has introduced a series of tension points for parents and their children. Some of these tensions are not unlike many dilemmas encountered as children grow into their teenage years including requests and permissions to stay out late, attend un-chaperoned parties, drink alcohol, drive a car, etc. 

Kids seem to be winning the quest for cell phones. The number of cell phones in the world is increasing dramatically, and the age of children in the U.S. having their own mobiles is getting younger each year. In turn, parents are noticing a range of unanticipated problems linked to inappropriate use, or simply over-use, of mobiles by their kids. Examples include too much texting, often accompanied by morning fatigue and diminished concentration, disobeying school regulations for cell use, classroom cheating, too much distraction while being a pedestrian or driving a car, too much personal information revealed on personal internet sites, among others. And many of these bad habits can result in extraordinarily high service provider bills.

So what can we draw upon to ease these growing tensions and give some sense of control and satisfaction to both parents and their children?  What should kids know about cell phones to be treated as competent members of cyber society? 

I’d like to suggest the development of a home-based, family administered and supported “cell phone license.“ To obtain this license, kids would go through a training program that emphasizes a modern version of “communicative competency” that befits participation and individual responsibility as we witness advances in modern technology. The program would focus on competency for internet safety, and for sending (and receiving) speech, text, and images.

To continue reading about Dr. Chalfen’s idea for a cell phone license and learn more about how it would work, see his blog: Imaged Life. 

Behind the Scenes of Children’s TV

The following was written by guest blogger Carolyn Lertzman, a former CMCH intern who went on to work behind the scenes of children's television.  Here, she gives us an inside look at her fascinating job.  

When your kids watch their favorite TV shows, have you ever wondered how these programs make it on the air?  Sure, there are writers, producers, cast and crew that create what you see on the screen, but did you know there is also a group of professionals tracking the shows you and your family love as they develop?  These professionals are otherwise known as the folks in Standards and Practices—and, I am one such professional.  Our job is assuring that the content you watch on television and online upholds the standards of our network, appropriately reflects the brand associated with our network, and abides by related federal laws, while still being entertaining and educational.

In our department, colleagues are assigned to specific series or movies and are part of the many stages that happen to get a show aired: from the development of the premise to the working out of a storyboard to the writing of a script to the final product that runs on TV.  Depending on the target audience and the show itself, we provide notes that will help the show reflect the standards I mentioned before.  For example we comment on things such as whether the dialogue is appropriate for the audience, whether the wardrobe matches standards we’ve agreed to, and whether the actions of the characters are something kids might imitate and could possibly be hurt by doing.

One of the most interesting types of guidelines we have to accommodate are those from the Federal Communications Commission.  The FCC notes that children have difficulty determining when a television show ends and a commercial begins.  Therefore guidelines require that we use “bumpers” to assist the child in making the visual transition between the show and the commercials, so that we do not falsely persuade them to purchase items they may believe are a continuation of the show.

For me, one of the most exciting aspects of this profession is that as new trends emerge in popular culture and world affairs—including new media platforms and developments in public health -- the standards by which we review a program also evolve.  I really enjoy being able to say that my job is to review content to make sure it is safe and healthy for our audiences to watch.

Perspective on Sexting: Part III - Reactions and Responses

This is the third installment of an examination of the phenomenon of sexting by guest blogger Dr. Richard Chalfen.  

>>See part I: Teen Culture
>>See part II: Photo-sharing Behavior

After examining the historical precedents for sexting in the past two entries, I have come to the conclusion that as trite and reductive as it might sound, sexting seems to me to be a modern and slightly subversive example of teens-being-teens in the context of modern technological opportunity.  In my opinion, legal sanctions have no place here; I am not sure how the incarceration of young people and/or attaching permanent labels to their life records, is in their best interests.  

Regardless, whether legal action continues or not, there are serious consequences to the act of distributing sexual pictures and parents should be encouraged to use the current news coverage as a teachable moment.  Circumstances are just right for some effective counseling in a situation where a young person opens the door to new information and potential learning.  

