Dr. Ellen Wartella is dean of the College of Communication and the Walter Cronkite Regents Chair in Communication at The University of Texas at Austin.

Electronic Childhood Children live an electronic childhood today. One they find most engaging. Channel surfing on cable, computer games, videos, and even the Internet are features of a world often alien to adults but as familiar as the backyard to many children. As we observe our children in this electronic world, we are awed by their agility with media that sometimes intimidate us and fearful of the ways those new media are changing the nature of children's lives and the society in which they grow up. Concern about the social effects of media on children and youth echoes everywhere, and this shared worry only accelerates as the marketplace for media products becomes more global and homogenized across national boundaries. Critics complain that young people spend too much time with media products that are too violent, commercialized, and of inappropriate quality. But proponents of television, as well as champions of newer interactive technologies such as video and computer, argue that such media enhance the children's education if they equitably have access to good quality programming through these technologies. Although several countries (such as France and Canada) limit importation of foreign films or television programs, a global cultural marketplace now exists in which media created in, say, Ireland, are marketed elsewhere in Europe as well as in the Americas, Asia, and Australia. Throughout much of the global marketplace, the standards of aesthetic tastes or expectations for television dramatic content, films, popular music, and videos are also increasingly homogenized. Like the armies of old, cultural products-created and distributed by multinational media conglomerates-traverse industrialized democracies. And such a global international media market finds children a most avid audience. What is this electronic media environment for children? In both Europe and the United States, children are heavy users of television and, increasingly, of all television programs accessed through the television set (videos and computer games). Children's television habits in Europe and in the United States follow a similar pattern: children, as early users of television, are showing a steady increase in viewing it as video and satellite penetration are more variable across countries. Without question, children today grow up in much more media-rich households than did their parents and, importantly, with more uses for the television set. Cable television, satellites, and videocassettes have made considerable inroads into children's viewing of over-the-air television. In the United States, more than two-thirds of households have cable, almost 75 percent have videocassette recorders, nearly 40 percent have computers, and about that same percentage have video games. What do American children watch on television? Children do not by any means watch only programs intended specifically for them. Horst Stipp, director of social and developmental research at NBC, points out that U.S. commercial television executives are fully aware that America's children prefer situation comedies to children's educational programs. Most of the programs children watch are neither specially created for children nor are shown during what is known as children's TV time-Saturday mornings. They watch prime-time adult fare. A second characteristic of children's viewing is that it roams across a range of live-action and animated fare that appears on cable or in syndication on local stations, not just on our four commercial over-the-air networks. A third noteworthy factor is that not one educational children's television show appears in the top-viewed programs. Although, if ratings for children age two to five were separated from those age six to eleven, "Sesame Street," an educational program for preschoolers, would make that list, as would "Barney." These data are not unique to the United States. The listings of the top ten programs for children in Great Britain, Switzerland, West Germany, France, and the Netherlands reveal that the most popular shows are comedies, game shows, and soap operas. While preschool children may start watching television by attending to children's programs, by the time they reach age six or seven they watch more adult fare than children's programming. Clearly part of the explanation of children's viewing preferences may be the range of choices offered. In the United States, the diversity and variety of entertaining fare specifically produced for children is certainly limited, even with a proliferation of media and channels. In a 1990 study, I examined the variety and diversity of children's programming available in one Midwest community. The question raised was whether children had access to over-the-air broadcasts, cable, and videocassette rentals of children's programming and whether that content included a range of genres for children to watch. In particular, I was interested in gauging the extent to which children's programming provided them with informational or educational options (a particular concern of American public policy-makers). We found that while the children in this community lived in homes with a variety of media available, including cable television and videocassette recorders, neither traditional broadcast television nor videocassettes provided much diversity of content for children. Few informational or educational children's shows appeared on broadcast television, and most of those were dominated by toy-related animated programs: "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" and the like. Similarly, most video rentals were either adult-oriented or the same animated TV programs. The major exceptions were recycled Disney movies and some public broadcasting educational series such as "Sesame Street." Only households with cable were offered variety and diversity of children's programming. Channels such as Nickelodeon, a commercial enterprise, offered a range of programming genres, quiz shows, game shows, drama, animated cartoons, and variety shows, thus adding to the diversity of children's program options. Since our 1990 study, we see more competition in production of children's television and more program diversity in the United States. Much of this has been prompted by passage of the Children's Television Act of 1990, intended to increase the amount of educational and informational broadcast television programming available to children. Two of its provisions are important for the future of American children's television. The first one is that broadcasters must provide television programming that serves the educational and informational needs of children, and, if they do not, broadcasters may be held accountable in license reviews every five years. Secondly, the Act established a National Endowment for Children's Educational Television, a vehicle through which new programming ventures can be funded. The FCC is examining how well broadcasters are complying with the Children's Television Act. While there have been abuses (such as claiming "America's Funniest Home Videos" as an educational children's show), it is clear that children's TV has increased since 1990. A recurring problem, however, remains