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> Tuning out the screens project aims for safer, healthier kids
Tuning out the screens project aims for safer, healthier kids
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Contact:
Kym Stewart, 604.215.9887 (h); kyms@sfu.ca
Stephen Kline; kline@sfu.ca (note: Stephen Kline is away in Europe until December)
Marianne Meadahl, Media & PR, 604.291.4323
Kym Stewart, 604.215.9887 (h); kyms@sfu.ca
Stephen Kline; kline@sfu.ca (note: Stephen Kline is away in Europe until December)
Marianne Meadahl, Media & PR, 604.291.4323
October 14, 2003
School bullying and childhood obesity are becoming epidemic. SFU communication professor Stephen Kline says children’s lives could be safer and healthier if the risks associated with TV watching, Internet use and video games were reduced.
With that in mind, Kline and a team of researchers developed a media education curriculum and introduced it in four North Vancouver schools last May and June. Students were asked to reflect on the role that media play in their lives, and challenged them to explore what they would do if they didn’t rely on media as a main source of entertainment.
Participating students reduced their screen use by 80 per cent during a week-long Tune out the Screen challenge. They turned instead to activities such as reading and active leisure.
The 178 students ranged from Grades 2-6. Parents also participated through surveys, newsletters and via a website (see above).
Kline says the project aimed to help parents and children gain knowledge of the risks associated with high media consumption, by promoting more thoughtful media use and alternatives to violent entertainment. The final week’s challenge allowed students to choose from making no change to going "cold turkey" screen free. Students planned alternative events and kept diaries to chart their success.
Graduate student Kym Stewart, who has conducted previous studies on the effects of video games on children, says students were encouraged to explore how they use media and consider alternatives. "The positive results of this show that communities can do something to reduce the lifestyle risks and ill-effects associated with the media-saturated world our kids are growing up in," she says.
The project was coordinated by the media analysis lab at SFU in partnership with the North Vancouver parents advisory council and the North Vancouver district board of education, with funding from the Ministry of Justice Canada’s community mobilization program. Researchers hope to return to schools with an expanded version of the program.
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Website: www.sfu.ca/media-lab/risk
With that in mind, Kline and a team of researchers developed a media education curriculum and introduced it in four North Vancouver schools last May and June. Students were asked to reflect on the role that media play in their lives, and challenged them to explore what they would do if they didn’t rely on media as a main source of entertainment.
Participating students reduced their screen use by 80 per cent during a week-long Tune out the Screen challenge. They turned instead to activities such as reading and active leisure.
The 178 students ranged from Grades 2-6. Parents also participated through surveys, newsletters and via a website (see above).
Kline says the project aimed to help parents and children gain knowledge of the risks associated with high media consumption, by promoting more thoughtful media use and alternatives to violent entertainment. The final week’s challenge allowed students to choose from making no change to going "cold turkey" screen free. Students planned alternative events and kept diaries to chart their success.
Graduate student Kym Stewart, who has conducted previous studies on the effects of video games on children, says students were encouraged to explore how they use media and consider alternatives. "The positive results of this show that communities can do something to reduce the lifestyle risks and ill-effects associated with the media-saturated world our kids are growing up in," she says.
The project was coordinated by the media analysis lab at SFU in partnership with the North Vancouver parents advisory council and the North Vancouver district board of education, with funding from the Ministry of Justice Canada’s community mobilization program. Researchers hope to return to schools with an expanded version of the program.
—30—
Website: www.sfu.ca/media-lab/risk