In the case of media-related issues like this one, you often hear people say “Parents just need to talk to their kids!”  But few bother to suggest what should actually be said and how to open conversations up when teenagers are quick to shut them down.  Clearly there is no one successful way to respond, but you might try to emphasize that sexting makes people vulnerable to several kinds of consequences:

• Legal Consequences:  Teenagers who engaged in sexting have been charged with crimes of creating and distributing child pornography and finding themselves in varying degrees of legal turmoil. 
• Physical Consequences:  Sending sexual images to phones and social networking sites allows them to be distributed via the internet, which, in turn, facilitates their use by commercial pornographers, pedophiles or others who might want to harm or exploit young people appearing in the photographs.  
• Emotional Consequences:  Sexting can have ongoing consequences for the victim.  As one educator noted "You're going to be humiliated hundreds of thousands of times. It's totally devastating."  

Parents should also be aware that they may face difficulties as they present their criticisms and warnings, facing a minimum of three notions difficult for teenagers to grasp:

• The Future:  Parents want their kids to consider troubles they will have “later on,” “when you’re older,” “when you grow up,” or “when you’re our age.”
• Forever:  Images released into cyberspace are permanent, and can be retrieved and referenced in years to come.  
• Anonymity:  The internet is not anonymous, even though it appears to be.  People cannot hide behind a screenname or avatar. 

It is my hope that parents can use the ideas mentioned here to think more deeply about the contexts in which young people live and how this leads them to experience today’s technology-rich and image-abundant world.  

Perspective on Sexting: Part II - Photo Sharing Behavior

This is the second installment of an examination of the phenomenon of sexting by guest blogger Dr. Richard Chalfen. 

>>See part I: Teen Culture
>>See part III: Reactions and Responses

How and when did young people give pictures to one another in the past?  We know that historically young couples swapped pictures of themselves by exchanging them in person or sending them through the mail.  Though school portraits were often traded, shots of girlfriends in skimpy swim suits were often preferred.  For the past few years, the internet has become a major medium of photo exchange, through family-created websites, photo-sharing websites such as Flickr and Picassa, and now through social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook.  Very personal pictures, including moment-of-birth shots and sexually revealing shots, are often shared very publicly over the internet.

Additional structural complexity appears when we acknowledge a series of related photographic activities:

1. Hearing daily reports of adults misusing cell phone cameras for “up-skirting” on escalators, and of cameras being placed in such public locations as department store changing rooms, locker rooms, and even bathrooms.
2. Learning that large sums of money are earned from taking and selling the “right” picture of certain people in private acts.  This occurs in situations from ordinary people using their camera phones to become citizen photo journalists, to actual photo journalists catching images of politicians taking bribe money or celebrities engaged in salacious acts.
3. Acknowledging that photo journalists, street photographers and others have struggled with differences of taking photographs and publishing photographs as two domains of activity, each with different rules, rewards and consequences.  This has resonated with ordinary people because individuals engage in two different processes when they first take a cell phone picture and then second, decide to “publish” it by sending it on to someone else.
4. Redefining the Public and the Private and the subsequent emergence of two overlapping domains.  This relationship is constantly in flux, though we could claim a considerable acceleration of movement from the private into the public. This trend is certainly not new and mass media has perhaps led the way in offering examples.  Consider very personal information about private body acts that were revealed and discussed on popular shows such as the Newlywed Game, as well as the more recent Jerry Springer models of personal revelation.  This private to public phenomenon extends to our personal pictures.  The new aspect is that once you put photos in cyberspace, they can go anywhere and will exist forever.  

Combine all of the above factors with adolescent culture and you can see an expected emergence and popularity of sexting for which relevant codes of laws, rules and standards have yet to be established and formalized.

Parents need to exert caution and care when trying to protect their children from being a participant (willing or unwilling) in sexting.  Because many parents rely on their children having cell phones to keep in touch about locations, plans, and needs, it may be far more troublesome to ban cell phones than to keep an open dialogue about concerns. 

So how can you talk to your kids about your concerns?  Tune in for tomorrow's installment of this post, which will offer some concrete ideas.

Perspective on Sexting: Part I - Teen Culture

A few weeks ago, we blogged about "sexting", which is the new term for when people send sexual text and picture messages to others.  This has been sweeping the news, especially since some teens have been hit with child pornography charges.