in that an adequate definition of "educational programming" is not yet part of the regulatory overview. In 1993 the U.S. Congress enacted the National Ready to Learn Act, which sets the goal of having all children prepared and ready to learn when they enter public school and includes the use of television as part of the mandate. In 1994 money was funneled into public television to achieve this goal, and the public television system announced a renewed commitment to air an expanded daily block of nine hours a day of educational and informational children's programming. Funding for public TV is only assured through 1998, and, indeed, government's role in encouraging and enhancing quality children's TV fare remains precarious. If a renaissance is to occur, funding for quality programming in both commercial and public TV markets must be found. Concern about what children see and assimilate from television and videocassettes is rooted in an assumption that the impact of television and other media is determined by content. Two aspects of content receiving the most research and comment involve the violence and the commercialization of children's media products, from television, to films to videos. Violence in the media has been a topic for public debate and academic research since the 1920s film era, at least in the United States where media violence has always seemed of more concern than in other areas of the world. This may be because American cultural products seem more violent than those of other countries. Yet, increasingly, media violence transverses the globe. Several major reviews of the predominantly U.S. research on violence have been issued over the past several years, converging on the conclusion that media violence is only one environmental factor contributing to the maintenance of a stable pattern of aggressive behavior in children and adults. However, these studies conclude that media violence does constitute a threat to public health. Partly because of such research and partly because of the political pressures to "do something" about violence in American life, the federal government has been pressuring the broadcast and cable industry to monitor television programming for its portrayals of violence and to provide parents and viewers with mechanisms to screen out and sometimes block television programs with explicit violence. The 1996 Telecommunications Act requires that all new TV sets after 1998 contain a V (for violence) chip so that viewers can screen out violent shows and so that broadcasters and cable can provide violence ratings and advisories to aid the viewers' choices. This is a remarkable bit of regulation. Broadcasters and cable networks, as well, have been conducting their own violence monitoring since 1994 when they announced the establishment of independent monitors to measure the amount of violence on television. In June 1994, the National Cable Television Association announced a contract with a consortium of four universities-University of Texas at Austin, University of Wisconsin at Madison, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and University of California at Santa Barbara-to conduct TV violence monitoring during the 1995-96, 1996-97, and 1997-98 television seasons. The monitoring project is under the auspices of Media-Scope, a not-for-profit Hollywood organization organized to bring academics and industry people together around social issues of concern. As part of this consortium, my three UT Austin colleagues and I join eleven researchers from across the country to monitor 2,700 hours per year of cable television, including the broadcast networks, basic cable networks, and premium channels. In addition, we are conducting re-search on the effects of viewer advisories and public educational materials and programming. One goal of the monitoring project is to provide parents with information about the likely place to find violence on TV. We are looking at what times of day, the genres and types of programs, and the types of cable channels that portray what kinds of violence. The context for violence is an im-portant consideration when de-scribing how violence is portrayed across the television landscape. The second issue of public concern about television (commercialization) is exacerbated by the rise of privatized television in Europe and elsewhere in competition with public broadcasting. Around the world, for example, children now have access to the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" (or "Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles" as they are known in Great Britain) through television, video, books, interactive video games, movies, and a whole host of toy products, comic books, clothing, and children's furnishing. Programs that link television characters to toy products-termed program-length commercials in the United States-are of increasing concerns around the globe. The fact that television program characters are created with an eye towards their marketing potential as toys or other consumer items is only part of an entire marketing strategy that has evolved over a decade. Starting from the premise that children like the familiar and recognizable, the creation of children's programming (once based on children's books or films) is an elaborate manifestation of providing children with something familiar. Simultaneous production of a children's TV show and its toy-related characters are an assumed part of the package today, with the relationship between media and merchandise reinforced with product licensing (backpacks, sheets, towels, clothing, and lunch boxes), cereal products (breakfast boxes featuring "Ghostbusters" and "The Addams Family"), character appearances at shopping malls and holiday events, movie appearances ("Batman: The Animated Movie" is based on the Fox's kidshow and was issued after the success of adult "Batman" films), and, of course, a host of new technology toys including arcade and home video games, story tapes, and home computer software. These characters and products range widely around the world-it is difficult to escape large purple dinosaurs or talking fire engines anywhere. What is emerging is unique to the new electronic age. Marsha Kinder in her book on video games, Playing with Power in Movies, Television and Video Games, calls it "a supersystem: a network of interrelated narrative texts or media products constructed around a pop cultural figure or group of figures." In addition to the Turtles, we see characters from the "Star Wars" movies, the Simpsons, the Smurfs, the Muppets of "Sesame Street," Batman, and born-again through Hollywood's magic and eagerness to recycle proven vehicles, the Flintstones. Sometimes pop cultural icons are real people, such as Madonna, Michael Jackson, and even the (apparently) dead Elvis Presley. Beyond the pitfalls of commercialization, the media system of interrelated products has implications for the potential of new electronic media to enhance children's lives. Indeed, there are high hopes that the active nature of children's interactions with video games and computers, as well as other newer electronic audio and video products, will help children learn about the world and themselves. The 1996 Telecommunications Act calls for all schools to be connected to the Internet and information superhighway. In