Most of us with children have experienced it. That moment when your child’s screen time turns to something more akin to scream time. They’ve stumbled across something inappropriate or upsetting and you’re left asking yourself what you should do... and, what you can do to prevent it happening again!
Whether it’s TV or the internet, it’s nigh on impossible for children to completely avoid glimpsing something they find confronting or upsetting. While much attention is rightly directed at dangers online, more 10- to 14-year-olds encounter content that upsets them on TV than on the web. Nine out of ten said they had been upset while watching TV in the past year, compared with 72% on the internet, according to research last year for the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA) and NZ On Air.
Top of their list of unhappy viewing: animal torture and sex scenes. It’s enough to make any caregiver squirm. But, hearteningly for those of us who look after tamariki, the study confirms most kids know to change channels or click out of a website and tell an adult.