Abstract
Twice over a decade, in 1972 and 1982 the US Surgeon General has issued major reports exploring the implications of watching screen violence, on children. Between the reports, the British Commission into the Future of Television, under Lord Annan, had suggested that enough had now been done on the issue of screen violence. This advice has not been taken. New ways to explore any consequences of watching violence continue to be found. There is a new emphasis on the positive uses that children make of their viewing and of their own initiative in making sense of what they see. Gaps in previous knowledge are slowly being filled in, with a notable start on the viewing experience of toddlers and even infants. The viewing context is receiving more attention, including the ways in which parents do or do not exercise control or alter their patterns of conversation in the presence of television, since these new patterns of family life as a whole, rather than merely the screen in particular, may affect children. Television is also now sharing time with videocassettes and computers and even videocameras, and such extensions of the screen experience are being investigated. The economic side of programme provision and the ways in which advertising and sponsorship may affect children provide another area in which knowledge is being sought.
Recommended Citation
Cordelian, W.
(1990)
"Television and Children: Towards the Millennium,"
Communication Research Trends: Vol. 10:
No.
3, Article 1.
Available at:
https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/crt/vol10/iss3/1