You are What You Watch, Especially if You're Four
November 20, 2009 - by BonnieMuch is known about the effects of a junk food diet, particularly on the young. But what about a junk media “diet”?
My four-year-old son has a vivid imagination, and I’ve seen the benefits and adverse effects of media, particularly movies, on his behavior and imaginary play.
In a “don’t try this at home” parenting moment, I let him watch an episode or two of the Animal Planet show, Whale Wars, which follows members of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society on their mission to end illegal whale hunting. In the episodes we watched, the avid Sea Shepherd avengers attacked some offending whale hunters (you could see the whales being dragged alongside the ship) by hurling homemade acid bombs that, upon impact, leaked a chemical that made the decks extremely slippery.
For weeks afterward, my son turned his bed into a “whale saver” ship, and he would pretend to hurl acid bombs at imaginary whale hunters. He often asked me to play the role of the whale that he was saving.
Despite the adult nature of the television program, his play was surprisingly innocent.
Then, we found ourselves on a seven-hour plane flight. Desperate to find a way to entertain him so that he would stay in his seat, or at least in his dad’s lap, we turned to the in-flight entertainment options. We were somewhat fortunate to have individual video screens that allowed us to select our own movies.
Clearly, though, the entertainment selections were not designed with the preschooler in mind. The closest we came to a film remotely appropriate for his age group was The Incredibles, the animated feature film about a family of superheroes.
While much of the film was beyond his comprehension, he fell in love with the final fight scene in which The Incredibles foil the giant, terrorizing robot devised by their evil-doing nemesis, Syndrome.
On a subsequent play date, we found out that at least one friend had seen and enjoyed the movie. To my surprise, my son announced it was his favorite.
A few weeks later, faced with another occasion where we needed to keep him distracted and happy, I bought him the video—a rare treat in our household.
We watched it together, and I could see that much of the content went over his head, but again he delighted again in the dramatic finale. Afterward, he talked excitedly about “S-man” (Syndrome) and the “silly robot.” The next day, and for days afterward, he started re-enacting scenes from the movie, or at least his version of them.
Inspired by Mr. Incredible, who bench presses immense objects such as cars to get back in shape, our son lay under our bulky double stroller and tried to push it up. He turned household objects, such as the television remote control, into weapons to re-program or attack the silly robot. He refered to his infant sister as “Jack Jack,” the superhero baby in the movie (who can light himself on fire). His actions were more frenetic and aggressive than usual.
I am amazed by the depth of his imagination and see how deeply influenced it can be by media—for good and for ill. I know Adelphi faculty study the impact of television and other media on children and would be curious to know the psychology behind the phenomena I’ve seen.
These experiences have made me think more carefully about the media diet I feed my children.
