Media Literacy at Home

Summary

Podcast Summary: Ask the Mediatrician – "Media Literacy at Home"

Date: October 21, 2019
Host: Dr. Michael Rich (“The Mediatrician”)
Guest: Kristelle Lavallee, Child Development Expert
Episode Focus: How parents can teach media literacy and cultivate healthy, critically-thinking children in a digital world.

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Episode Overview

This episode addresses a question from a homeschooling parent about how to introduce screen media to children with an emphasis on effective media literacy. Dr. Michael Rich and Kristelle Lavallee explore when and how to introduce media, notable resources, and practical strategies for families navigating today's complex media landscape.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. When to Start Teaching Media Literacy

• Main Insight: Begin teaching media literacy when you start introducing media to your child.
  • “[W]hen parents say, when should we start with media literacy? I say when you start with media.” (Dr. Rich, 02:10)
  • “It’s essential for them to learn how to think critically about the stories, images and ideas that they see and hear.” (Dr. Rich, 02:17)
• Developmental Readiness: Introducing media around age 7 is developmentally appropriate, as research shows children can now distinguish fantasy from reality and recognize persuasive intent.
  • “It’s around this age that children develop the cognitive ability to distinguish fantasy from reality... and to recognize persuasive intent in commercials.” (Dr. Rich, 02:23)

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2. Parental Involvement: Co-Viewing & Modeling

• Main Insight: Parents should actively participate in their children’s media experiences, modeling critical thinking and observing their reactions.
  • “It’s really important, Lacey, that you watch those screens with them... and discuss the issues that are brought up...” (Dr. Rich, 02:44)
  • “Perhaps most importantly, to model critical thinking about what they are seeing.” (Dr. Rich, 03:13)

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3. Resources for Media Literacy Education

• Recommended Organizations:
  • Media Power Youth: Focuses on empowering youth through media literacy education.
  • National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE): Offers national-level resources for families.
  • MediaSmarts (Canada): Noted for their accessible and comprehensive material.
  • “Media Power Youth... National Association for Media Literacy Education... MediaSmarts, who are our neighbors to the north in Canada.” (Kristelle Lavallee, 04:58)
• All links are available at askthemediatrician.org.

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4. Media Literacy as a Life Skill

• Transcending Mediums: Media literacy skills should apply to all forms of media—books, billboards, ads on clothing, and even verbal messages—not just screens.
  • “[T]hey can use these critical thinking skills for everything that they do...books, magazines at the grocery store, billboards on the highway, advertisements... even what their friends say.” (Dr. Rich, 05:37)
• Quote to Remember:
  • “Mark Twain once said, believe three quarters of what you see, half of what you read, and a quarter of what you hear. So I think that that was critical thinking from the beginning.” (Dr. Rich, 05:54)

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5. Core Practical Strategies for Teaching Media Literacy

• Identify Persuasive Messages: Guide children to spot messages intended to influence their behavior or opinions.

  • “Ask them to identify messages in their environment that are designed to persuade them...” (Dr. Rich, 06:21)

• Immediate vs. Reflective Response: Help them analyze their first reactions and then, after reflection, their deeper understanding.

• Deconstruction Skills: Teach children to break down media messages by asking the following five key questions (07:05):

  1. Who created this message and what did they want it to do?
  2. What techniques are used to attract your attention?
  3. What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented?
  4. How might different people interpret the message differently?
  5. What is omitted from the message?
     – “This is a really critical one because every medium presents what they have from a very specific point of view...and builds relationships within the things that it shows or speaks about.” (Dr. Rich, 07:28)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Developmental Readiness:

  • “It’s around this age that children develop the cognitive ability to distinguish fantasy from reality...” (Dr. Rich, 02:23)

• Parental Role:

  • “Model critical thinking about what they are seeing with them and for them.” (Dr. Rich, 03:13)

• On Critical Thinking:

  • “Mark Twain once said, believe three quarters of what you see, half of what you read, and a quarter of what you hear.” (Dr. Rich, 05:54)

• Deconstruction Example:

  • “If someone picks up a cigarette and a gorgeous person comes up and kisses them, we are reading the story that cigarettes make you attractive and we need to understand how these manufactured messages are trying to manipulate us.” (Dr. Rich, 07:45)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Introduction & Listener Question (00:43–01:25)
• When to Start Media Literacy (02:02–03:42)
• Resource Recommendations (04:58–05:27)
• The Five Key Questions of Media Literacy (07:05–07:28)
• Example of Message Deconstruction (07:29–08:22)

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Conclusion

Dr. Rich and Kristelle Lavallee urge parents to treat media literacy as integrated into daily life—not a separate curriculum. They advocate for modeling critical thinking, ongoing discussion, and using trusted resources to help children thrive and stay resilient in a media-dense world.
Dr. Rich’s closing thought:

“Enjoy your media, whether it be print or image or YouTube and use them wisely and enjoy your children and raise them wisely.” (Dr. Rich, 08:54)

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Resource Recap:

• Media Power Youth
• National Association for Media Literacy Education (NAMLE)
• MediaSmarts (Canada)
• Ask the Mediatrician

Listener Action: Visit askthemediatrician.org for more resources and to submit your own questions.

