Too much tv and no beer makes...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/children_shealth/4431014/Too-much-television-can-make-children-mentally-ill.html

Too much television and time spent on the internet can make children mentally ill, an in-depth report has concluded.

Last Updated: 3:58PM GMT 02 Feb 2009

Too much television can make children 'mentally ill' Photo: GETTY
Excessive exposure makes a child materialistic, which in turn affects their relationship with their parents and their health.

That is one of the conclusions of a new wide-ranging survey into British childhood, produced for the Children's Society.

It says that children are part of a new form of consumerism, with under 16 year-olds spending £3 billion of their own money each year on clothes, snacks, music, video games and magazines.

The report claims that some advertisers "explicitly exploit the mechanism of peer pressure, while painting parents as buffoons" and that in its most extreme form, advertising persuades children that "you are what you own".

In addition the "constant exposure" to celebrities through, TV soaps, dramas and chat shows is having a detrimental effect.

It says: "Children today know in intimate detail the lives of celebrities who are richer than they will ever be, and mostly better-looking. This exposure inevitably raises aspirations and reduces self-esteem."

It adds the way celebrities are portrayed "automatically encourages the excessive pursuit of wealth and beauty."

This "media-driven consumerism" is having a negative effect on a child's wellbeing, the report says.

It highlights a study into the effect of consumerism on the psychological wellbeing of 10-13 year-olds.

That study found: "Other things being equal, the more a child is exposed to the media (television and Internet), the more materialistic she becomes, the worse she relates to her parents and the worse her mental health."

The Good Childhood inquiry, compiled by more than 35,000 contributors is independent of the Church of England affiliated society but has been endorsed by the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams.

It takes an in-depth look at the changing face of childhood and family life in Britain, and the challenges facing youngsters today.

The report has found that only a quarter of children with mental health problems get any specialist help, and one in 10 five to 16-year-olds now have mental health issues, ranging from anxiety or depression to conduct disorders such as destructive behaviour.

It claims that the upward trend of violence in the media in general, is making children violent and causing tension within the family.

The report says: "We know from controlled studies that exposure to violence can breed violence.

"So it seems likely that the upward trend in media violence is helping to produce the upward trend in violent behaviour – and also the growth of psychological conflict in family relationships."

The report also notes that commercial pressures have led to the "premature sexualisation" of young people.

It notes that young people are having sex earlier because of "many forces", including "more privacy when both parents work, more contraception, commercial pressures toward premature sexualisation, and fundamental changes in attitude".

The report recommends that sex and relationships, and understanding of the media should be a compulsory part of the personal, social and health curriculum.

And it says advertising of unhealthy foods and alcohol should be banned before 9pm.

*********************************************************************************************************************************
I just post the stories, for interest.. for everyone

Lord, what fools these mortals be!
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene ii

Voltaire said: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

H.L.Mencken wrote:"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/1543203/The-generation-of-damaged-girls.html

generation of very young girls is being psychologically damaged by inappropriate "sexy" clothing, toys and images in the media that are corrupting childhood, leading psychologists warn today.

They say marketing takes unfair advantage of children's desire for affection and the need to conform, leading to eating disorders, low self-esteem and depression.


Their report echoes a warning by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and follows a United Nations study last week saying that British children were the unhappiest and unhealthiest in the developed world.

The American Psychological Association's report says inappropriate marketing is leading to the sexualisation of children by a consumer society.

Apart from clothing for five- and six-year-olds, with old-fashioned frilly frocks replaced by mini skirts, plunging necklines and sequined crop tops, the report specifically criticises "Bratz dolls".

These outsell Barbie dolls in Britain by two to one and come dressed in miniskirts, fishnet stockings and feather boas.

Disney's Little Mermaid or Pocahontas "which have more cleavage, fewer clothes and are depicted as sexier than characters of yesteryear" are also picked out.

"The consequences of the sexualisation of girls in media today are very real and are likely to be a negative influence on girls' healthy development," said Eileen Zurbriggen, the APA's task force chairman. "As a society, we need to replace all these sexualised images with ones showing girls in positive settings. The goal should be to deliver messages to all adolescents — boys and girls — that lead to healthy sexual development."

Her comments were endorsed by Dr Jean Kilbourne, the co-author of a forthcoming book So Sexy, So Soon: The Sexualisation Of Childhood, who said clothing, toys and adverts were shaping a child's gender identity and values in the wrong way.

She saw a direct link between what was happening and the rise in under-age sex.

Dr Kilbourne told The Daily Telegraph: "You see these clothes everywhere, tight T-shirts for little girls saying 'so many boys, so little time', that sort of thing.