CMCH Senior Scientist Dr. Richard Chalfen has been investigating the use of cell phones for a few years and took an interest in this issue.  Here, he joins us as a guest blogger for a 3 part post.

>>See part II: Photo-sharing Behavior
>>See part III: Reactions and Responses

As a practicing visual anthropologist very concerned with young people, health and media culture, I have found it very helpful to adopt a structural perspective when examining an image-related or even image-centric situation.  This applies to current problems surrounding the emergence of "sexting" – the sending of sexually oriented photos of oneself on cell phones (see an introductory overview).

Many of us see this activity as something brand new -- an unfortunate, and indeed dangerous, surprise.  However, if we look deeper, social precedents have been in place for some time.  I often find that taking a historical and structural look at a “new” phenomenon often proves helpful to gain a sense of what’s going on as well as where and how to intervene if and when it is deemed necessary.

Looking at the social world that young people live within, there are at least 4 kinds of sub-cultures crucial to understanding the “sexting” phenomena.  In addition to their home, school and sometimes work cultures, they face:

1. Media Culture – Teens live in a world of mediated life where images are ubiquitous, including an increase in public and private camera surveillance.  Public imagery is more sexually explicit than ever, from television shows to magazines ads.  With the advent of YouTube, Young people are also drawn to the creation of media, not just the consumption of it.
2. Digital Culture –Teens today have grown up as "digital natives" -- they are used to being plugged-in at all times.  Camera-phones are not only embedded in everyday life, they are a part of teen identity.
3. Intense Visual Culture – Young people value personal appearance, and are cognizant of how imagery rules when it comes to entertainment and advertising.  Also important is that kids have been playing with cameras, as well as looking at TV, all their lives, even from infancy in many cases.
4. Adolescent Culture – Adolescence is a period of raging hormones, rebelliousness, competition, identity-seeking and -construction, pushing normative boundaries, seeking privacy and intimacy, living in a world where only the present matters and the future is hard to envision.

In the next installment of this post, Dr. Chalfen will examine how photo-sharing behavior in the past is connected to that of the present.

Using Media to Show Instead of Tell

Last week, we blogged about an op-ed on photo retouching and body image by filmmaker Jesse Epstein.  Here, Jesse joins us as a guest blogger to expand upon the educational efforts she is working on. 

I spent my formative childhood years in Mozambique Africa, where full bodies and “child bearing hips” were celebrated. When I returned to the US as a pre-teen I was confused to find my friends obsessed with their weight, counting calories, and saying that they “hated their thighs”. I admired their magazine collages of models with flat bellies and joined my peers in the fight to stay slim. But this post isn’t just about my personal story, it’s about a public health issue.

People living in media-saturated cultures are exposed to hundreds of idealized images per day through advertising and magazines; almost all of which have been altered to perfection.  According to a magazine photo re-toucher I interviewed,

“Every picture has been worked on some twenty to thirty rounds, going back between the re-touchers and the agencies and the clients – they have been perfected to death. Just look at the magazines, and all that is there to alter your mind, alter your perception of what physical beauty is, and what the means of obtaining it are.” 

When even the models and actors themselves don’t “measure up” to their own perfected images, it is crucial for people to understand how images are constructed, and what massages they are sending. Providing the tools to examine these media messages, through Media Literacy, is pivotal at this point in time.

Many problems and poor choices, especially among teens and pre-teens, can be traced to poor self-esteem and the inability to reach an unrealizable ideal. These may include the decision to smoke, participate in unsafe sex and early sexual initiation, academic failure, and other very risky, often life-threatening, behaviors.

I strive, through the power of film, to tell stories than can show rather than tell. While mass media is often pegged as a culprit of social ills, it can also play a key role in education toward behavioral change.  So, I’m currently creating a series of films on media and physical perfection to be used as powerful public health tools –- to start often-difficult discussions, raise consciousness, and ultimately empower youth to make healthy choices.  I hope they are used by as many educators as possible.

34x25x36 - A documentary about mannequins and perfection.

Wet Dreams and False Images - Interviews with photo re-touchers expose how much alteration goes on before an ad is released.

The Guarantee - A dancer's story about his prominent nose and the effect it has on his career.

More information about Jesse's work:

>> Jesse's website

>> New Day Films