Texas, the Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund is charged with allocating $150 million each year for the next ten years to ensure that Texas K-12 schools are computer connected. What are some expectations about the child audience that I believe are shaping the new media products for children? My observations come from studying the producers of television and other media for children and from my research observing children as they interact with television and other media. We see production principles that govern children's television being carried over into other interactive media. And no wonder. Many of the same production houses are moving into multiple technologies for delivering media products, and cultural icons across media are often part of the same supersystem. These principles are rooted in what engage and interest children as media users. One principle that should be incorporated into all children's media is that repetition is a key to both educating and entertaining children. Just as children like to have the same stories read to them over and over, they enjoy the same television programs and videos. Repetition is not just important but essential to video games, since practice leads to mastery. Repetition both entertains and hones new skills: in video games, as in life, once children learn to master one sort of obstacle, whenever it arises again, they are prepared. A second principle is that children want recognizable characters and stories. The supersystem of cultural production ensures that children can find favorite characters across a range of media technologies. In the future, recycling children's stories from television to CD- ROM to computer games and back again is likely to be the norm. This principle is quite effective in developing marketing strategies for children, but only in the short term. Supersystems of image marketing quickly lead to cynicism among the older-child audience. A third principle lies in gender differences in this electronic world. The common assumption among American producers of children's television programs, for instance, is that boys like action adventure, superheroes, and fast paced action. Girls, on the other hand, like fantasy and soft cuddly characters and slower paced television. Action, and often violence, good versus evil, heroic feats, technical wizardry, and male-dominated characters are all markets of boys' television best typified by the Turtles's success. In contrast, girls' programming is dominated by sugary sweet programs about cute doll-like characters who demonstrate good pro-social qualities of caring and helpfulness (such as Ariel in "The Littlest Mermaid"). This expectation of male bias towards action and superheroes has been carried over into the video game industry. According to Kinder, the vast majority of video game players are boys and as early as age five and six. When surveyed both boys and girls viewed video games as more appropriate for boys than girls. Clearly the current products available for video games are more boy oriented than girl oriented, and this may have repercussions if such interactive media do have an impact on children's cognitive development. A fourth principle of new media production for children is that the nature of the visual-spatial interactivity of media, such as video games and computers, may have a positive impact on cognitive development in both boys and girls. Research psychologist Patricia Greenfield suggests in her book, Mind and Media, that video game playing does have important cognitive benefits for their users. The basic structure of video games fosters use of the inductive reasoning process, provides a means of verifying hypotheses, improves eye-hand coordination and processing of visual information from multiple perspectives, and helps develop skills in iconic-spatial representation. Moreover, Greenfield argues that during that period of development when boys demonstrate greater ability at visual spatial skills (around age ten or eleven), video game playing can actually help girls catch up to boys or help boys pull even further ahead. Gender differences on children's television have helped create gender differences in video game use since video game products are based on so many of the boy television and video narratives. Moreover, if video games are a gateway into greater comfort with computer use, then girls are quite clearly being disadvantaged for their entrance into the increasingly computerized world of work. What appears to be needed are video games that appeal to girls' fantasies and that use girl-oriented narratives and characters. In short, the gendered world of children's television when transplanted to the newer interactive technologies may have serious consequences for future generations of workers. Finally, while gender differences in new media use seem striking, something of a blurring of age distinctions occurs in the new media use. I have observed boys as young as age three and four rally round my twelve-year-old when he is playing with his video games. Indeed, the world of the Turtles reaches from toddlers through the elementary school years. In many ways video games and computers and other interactive media can draw children and adolescents to-gether around their interactive technology. Sometimes only parents feel left out. Part of this observation is rooted in the way television is programmed for children. In the United States we strongly believe that children "watch up"; that is, they watch what attracts their older siblings. This accounts for the attempts to develop programming for an elastic group of five to twelve or thirteen -year-olds. Even for educational television producers, a variant of this theme is the desire to develop polysemic television. This is television that entertains adults who will then watch the educational fare with their children. One clearly beneficial result of this blurring together of age-group interest is that it could lead to children of different ages, and perhaps even adults, gathering round interactive technologies together. My children and their friends like to play video games together; they like to watch while one of the group tries his hand at the game. Contrary to fears that video games and computers lead to greater individual isolation and less communal activity as compared to television watching, it may be that some of these technologies (such as video games) do have a social aspect to them which has been ignored in the popular commentaries. The potential is boundless for the new media of cable, video, computers, video games, and other interactive technologies to change the nature of children's leisure time and their school environment. Children who are comfortable with electronic media at home will expect entertaining as well as educational interactive products at school. Already children are faced with a dizzying array of electronic activities, as well as more traditional printed media, to engage their interest. Harnessing the potential of these media to create entertaining and educationally beneficial cultural products and to do so without further commercialization of our youth is the challenge we all face. This article is adapted from the author's remarks at The Cologne Conference, Germany, June 1994, and an article in Media Studies Journal, Winter 1995.