Perhaps our Society is Slowly Catching up with the Bible?

The more conservative elements of the Christian community have long decried the media in all its forms for its negative impact on our society, especially on our children. Now, apparently, things have gotten so bad that even secular – and not particularly conservative- groups such as the American Academy of Pediatrics feel compelled to speak out about the significantly negative impact media is having upon the sexual attitudes, and thus behavior, of children. The moral of this story is that media has a tremendous impact upon those who consume it, and the impact upon our children with regard to sexuality is overwhelmingly negative.

It is a huge mistake to believe that consuming media depicting immorality in a positive light is an innocent activity, without dire negative consequence for the consumer. As Christian parents, we have a responsibility to ensure that the media our children are exposed to conforms to the biblical instruction: Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. Philippians 4:8. That applies to parents too, by the way.

I am constantly amazed by all the money and energy our society expends studying social ills that could be avoided in the first place by simply doing as the Bible instructs us. The wisdom of the Bible is eternal. Let us all stand on it in the face of a society that has largely lost its way morally – but may be slowly, slowly coming around to the truth.

An article reporting the pediatricians’ statement follows. I have underlined some of the more significant points for those who are time challenged.


U.S. Pediatricians Decry Media's Portrayal of Sex
By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter by Amanda Gardner

The nation's leading group of pediatricians has issued a strong policy statement directed toward pediatricians, parents and the media on the danger of messages American teens and children are getting about sex from television, the Internet and other media outlets.

The statement, Sexuality, Contraception, and the Media, was published online Aug. 30 and in the September print issue of the journal Pediatrics.
"The media represents arguably the leading sex educator in America today," said Dr. Victor Strasburger, the lead author of the paper. "We do such a poor job of educating kids about sex in sex education classes in school, and parents are notoriously shy about talking to kids about sex. The media picks up the slack."
Seventy percent of teen shows contain sexual content, Strasburger added, "and less than 10 percent of that content involves what anyone would classify as being responsible content. There's no mention of contracting an STD [sexually transmitted disease] or the need to wait to have sex until later."

The United States leads the western world in teen pregnancy rates and American teens have an alarmingly high rate of STDs -- one in four children.
Meanwhile, U.S. children spend seven hours and more a day with various types of often-sexually explicit media, including music, movies, television shows, magazines and the Internet.

"The research shows us that the portrayal of sex in the media is really unrealistic. It's unhealthy. It doesn't consider the consequences of sexual behavior," said Alan Delamater, professor and director of child psychology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. "This is what our kids are growing up thinking. This is what sex is about. To deny its impact is ignorant because there's so much knowledge of it at this point."

Many pediatricians would like to flip the equation and see media outlets introduce more responsible programming.
"Media has an opportunity to continue doing the same old thing, which is to have an adverse effect on child development, or turn it around and shape attitudes and behavior that could have a positive effect on child development," Delamater said.
The statement contains a number of recommendations for parents, physicians and the media.

"We want physicians to ask two media questions at every well-child visit: how much entertainment screen time per day does the child engage in, and is there a TV set or Internet connection in his or her bedroom," said Strasburger, professor of pediatrics at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. "That takes 20 seconds and may be more important than asking about childproofing or car seats or bicycle helmets."

The authors of the statement ideally would like ads for erectile dysfunction drugs to not be shown on TV until after 10 p.m.
"Half a billion dollars of ads for erectile dysfunction drugs and virtually no ads for birth control pills or condoms or emergency contraception," Strasburger said. "There's not a single shred of evidence that exposing kids to birth control ads or even making birth control available to them makes them sexually active at a younger age. We're doing things completely backwards."

There should also be more attention paid to how kids use social networking sites on the Internet. And parents can use media story lines as teaching tools to discuss sex with their children, instead of having "the big talk," the statement said.
On the more idealistic side, the statement also recommends that advertisers no longer use sex to sell a wide range of products.

"We want parents to realize that kids are spending more time with media than in any other activity but sleeping, and that the media represents a powerful source of information and in this case a powerful sex educator," Strasburger said.

More information
To learn more about children and the media, visit the American Academy of Pediatrics.