Image: YLE
Media-savvy? Kids today are deluged every day by a steady stream of noise and images.
Young kids in Finland often watch age-inappropriate TV shows. A 2010 media survey found that the top ten television shows among children under 8 included dramas with explicit plots.
Some parents rate soaps such as the domestic Salatut elämät (Secret Lives) as family viewing. Child expert Tiia Niuranen of the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare disagrees.
“With all their scheming, soaps can give kids a very distorted view of relationships and how to treat others,” she says.
Computer game violence has drawn much attention in recent years. But Niuranen points out that children’s exposure to violence, drugs and sexually explicit content is easily overlooked.
She says some parents restrict their children’s exposure to adult programmes, but many pay no attention to shows kids watch or games they play.
Ages printed on video games are not recommendations, adds Niuranen. “They’re warnings of harmful effects.”
Niuranen advises parents to do their homework. One way to take control, for example, is to look up the content of video games online, she says.YLE