"Parents think it is clever but they cease to think that when their child becomes sexually active at 12. There is huge pressure on girls to look sexy and dress provocatively at a younger and younger age and boys are getting graphic sexualised messages. But parents can say 'no' and refuse to buy this stuff."

Recently Asda was condemned for marketing black lacy underwear to nine-year-old girls.

Last night Sue Palmer, the education consultant and author of Toxic Childhood, said: "The same mothers that dress their daughters up like tarts are probably the mothers going on demos against paedophiles. They don't make the connection between how they are dressing children and what they are so frightened of — paedophilia." A Bratz spokesman said its dolls were bought by over-eights. "The Bratz brand, which has remained number one in the UK market for 23 consecutive months focuses core values on friendship, hair play and a 'passion for fashion'."

The spokesman quoted Dr Bryan Young, a psychologist at Exeter University, as saying "parents may feel awkward but I don't think children see the dolls as sexy. They just think they're pretty".

*********************************************************************************************************************************
I just post the stories, for interest.. for everyone

Lord, what fools these mortals be!
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene ii

Voltaire said: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

H.L.Mencken wrote:"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/children_shealth/4435100/Childhood-ruined-by-me-first-society-landmark-report-claims.html

The Good Childhood Inquiry claims that almost all of the problems now facing young people stem from the culture of "excessive individualism" that has developed in recent decades.

It says the "me-first" attitude of adults is causing family breakdowns, competition in education, a growing gap between rich and poor, unkindness among teenagers and premature sexualisation by advertisers.

The pioneering two-year investigation, backed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and based on interviews with 35,000 children, parents and professionals, claims British children are less happy than those in almost any other developed country.

It says the number of children with emotional or behavioural problems has risen from 10 per cent in 1986 to 16 per cent now, and that children in broken homes are 50 per cent more like to suffer problems at school or become depressed. In addition, almost a quarter of young people in Britain live in households below the breadline.

A third of 16-year-olds in Britain live apart from their fathers, while the country has the highest rates of teenage pregnancy in Western Europe and the age at which women lose their virginity has dropped from 21 to 16 in less than 50 years.

Children now spend 21 hours a week watching television or playing video games, making them a target for unscrupulous advertisers, while junk food and alcohol also jeopardise their health.

The study blames these problems squarely on the growth of a struggle for personal status and success, which it says has filled the vacuum created by the decline of religious belief and community spirit.

Bob Reitemeier, the chief executive of The Children's Society, which carried out the inquiry, said: "This landmark report is a wake-up call to us all.

"It says that the aggressive pursuit of individual success by adults today is the greatest threat to our children.

"In many ways our children have never lived so well. And yet there is widespread unease that somehow their lives are fast becoming more difficult than they ought to be.

"There is unease about the unprecedented speed with which children's lives are changing; the commercial pressures they face; the violence they are exposed to; the rising stresses of school; the increased emotional distress they fell.

"There is one common theme that links all these problems: excessive individualism. This is the widespread belief among adults that the prime duty of the individual is to make the most of their own life, rather than to contribute to the lives of others."

Asked what had caused this selfish culture to develop in Britain, Lord Layard, the Labour peer who wrote the final report, replied: "You have a decline in religious belief and a decline in what you may call socialism, that kind of social solidarity which was quite strong in the first half of the 20th century."

He added: "I don't want to pin this on capitalism."

But the authors warned of the risk that the problems suffered by children will deepen in the recession, and that if they are not tackled now "we'll be paying for this for generations to come".

In order to improve children's well-being, the report urges Government to provide better support for those with mental health problems; train teachers who specialise in social skills; ban advertising aimed at the under-12s; scrap school league tables and Sats tests; and give greater commitment to tackling child poverty.

The study also tells parents they should make a long-term commitment to each other and to hold a civil birth ceremony even if they are not religious.

The Children's Society intends to publish an index of children's wellbeing twice a year to measure progress towards its goals.

*********************************************************************************************************************************
I just post the stories, for interest.. for everyone

Lord, what fools these mortals be!
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene ii

Voltaire said: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

H.L.Mencken wrote:"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein

There was a similar article in our paper here to the effect to "too much TV makes teens depressed."

pathetic.

4-yupy

We already HAVE been paying for generations to come...

two cents ¢¢

CERTIFIED HOSEHEAD!!!

people (especially women) do not give ONE DAMN about what they inflict on children and I defy anyone to prove me wrong

Dysfunctional relationships almost always have a child. The more dysfunctional, the more children.

The selfish wants of adults outweigh the needs of the child.

Some mistakes cannot be fixed, but some mistakes can be 'fixed'.

People who say they sleep like a baby usually don't have one. Leo J. Burke

Adoption agencies have strict criteria (usually). Breeders, whose combined IQ's would barely hit triple digits, have none.