Children grow up in a media-saturated environment. Research shows that in 2020, girls between birth and age 8 watch around two hours of media content per day, with the majority of that time spent on videos, especially on YouTube.
And screen time only gets longer as kids get older. In 2021, preteen girls spent an average of nearly five hours a day using screens for entertainment, while teenage girls spent about eight hours a day.
Like younger children, the majority of that time is spent on videos, but as they become teenagers, kids also spend about an hour and a half on social media each day.
All this time with screen media can impact children, educating them directly and indirectly about cultural norms and values. Due to the limited ways in which girls and women are often portrayed in media, including television, film, and social media, girls’ understanding of who and what they can be is limited and their health mental health may be negatively affected.
This article will explore what psychological research says about how media consumption affects girls and provide suggestions that parents, teachers, therapists, and concerned citizens can use to help girls develop healthier media habits .
Girls learn about gender roles through media
Before they can speak, children are able to distinguish men from women. Studies have shown that children as young as six months old can distinguish male voices from female voices and can do the same for photographs of men and women at nine months old.
Between 11 and 14 months, children develop the ability to match the two, matching male voices with pictures of men and female voices with pictures of women. Thus, children develop an understanding of gender categories from a very young age.
Furthermore, researchhas demonstrated that children pay more attention, remember better, and engage more successfully in activities or play with toys that they are told, directly or indirectly, are appropriate for their gender.
By extension, gender representations in the media may be a particularly important source of learning about gender roles in early childhood. As a result, biases inherent in the representation of girls and women in the media can be problematic.
The media still perpetuates traditional gender roles
While the general public is increasingly aware of how messages that reinforce traditional gender roles can limit people’s choices, children’s media, one of the main purveyors of these messages, still tends to promote stereotypical gender roles.
Some progress has been made, with recent analysis popular children’s shows, finding that a majority of episodes positively portray female characters. However, these same programs are twice as likely to feature a male character in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) professions as a female character and are three times as likely to show characters females dressed in revealing clothing or partially nude.
In general, media messages suggest that being a boy or a man is more valuable than being a girl or a woman. Additionally, greater media exposure is linked to greater belief in gender stereotypes, including more traditional attitudes regarding behaviors, sexual and romantic relationshipsand professional roles.
Body dissatisfaction as an effect
Additionally, as early as age 5, girls begin to experience increased body dissatisfaction if they are exposed to appearance-focused television, and by the time they become adolescents, children have often internalized what the media says about what boys and girls should look like. For girls, this can lead to self-objectification or believing that their appearance matters more than other internal qualities. This is linked to lower body esteem, body shameanxiety and depression.
Stereotypical representations of gender in the media have real consequences for both sexes.
For example, exposure to traditional gender representations influences girls’ perceptions of their current interests and future possibilities, which could prevent them from pursuing fulfilling careers, particularly in STEM fields.
Additionally, media stereotypes about the appearance and sexualization of girls can lead to negative comments. body image and mental health problems, including depression. During adolescence, girls feel less confident, courageous, and listened to than boys, a problem that appears to stem at least in part from the lack of strong, relatable female role models on television and in movies.
When girls and women are exposed to strong female role models, the results are overwhelmingly positive. For example, one study found that more than half of participants were inspired by female role models in film and television to be more assertive and ambitious.
Meanwhile, children’s television series Doc McStuffinswhich focuses on a girl who repairs toys in her play clinic, has led more girls to say they aspire to become doctors or pursue a career in STEM.
Why does social media impact girls’ mental health?
Today, videos consumed on television, cinema and online platforms like YouTube are not the only media impacting girls’ mental health.
Since the invention and widespread adoption of social media, studies have consistently shown that interactions on these sites, including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, negatively affect girls, leading to depressionnegative body imageand potentially even suicide.
For example, a study found that the increased use of social networks was associated with poor sleep, online harassment, low self-esteem and negative body image, all of which were associated with depressive symptoms, particularly in girls.
Likewise, another study found a constant bond for girls between social networks substance use and mental health problems, including poor self-esteem, depressive symptoms, and lower life satisfaction. This link was found to be stronger than that established between mental health problems and excessive alcohol consumption, sexual assault, early sexual activity and suspension from school.
Social media use causes stress and social comparisons
This is partly explained by the nature of social networks, which involves interactions through text and images that can be curated and designed specifically for others’ consumption. Therefore, things like the number of likes one receives can be a source of stress.
Additionally, social media promotes social comparison, where people compare and contrast themselves with others on platforms, often with negative results.
For example, a survey found a relationship between Facebook use and depressive symptoms that resulted from participants negatively comparing themselves to others on the site.
The negative consequences of social media use on girls have led researchers to suggest that the increase in the number of girls suicide rates from 1999 to 2014 among girls aged 10 to 14 could be the result of greater social media use.
How can parents and others help girls adopt healthy media habits?
Girls should not be stopped from completely consuming media. Instead, parents, teachers, therapists and others can help girls develop healthy media habits.
How to Develop Healthy Media Habits
- Call out problematic stereotypes: Watch TV shows, movies, and online videos with kids, then to have a conversation about what they saw. If the content includes gender stereotypes or other negative media messages, be sure to talk about them and point out the flaws.
- Restrict children under 13: Don’t let kids sign up for social media accounts before they’re ready. Although the restrictions can be easily circumvented, no one under the age of 13 is currently supposed to be able to create an account on the many social media platforms available.
- Create Screen Time Limits: Set screen limits using apps and settings to limit the amount of time a child can access social media and other apps and websites.
- Create technology-free zones: For example, create a rule that there are no mobile devices at the table and make sure adults follow it too.
- Get media out of bedrooms. Don’t let children have mobile devices in their bedroom at night. The temptation to check their devices can ruin sleeppotentially worsening mental health problems.
- Consider therapy: Look for changes in behavior or drops in grades, this may indicate a problem. If children seem withdrawn or seem more unhappy, it may be time to seek help from a mental health professional.
