skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Helping Wyoming Kids Be Critical Media Consumers During Pandemic

play audio
Play

Thursday, September 10, 2020   

CHEYENNE, Wyo. -- Kids in Wyoming and across the nation are facing more social isolation during the coronavirus pandemic, which means they're spending more time in front of screens than real-life interactions with children their own age.

A new study shows that sexualized images of girls on television, video games and social media can have serious impacts.

Christia Speers Brown, professor of developmental psychology at the University of Kentucky and the report's author, said girls lose motivation in academic achievement, and their self-confidence drops.

"The more they buy into this 'sexualized girls, who I want to be, that's the way to become popular and have some status,' the more they think of themselves as not as smart, the more they do things like not raise their hand in class even when they know the answers," Speers Brown said.

Speers Brown said most female characters in popular TV shows wear revealing outfits, flirt with boys and are not portrayed as very smart, and added sexualized images also tell boys that objectifying women, and even sexual harassment is OK. Similar media critiques have been dismissed by some who argue that kids understand that they are watching entertainment.

Speers Brown said whether children are four years old or 14, everything is educational, because what they see teaches them what the world is like and what people expect of them.

"There's no such thing as educational programming versus entertainment programming for kids," Brown said. "Everything is educational when you're trying to figure out what the world is and your place in the world. And so we have to be mindful of, what is it teaching kids?"

Instead of trying to censor or limit what children can watch, she said the most effective strategy for parents is to sit down and talk with their kids, and teach them to be critical consumers of media.

"To talk about why are they seeing the images that they're seeing," Brown suggested. "To kind of point them out, so for parents to be pro-active and to say, 'Wow, what's this girl wearing? Why do you think she's wearing that? Why do you think she's acting this way? What does it mean for you? What does it mean for the girls that you're friends with?' "


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021