| Chapter 1: | Introduction |
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The Internet has come to prominence with enormous opportunities, as have other media that have preceded it (Katz, 1996; Tapscott, 1998). Yet with this promise, defined by Livingstone (2002) earlier as “the newly accessible abundance of diverse information and communication possibilities” (p. 238), come similar concerns that because of the Internet’s vast information resources and dearth of mechanisms for control or scrutiny, children are vulnerable to access Web sites that contain popular-culture, violent, pornographic, or interactive messages that have the potential to cause emotional, psychological, or even physical harm. These Web sites may either contain popular-culture messages that promote hate or violence against others or be easily accessible chat rooms where pedophiles prey on curious or unsuspecting children.
We have had a continuing interest in the effects of the media—particularly television—on children and have come to better understand the influences from not only the amount of viewing time (almost 3 hours per day in the United States as measured in one study done by Roberts et al. in 1999 [as cited in Livingstone, 2002, p. 59]), but also the content available for children. Much has been written about the prosocial effects that stem from program content. This body of research has examined programming that supports socially and culturally approved values, knowledge, and socialization practices and behaviors (Cuban, 1986; Melody, 1973; Schramm, Lyle, & Parker, 1961; Singer & Singer, 2001). Equally important are studies designed to examine the effects of portrayals of violence and/or sex on children’s modeling behavior, as well as the effects of advertising content on their materialistic ambitions (Villani, 2001). Villani, over a 10-year period from 1990 to 2000, reviewed the effects of various mass media, such as television and movies, rock music and music videos, advertising, video games, and computers and the Internet, on children. She was especially troubled by children’s overexposure to violent or sexualized content in these media: