Media and the Make-Believe Worlds of Children offers new insights into children's descriptions of their invented or "make-believe" worlds, and the role that the children's experience with media plays in creating these worlds. Based on the results of a cross-cultural study conducted in the United States, Germany, Israel, and South Korea, it offers an innovative look at media's role on children's creative lives. This distinctive volume: *outlines the central debates and research findings in the area of children, fantasy worlds, and the media; *provides a descriptive account of children's make-believe worlds and their wishes for actions they would like to take in these worlds; *highlights the centrality of media in children's make believe worlds; *emphasizes the multiple creative ways in which children use media as resources in their environment to express their own inner worlds; and *suggests the various ways in which the tension between traditional gender portrayals that continue to dominate media texts and children's wishes to act are presented in their fantasies. The work also demonstrates the value of research in unveiling the complicated ways in which media are woven into the fabric of children's everyday lives, examining the creative and sophisticated uses they make of their contents, and highlighting the responsibility that producers of media texts for children have in offering young viewers a wide array of role models and narratives to use in their fantasies. The downloadable resources provide full-color images of the artwork produced during the study. This book will appeal to scholars and graduate students in children and media, early childhood education, and developmental psychology. It can be used in graduate level courses in these areas.

"Media and the Make-Believe Worlds of Children" offers new insights into children's descriptions of their invented or "make-believe" worlds, and the role that the children's experience with media plays in creating these worlds. Based on the results of a cross-cultural study conducted in the United States, Germany, Israel, and South Korea, it offers an innovative look at media's role on children's creative lives.
This distinctive volume:
*outlines the central debates and research findings in the area of children, fantasy worlds, and the media;
*provides a descriptive account of children's make-believe worlds and their wishes for actions they would like to take in these worlds;
*highlights the centrality of media in children's make believe worlds;
*emphasizes the multiple creative ways in which children use media as resources in their environment to express their own inner worlds; and
*suggests the various ways in which the tension between traditional genderportrayals that continue to dominate media texts and children's wishes to act are presented in their fantasies.
The work also demonstrates the value of research in unveiling the complicated ways in which media are woven into the fabric of children's everyday lives, examining the creative and sophisticated uses they make of their contents, and highlighting the responsibility that producers of media texts for children have in offering young viewers a wide array of role models and narratives to use in their fantasies. An enclosed CD provides full-color images of the artwork produced during the study.
This book will appeal to scholars and graduate students in children and media, early childhood education, anddevelopmental psychology. It can be used in graduate level courses in these areas.

This second, thoroughly updated edition of The Routledge International Handbook of Children, Adolescents, and Media analyzes a broad range of complementary areas of study, including children as media consumers, children as active participants in media making, and representations of children in the media. The roles that media play in the lives of children and adolescents, as well as their potential implications for their cognitive, emotional, social, and behavioral development, have attracted growing research attention in a variety of disciplines. This handbook presents a collection that spans a variety of disciplines including developmental psychology, media studies, public health, education, feminist studies, and the sociology of childhood. Chapters provide a unique intellectual mapping of current knowledge, exploring the relationship between children and media in local, national, and global contexts. Divided into five parts, each with an introduction explaining the themes and topics covered, the Handbook features over 50 contributions from leading and upcoming academics from around the globe. The revised and new chapters consider vital questions by analyzing texts, audience, and institutions, including: media and its effects on children's mental health children and the internet of toys media and digital inequalities news and citizenship in the aftermath of COVID-19 The Handbook's interdisciplinary approach and comprehensive, current, and international scope make it an authoritative, state-of-the-art guide to the field of children's media studies. It will be indispensable for media scholars and professionals, policy makers, educators, and parents.

This edited volume focuses on the lived experiences of children during the first wave of the COVID-19 outbreak in the spring of 2020, their knowledge and emotional reactions, the adjustments they made in their everyday lives, and the strengths and skills they developed in response. A central theme of inquiry is the place media held in all of these aspects: the roles they played for children's informational, emotional, and social needs, how these have changed under the pandemic circumstances, and the media competencies children developed in utilizing and controlling the media in their lives. The book is based on responses of 4,200 children ages 9-13 to an international survey administered in 42 countries as well as additional complementaries localized studies. Comparative dimensions are central to this unique collection of chapters, along geographical and cultural lines, as well as gender, age, class, health, and refugee status. With 40 authors from around the world, this book highlights the potential of media to assist children and their families in times of crisis as well as their potential drawbacks. Lessons learned for future crises are outlined in the concluding chapter of this book, which will be an asset to scholars of children's wellbeing as well as professionals of media for children, educators, and parents.