Transcript

[A]

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[B]

Hey, I'm Dr. Michael Rich, the mediatrician. I'm a practicing pediatrician and child health researcher who specializes in the effects of media on children. Because first of all, I'm a dad, but also because I am a filmmaker who understands the power of screens to engage us and to change us in a variety of ways. And I combine that with the science of child health and development to understand and try to guide healthy children and the raising of those healthy children in a digitally saturated environment. I'm here with mediatrix educator Christelle Lavallee.

[C]

Hey.

[B]

Hi.

[C]

So I have a great question for you today, Michael from Carbondale, Colorado. It comes from a mom, Lacey, who wrote us an email saying, we are a homeschooling family who has decided to exclude media from our daughters lives until they turn seven. Our daughters have never watched TV and have never seen an advertisement, movie, YouTube clip, et cetera. Our eldest is turning seven in June and we want to introduce her through a media literacy curriculum or activities. Can you direct us towards a quality program? What do you think? Media attrition. Where should Lacey turn for media literacy?

[B]

Well, Lacy is right on the mark.

[C]

Yeah, you are.

[B]

She is seeking to introduce media literacy hand in hand with introducing media. Oftentimes when parents say, when should we start with media literacy? I say when you start with media. So at whatever age those kids start using media, whether it be as a preschooler or as a tween, it's essential for them to learn how to think critically about the stories, images and ideas that they see and hear. Lacey's decision to introduce it at age 7 is quite interesting because it is supported by developmental psychology research that shows us that it's around this age that children develop the cognitive ability to distinguish fantasy from reality in what they see on screen and to recognize persuasive intent in commercials on what they are trying to get us to buy or try to get us to nag our parents to buy as they start with their screen media use. It's really important, Lacey, that you watch those screens with them and watch them observe how they respond and discuss the issues that are brought up either that they ask or that you notice are causing them some confusion or consternation to understand what they are learning and perhaps most importantly, to model critical thinking about what they are seeing with them and for them.

[C]

So huge points to you, Lacey, for being so mindful about your kids media use and helping to set them up for future success by building those media literacy skills. But Michael, aside from being cheerleaders for Lacey, how can we help her when it comes to those resources?

[B]

Well, first of all, when looking for media literacy programs, it's important to choose one that focuses on critical thinking that can be applied to all media, such as books, video games, magazines, movies, and more, even media that we cannot yet imagine. And I want to note that this is not dramatically different than what Lacey is already doing. It's just transposed to the screen environment, to the digital environment. She's homeschooling her kids. They've been exposed to media. Books are media, paintings are media, sounds are media, music is media. So I think that we shouldn't make this so special that she needs to worry about starting a whole new experience. But when it comes to screen media, what places do we have, Christel, that she should check out?

[C]

Well, Michael, you and I are no stranger to media literacy. And places that immediately came to my mind that we've worked very closely with are Media Power Youth, which is based just outside of my hometown in New Hampshire, namely, or the national association for Media literacy education and MediaSmarts, who are our neighbors to the north in Canada. And we'll have links to all of these resources, Lacey on our [e-mail] and

[B]

Lacy, remember to use these sources for educational strategies as you teach your children to become literate, pro social digital citizens, just as you have been teaching them how to be literate pro social citizens IRL in real life. So remember that they can use these critical thinking skills for everything that they do. The books they read, magazines at the grocery store, billboards on the highway, advertisements emblazoned on their owns or their friends clothes, and also what their friends say to them. Yeah, Mark Twain once said, believe three quarters of what you see, half of what you read, and a quarter of what you hear. So I think that that was critical thinking from the beginning.

[C]

Yes, definitely.

[B]

Ask them to identify messages in their environment that are designed to persuade them of something, whether it be to buy a product or to behave in a certain way, or to vote in a certain way. Ask them how they feel about those messages, what they think about those messages, both immediately upon receiving them because let's face facts, a lot of commercials are 5 or 10 or 15 seconds long. But also, once they have thought about them a little more deeply for a while, work with them to develop the skills to deconstruct the messages they get by whatever medium by asking five key questions of media literacy.

[C]

All right, now this one I've got. Okay, so number one, who created this message and what did they want to do? Want it to do? 2. What techniques are used to attract your attention? 3. What lifestyles, values and points of view are represented? 4, how might different people interpret the message differently? And lastly, or number five, what is omitted from the message?

[B]

And this is a really critical one because every medium presents what they have from a very specific point of view. A view that includes many things, excludes many things, and builds relationships within the things that it shows or speaks about. So that if someone picks up a cigarette and a gorgeous person comes up and kisses them, we are reading the story that cigarettes make you attractive and we need to understand how these manufactured messages are trying to manipulate us. So once Laci's daughters have this experiences with messages they already know from print, from paintings, from images, from billboards, they will be better prepared to do so with the screen messages that they will encounter in the future.

[C]

Better prepared for the future in general. So thanks so much lazy for making our day with your forward thinking media literacy question. You can find out more on this and many other topics related to healthy media habits and find all of those science based [e-mail] you can also follow our Mediatrician on Twitter ediatrician and submit your own [e-mail] and make sure you subscribe and share this podcast with all of the people that you know.

[B]

Enjoy your media, whether it be print or image or YouTube and use them wisely and enjoy your children and raise them wisely.

[D]

Ask the Mediatrician is hosted by Dr. Michael Rich, joined by Mediatrix educator Christelle Lavallee. Jill R. Kavanagh is our Chief Knowledge Officer. Original music composed by Christopher Cerf Podcast and music recorded, mixed and edited at Saturn Sound Studios Executive Producer Alicia Heywood

[E]

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