Media, Children and Adolescents

Catalog description

Credits 3. 3 Lecture Hours. COURSE OVERVIEW. Examines how media shape childhood and adolescence across cognitive, emotional, social and cultural dimensions. Draws on research traditions in media effects, developmental psychology and critical media studies to analyze how children engage with television, film, advertising, video games, social media and emerging technologies. Considers both risks and resources — such as learning, identity formation, persuasion, distraction, connection and disconnection. Attention to family dynamics, policy debates and institutional responses. Discussion may engage such topics as media violence, sexuality, representation, inequality or commercial influence when relevant to understanding communication and development. RELEVANCE AND APPLICATION. Engages issues central to communication, education, media production, child advocacy, youth programming, health campaigns, public policy and family communication. Builds recognition of how media environments influence behavior, attention, empathy and identity across age groups. Supports professional work in media analysis, research, community outreach, strategic communication, digital content development, education and public service. Provides grounding for careers involving youth media literacy, audience engagement, content design or communication ethics. DEEPENING UNDERSTANDINGS. Challenges assumptions that media effects are universally harmful or uniformly harmless. Introduces evidence-based models showing how age, context, representation and intent influence impact. Highlights how media function both as tools of persuasion and as spaces of expression, agency and resistance. Encourages reflection on how communication systems shape — not just entertain — young people. TOPICS AND THEMES. May include study of developmental responses to media; analysis of advertising, persuasion and branding directed at children and teens; exploration of media violence, fear, sexuality or body image as research areas; consideration of family media use and regulation; examination of identity, representation and inequality in youth media cultures; review of media literacy, educational design and policy approaches. Course material may include cases involving contested or sensitive topics when necessary for understanding communication effects and practices. Prerequisite: Junior or senior classification or approval of instructor.