Experiencing fear in front of the screen is a common phenomenon in childhood, and a focus of public concern. Yet, research has encountered ethical and methodological challenges and has focused largely on the effects of watching disturbing news. In this innovative book, this universal experience is investigated in depth via two complementary studies: 1) a retrospective study of experiences related by 626 undergraduate students from eight countries; and 2) a study of the current nightmares induced by watching television of 510 children in five countries. The results presented in this book highlight the most common elements of fear in front of the screen more generally, followed by a focused analysis of the unique features of fear that characterize different developmental stages: pre-school, middle childhood, pre-teens and teenagers. The rich descriptions distinguish between the negative experiences of fear versus the positive experiences of thrill, and explores gender and cultural differences. Finally, the book offers implications for media producers and policy makers as well as for parents and educators.

Screening Gender on Children s Television offers readers insights into the transformations taking place in the presentation of gender portrayals in television productions aimed at younger audiences. It goes far beyond a critical analysis of the existing portrayals of gender and culture by sharing media professionals action-oriented recommendations for change that would promote gender equity, social diversity and the wellbeing of children.

Incorporating the author s interviews with 135 producers of children s television from 65 countries, this book discusses the role television plays in the lives of young people and, more specifically, in developing gender identity. It examines how gender images presented to children on television are intertwined with important existential and cultural concerns that occupy the social agenda worldwide, including the promotion of education for girls, prevention of HIV/AIDS and domestic violence and caring for neglected boys who lack healthy masculine role models, as well as confronting the pressures of the beauty myth.

Screening Gender on Children s Television also explores how children s television producers struggle to portray issues such as sex/sexuality and the preservation of local cultures in a profit-driven market which continually strives to reinforce gender segregation. The author documents pro-active attempts by producers to advance social change, illustrating how television can serve to provide positive, empowering images for children around the world.

Screening Gender on Children s Television is an accessible text which will appeal to a wide audience of media practitioners as well as students and scholars. It will be useful on a range of courses, including popular culture, gender, television and media studies. Researchers will also be interested in the breadth of this cross-cultural study and its interviewing methodology.

Screening Gender on Children's Television offers readers insights into the transformations taking place in the presentation of gender portrayals in television productions aimed at younger audiences. It goes far beyond a critical analysis of the existing portrayals of gender and culture by sharing media professionals' action-oriented recommendations for change that would promote gender equity, social diversity and the wellbeing of children.

Incorporating the author's interviews with 135 producers of children's television from 65 countries, this book discusses the role television plays in the lives of young people and, more specifically, in developing gender identity. It examines how gender images presented to children on television are intertwined with important existential and cultural concerns that occupy the social agenda worldwide, including the promotion of education for girls, prevention of HIV/AIDS and domestic violence and caring for 'neglected' boys who lack healthy masculine role models, as well as confronting the pressures of the beauty myth.

Screening Gender on Children's Television also explores how children's television producers struggle to portray issues such as sex/sexuality and the preservation of local cultures in a profit-driven market which continually strives to reinforce gender segregation. The author documents pro-active attempts by producers to advance social change, illustrating how television can serve to provide positive, empowering images for children around the world.

Screening Gender on Children's Television is an accessible text which will appeal to a wide audience of media practitioners as well as students and scholars. It will be useful on a range of courses, including popular culture, gender, television and media studies. Researchers will also be interested in the breadth of this cross-cultural study and its interviewing methodology.

Bringing together the leading researchers on children, adolescents, and the media, this books offers their cutting-edge, 'big picture' ideas for the future of research and scholarship in the field. Individual chapters focus on topics such as the role of big data in media research, digital literacy, parenting in the era of mobile media, media diversity in the digital age, the impact of media on child development, children's digital rights, the implications of 'intelligent' characters and parasocial relationships, and the effectiveness of transmedia for informal education. Several chapters also explore the theoretical and methodological challenges facing children's media researchers. Offering new directions for research, the contributors consider the implications of the changing media landscape for parents, educators, advocates, and producers. Leading scholars from North America, Europe and Asia, grounded in different theoretical and methodological traditions, join forces to discuss the impact of growing up in a media- saturated world, and to stimulate thinking about the field of children and media in unexpected ways. This book was originally published as two special issues of the Journal of Children and Media.

