OTTAWA, November 25, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A recent Canadian Teachers Federation (CTF) survey questioned young people about the effect of today’s electronic media on their lives. The research involved 5,756 students in Grades 3 to 10 across Canada and produced what some consider to be alarming results. The study reported that “Forty-eight percent of the children surveyed have their own TV set and 35 percent have their own VCR. Twenty-six percent have a computer with an internet connection for their personal use”.
Regarding computer games, the study found the youngest children, especially boys, “are the most frequent video and computer-game players” and that most parents do not limit what computer games their children can play. The survey continued that “Almost 60 percent of boys in Grades 3-6 play video or computer games almost every day; even in Grade 10, 38 percent of boys chart it as a daily activity. For girls, the picture is very different: 33 percent of Grade 3 girls play interactive games every day; by Grade 10, the figure has dropped to 6 percent.”
One of the top video games for Grade 3-6 boys was found to be “Grand Theft Auto, an ultra-violent action game aimed at mature audiences, which involves murder, bludgeoning and prostitution.”
Despite commonly lewd, crude and violent fare on television these days, about 30% of Grade 3-6 children claimed “that they never have any adult input about what TV shows they can watch.”“By Grade 6,” the study reports, “50 percent report no adult input as to how long they can watch. In Grade 8, the figures for those who experience no parental supervision of their TV viewing rises to approximately 60 percent.”
The Globe and Mail reported that Terry Price, president of the Canadian Teachers’ Federation found the results to be “absolutely frightening.” Family and child-raising experts and organizations have for years advocated that parents not permit children to have their own televisions (and now computers) in their bedrooms and to carefully guide children’s’ viewing habits. Nevertheless, it appears that a large percentage of parents have still not gotten the message and are not alarmed by media formation of their children’s minds. See the official report summary https://www.ctf-fce.ca/en/projects/MERP/summaryfindings.pdf See the Globe and Mail report https://www.globeandmail.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20031121/EVIDEO21//?query=%22canadian%2Bteachers%2Bfederation%22 See Focus on the Family report on the study https://www.fotf.ca/familyfacts/tfn/2003/112503.html