Media: a power to hurt and to heal I don’t think it comes as a surprise that media has the power to influence children in both positive and negative ways. Anyone who has ever watched television during the holiday season has probably seen the back-to-back kid-friendly commercials advertising the “coolest” toys that little Billy and all of his friends just HAVE to get for Christmas.

The classic Christmastime comedy “Jingle All the Way” makes light of this media influence, and the subsequent hell that it can often put a parent through. In the movie, Arnold Schwarzenegger goes to ridiculous extremes so as not to disappoint his little Jaime who just has to have “the Turbo Man action figure with the arms and legs that move and the boomerang shooter and his rock 'n roller jet pack and the realistic voice activator that says 5 different phrases including, ‘It's Turbo time!’ Accessories sold separately. Batteries not included.”

The media is what makes these toys and trends desirable. Much to the dismay of many over-extended parents, television can provide a direct pathway into the minds of children in a way that not much else can. Armed with this capacity to influence, the media has now become a double-edged sword of power. It is easy to see a number of ways in which the media has an unfavorable effect on children—just think of the violence in video games and the never-ending availability of sugary soft drinks. But it is more difficult to think of ways in which the media positively affects children.

The creators of Sesame Street were among the first to take the power of media and channel it in more constructive ways. Sesame Street encourages children around the world to be accepting of others, to embrace diversity and to make positive choices in areas that have been torn apart by war and defined by hatred. PBS was able to document the development of Sesame Street in the war-torn country of Kosovo. Before Sesame Street hit the airwaves in 2004, Albanian and Serbian children were asked why they do not talk or play with one another. The overwhelming response from most of these children was “I don’t know.” This is precisely the divisive and hateful type of thinking that Sesame Street is attempting to correct.

The “Harry Potter” series of books provides another example of how different forms of media can have a positive impact on children. The series’ overwhelming popularity among children has not only caused an increase in children’s desire to read, but it has also caused an improvement in their classroom performance.

Unlike the “Harry Potter” series, the impact that Sesame Street has had on children around the world cannot be easily summed up into statistics and percentages. But I personally do not have any doubts about the program’s success. If we were to look at the Albanian and Serbian children in Kosovo now—three years since Sesame Street’s arrival—I think we will find their separation quickly fading.  ¶ posted by Kristen at 9:50 PM •