Bringing together the leading researchers on children, adolescents, and the media, this books offers their cutting-edge, 'big picture' ideas for the future of research and scholarship in the field. Individual chapters focus on topics such as the role of big data in media research, digital literacy, parenting in the era of mobile media, media diversity in the digital age, the impact of media on child development, children's digital rights, the implications of 'intelligent' characters and parasocial relationships, and the effectiveness of transmedia for informal education. Several chapters also explore the theoretical and methodological challenges facing children's media researchers. Offering new directions for research, the contributors consider the implications of the changing media landscape for parents, educators, advocates, and producers. Leading scholars from North America, Europe and Asia, grounded in different theoretical and methodological traditions, join forces to discuss the impact of growing up in a media- saturated world, and to stimulate thinking about the field of children and media in unexpected ways. This book was originally published as two special issues of the Journal of Children and Media.

KakaoTalk and Facebook: Korean American Youth Constructing Hybrid Identities explores the role smartphones play in the lives of Korean American youth as they explore their identities and navigate between fitting into their host society and their Korean heritage. Employing multiple methodologies, this book gives voice to the youth's personal experiences, identity struggles, and creative digital media practices. While similar in many aspects to other American youth, they also differ greatly in the central roles that their smartphones' use plays in maintaining their mastery of the Korean language, connecting to Korean pop culture, and cultivating their social networks with other co-ethnic peers and homeland relatives and friends. The results of this study challenge traditional assumptions about assimilation of second generation immigrants into a host society and suggest that digital technologies facilitate the process of segmented assimilation, according to which ethnic identities continue to play a central role in the identity of children of immigrants. KakaoTalk and Facebook will be of great interest to scholars and educators of media and youth and those exploring how digital media have changed the nature of immigration processes in dramatic ways.

Experiencing fear in front of the screen is a common phenomenon in childhood, and a focus of public concern. Yet, research has encountered ethical and methodological challenges and has focused largely on the effects of watching disturbing news. In this innovative book, this universal experience is investigated in depth via two complementary studies: 1) a retrospective study of experiences related by 626 undergraduate students from eight countries; and 2) a study of the current nightmares induced by watching television of 510 children in five countries. The results presented in this book highlight the most common elements of fear in front of the screen more generally, followed by a focused analysis of the unique features of fear that characterize different developmental stages: pre-school, middle childhood, pre-teens and teenagers. The rich descriptions distinguish between the negative experiences of fear versus the positive experiences of thrill, and explores gender and cultural differences. Finally, the book offers implications for media producers and policy makers as well as for parents and educators.

Sexy Girls, Heroes and Funny Losers: Gender Representations in Children's TV around the World presents the most comprehensive study to date of gender images on children's television. Conducted in 24 countries around the world, the study employed different methodologies and analyses. The findings illustrate how stereotypes of femininity and masculinity are constructed and promoted to children. It presents findings that may well require even the most cynical observer to admit that, despite some great strides, children's television worldwide is still a very conservative force that needs to be reimagined and transformed!

Studies conducted over several years in Israel explored social aspects of the developing mobile phone phenomenon. Using a variety of quantitative and qualitative methods the research examined the place that the 'Wonder Phone' has been occupying in many facets of life. It was concluded that the mobile is 'not only talk' - as a recent campaign slogan of one of Israel's mobile providers suggests. Rather, it is a medium through which Israelis define their gendered and national identities; it offers an experience of 'being there' and a security net holding family members and loved ones together, especially in terms of terror and war; and it provides a lifeline during existential crises around which rituals of mourning are crystallized.In analyzing the mobile phone as it is contextualized in Israeli society, two opposing social forces can clearly be seen: on the one hand, the mobile is an expression of late modernity and globalization; but on the other hand it is recruited as a tool - as well as a symbol - for the expression of locality and patriotic sentiments.

Over the last decades Media Education has gradually obtained an educational status in many countries throughout the world although few countries have actually incorporated this subject in their formal school curricula. Where Media Education is taught today, it is principally carried out using a relaxed, pluralistic and a cross- or multidisciplinary approach. This book sets out to explore this new approach to the subject via chapters that are representative of ongoing work by leading Media Education researchers in nine different countries and from all five continents. Media Education is continually evolving and the individual chapters indicate that the passion for the subject is global while the actual translations of practices and policies are very much local. The book expands the debate about Media Education beyond the traditions and interests of one part of the world to encompass the needs of the rest.

Over the last decades Media Education has gradually obtained an educational status in many countries throughout the world although few countries have actually incorporated this subject in their formal school curricula. Where Media Education is taught today, it is principally carried out using a relaxed, pluralistic and a cross- or multidisciplinary approach. This book sets out to explore this new approach to the subject via chapters that are representative of ongoing work by leading Media Education researchers in nine different countries and from all five continents. Media Education is continually evolving and the individual chapters indicate that the passion for the subject is global while the actual translations of practices and policies are very much local. The book expands the debate about Media Education beyond the traditions and interests of one part of the world to encompass the needs of the rest.