High-Quality VS Low-Quality Children’s Media

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Digital media is increasingly getting popular, especially among children. But not all media is created for a purposeful use, some of them just lean towards gaming, some have a lack of substance, and some even hinder young children’s progress. So in order to make the best use of digital media, parents must choose thoughtfully for their children. In order to evaluate how media is high quality, it is important to understand how it is educational. It should promote cognitive, social, emotional, or physical development that is engaging to young children. Sources from PBS Kids emphasize how educational media is interactive and should offer opportunities to children to solve real world problems instead of consuming it passively.

According to American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), a lot of children’s media claim to be “educational” but is actually not. A research from Marisa Meyer (et al. 2021) explains to us that a lot of children’s apps are not very educational, and only offer simplistic learning and repetitive experiences. It is then also noted that these apps also house ads of their own, promoting low quality apps as well as adding distractions towards children, to the point that some of the apps put pressure to the young children to make purchases. AAP also stated that even when a parent were to search “educational kid’s videos” on YouTube, alot of the results would show kidfluencer videos around toys and brands which would then not be a suitable medium to be a quality educational form of media or good storytelling.  From another recent research that was conducted, the majority of the YouTube videos that the children watched have low educational value and a lot of ads to accompany it. These same contained ads were also not age appropriate for children, while the 1 in 4 videos that the children watched were intended for an older target audience.

Parents should look for media that encourages the child to make their own choices, solve problems, adapt to what they are learning at the moment, to have apps with them that adapt to their level of understanding, instead of shows that are too rewarding and overstimulating. Co-viewing might enhance the quality of learning the child gets, such as when parents ask questions in between about their child’s experiences, or when they play a game together. AAP further suggests this where an adult watches alongside their children, as they have said that young children do not learn quite well from screens, especially with distractions present. They would be able to learn better with an adult beside them helping them understand what they are witnessing.

There are multiple shows and media that surround media for children, both good and bad types, as well as both high-quality and low-quality produced children shows and media. From a quick search, you would be able to find lists of high-quality educational media for children. From a quick look from Common Sense Media, shows such as Sesame Street TV and Blue’s Clues & You are just a few examples of a high-quality educational shows for children. Starting with Blue’s Clues & You, the website recommends preschoolers ages 3 and up. And although the show is a reboot from the 1990s original, the show continues to tackle on quality education content for children through the use of puzzles, with a direct emphasis on developing literacy, including phonics, spelling, and letter recognition. Another of the example is Sesame Street being a true classic. Not only does the show teach children skills regarding literacy, math and science, it also exposes children to various cultures through music, dance and language. The show is recommended by the website for children ages 2 and above, and although the show teaches children for early skills of language, math, and science, the show also deals with the feelings of strong emotions, teaching the growing children lessons regarding complex emotions and feelings.

But on the other hand, not all children’s media are the same, as other media for young children are sometimes of poor or low quality. Parent reviews of the show Peppa Pig tells us a lot regarding their thoughts on the show itself. Although there are a few noticeable troll comments, one common problem that the parents found was that Peppa is extremely rude and often times have a lot of verbal aggression. One parent expressed that the “brattiness of the MC is hidden by laughter and cuteness,” and then further explained that Peppa bullying her father, refusing to listen, and acting entitled is not cute. The parent was shocked to see that Peppa bullied her own father by fat shaming him when their child started “acting up” to what the parent’s child was watching. Regarding a review score from IMDb, Peppa Pig has an above average star rating of 6.3 out of 10. There are a sizable amount of viewers who do not think that this show is suitable for children to watch, or even a suitable show to teach children.

It is still important that the parents are there to monitor their children, and communicate with them regarding what media they are viewing and interacting with. Parents are there to help flourish and develop their children properly with the values and lessons that they teach the children, along with the help of proper educational media. But it is also important for the parents to at least evaluate the show that their children are watching, in order to properly determine if the show that their children are watching are suitable for them.

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