I don’t know why, but some people in the world like to make it sound as if media and devices are bad, scary, and ruining children’s life and development. Every time a new device is released, there are media stories everywhere entirely circulating and emphasising the fact that it’s bad and powerful and society should be worried.

Specifically, there was an episode of ‘Sunday Night’ that aired late 2015 about children complaining, screaming and throwing tantrums when devices such as iPads and iPods were taken away from them while they were playing with them. The footage shown throughout the episode portrayed several children aged roughly around 2 – 5 in distress after their parents took away their devices. Through editing techniques combined with music, the ‘bad’ and ‘scary’ aspects that these devices bring out in children is heightened to an extent that even I was convinced that they really were bad.

What the episode essentially forgot to mention was that anything taken away from a young child will cause that reaction. If a soft toy was taken away from them – they would most likely be in distress. If Lego was taken away from them – same reaction. If dolls, balls or any other forms of entertainment were taken away from a small child, aged specifically between 1 – 5, they would definitely feel distressed and could definitely cause them to cry, scream, and have a tantrum; the same reaction caused when an iPad is taken away. The media, in this situation television programs, heighten stories so much and manipulate them, convincing their audiences of the dangers of such events and activities (e.g)

Unfortunately I was unable to locate the specific Sunday Night episode I referred to therefore the link isn’t included in this blog