I\u2019ll be honest, this Health Tip starts out grim and depressing. That doesn\u2019t give you permission to do a quick-draw on the delete button and move to the safety of your Facebook page. Listen up. Somewhere in your life, you\u2019re probably involved with kids. They may not be your very own, but maybe you\u2019re an aunt or you\u2019ve got cousins. Maybe you have friends who have kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Truly civilized societies aver that all adults are responsible for all children, blood kin or not. That said, this piece will end on a very positive note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today I\u2019m going to tell you that we\u2019re highly inattentive to the absorptive capacities of the brains of children and young people. In addition, we don\u2019t seem to grasp the power of whatever\u2019s absorbed to shape future behavior. Images have entered your own brain and remain stuck there like barnacles. Right this second, conjure up Cap\u2019n Crunch, Bert and Ernie, Homer Simpson, the Jolly Green Giant, and those irritating animated M&M\u2019s. Can\u2019t get rid of them, right? Those, and thousands more, are there until you die.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019ve got a relative over 70, ask him to sing the Texaco theme song from the Milton Berle Show (which hasn\u2019t been on TV for almost 60 years) and you\u2019ll get an idea what I mean. Creepy, eh?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When you read the following statistics on media and kids, you might feel a wave of nausea. By media, of course, I mean not only old media like TV, movies, and magazines, but also new media outlets including the internet and social networking sites, video\/computer games, and cell phones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Numerous studies have shown that media contact adversely affects virtually every mental and physical health concern that parents (and society as a whole) have about young people, including aggression, risky sexual behavior, substance use, disordered eating, school performance, obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends<\/a> that “parents establish screen-free zones at home by making sure there are no televisions, computers or video games in children’s bedrooms, and by turning off the TV during dinner. Children and teens should engage with entertainment media for no more than one or two hours per day, and that should be high-quality content. It is important for kids to spend time on outdoor play, reading, hobbies, and using their imaginations in free play.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n And yet\u2026and yet<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the negative effects listed above, media can be powerfully prosocial and educational. Sesame Street has made major inroads in reading achievement scores. With well considered media, children can learn antiviolence attitudes, empathy, tolerance toward people of other races and ethnicities, and respect for elders. Important, useful messages can be successfully embedded in both movies and TV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Which brings me to one of our city\u2019s best-kept secrets, the not-for-profit Chicago International Children\u2019s Film Festival (CICFF), starting this week. With a fraction of the advertising budget of its grown-up counterpart, you may not have heard of the CICFF, but likely your children and their teachers are well aware of it. Now in its 31st<\/sup> year, the CICFF is a juried show, with both adult and child jurors, that since its inception has brought together thousands of high-quality nonviolent and nonsexist films from filmmakers around the world. (I\u2019m proud to be a member of the CICFF volunteer board.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n With screening venues around the city, busloads of kids are brought from neighborhoods far and wide for afternoons of total delight. Ticket sales over the years have exceed the half-million mark, and many kids attend on scholarship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Click here to download the current program and, of course, if you have a kid handy wrench her away from the TV to go enjoy some quality movies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The big new event on the horizon for the CIFCC is its creation of an app that allows streaming access to more than 1,000 of its very best festival entries. Films range from a minute or two up to feature length. Your child can select a film appropriate for her age and then select from the topics \u201cI want to laugh,\u201d \u201cI want to be scared!\u201d or \u201cI want to think.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Called Facets Kids, the alpha version is available to download to your child\u2019s ipad. Ultimately, Facets Kids will be a low-cost monthly or annual subscription ($6\/month, $50\/year). Concerned grownups can be assured there will be no worrisome content ever, and no advertisements of any kind. That kids will be exposed to media is inevitable, but given the risks of what\u2019s out there Facets Kids will be a safe harbor of education and entertainment. Your kids really can avoid the media world of flying bullets, kicks to the face, explicit sex, and Cap\u2019n Crunch, developing a taste for exceptional filmmaking in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today, Facets Kids launches its fundraising Kickstarter campaign. Take a quick look and you\u2019ll get a sampling of the media it\u2019s possible for your kids to enjoy. And if your boss isn\u2019t peering over your shoulder, watch the video about Facets Kids produced by kids themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And if you liked what you saw as much as I did, Back the Project<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Be well,
Here\u2019s a sampling, from this article in the journal Pediatrics<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\nMedia can be a positive force<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Facets Kids app<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
David Edelberg, MD<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n