Media and Child Development

Decades of research have shown that the relationship between media and childhood is not unidirectional but reciprocal. In this article, both directions of the media-child development relationship are presented. We discuss how child development predisposes children's media use and preferences by reviewing key developmental characteristics of four periods across childhood, the typical media use during each period, and then hypothesizing how these characteristics influence media use and preferences. Next, we present an overview on the negative and positive influences of media that are most prominent in the public debate. We conclude by identifying directions for future research.