Square eyes : children, screen time and fun / Emily Booker.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Booker, Emily, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Television and children.

Television and families.

Child development.

Parenting.

Children's television programs.

Educational television programs.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xviii, 311 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Clayton, Victoria : Monash University Publishing, [2018]

Summary:

If you've ever suffered from a throbbing guilt-gland when your kids are glued to the screen - here's your antidote. ~Kathy Lette Ground-breaking research into the importance of screen time, and fun, for our over-regulated children. A compelling book. ~Catharine Lumby Troubled by what her daughter was watching, and by how this made her feel as a parent, Emily Booker set out to learn more about children and television by listening not only to scholars and experts in the field, but to children themselves. What she found was that the problem of children's addiction to screens is actually, in part, a grown-ups' problem. Speaking to children about what they watch and why reveals a steadily consistent response: they love to seek out programs that are 'fun'. But their choices are often a source of anxiety for parents, and appear to provoke a need to censure and control the child's enjoyment. At a time when children's lives are increasingly regulated, and the pressures of parenting are felt ever more keenly, this important book teaches us much about the value of entertainment, not only for children but for adults.

Contents:

Front Cover

Title Page

Copyright and Imprint Information

Contents

List of Illustrations

Preface and Acknowledgments

Introduction

Drawings

Drawing 1: 10-year-old girl's drawing of a room centred on the television

Drawing 2: 7-year-old girl's front and back covers

Drawing 3: 8-year-old girl's front and back covers

Drawing 4: 10-year-old girl's cover sheet for story about Ja'mie

Drawing 5: 8-year-old boy's drawing based on Adventure Time

Drawing 6: 8-year-old boy's picture with The Barn (character on the left)

Stories

Story 1: 10-year-old boy's story of the underworld

Story 2: 10-year-old girl's story about Ja'mie

Story 3: 8-year-old boy's story of television sucking in viewer

1. Television Terrors: Psychopaths, Couch Potatoes and Panics

Unpopular 'Popular' Culture

Moral Panics

The Fear of TV Violence

Couch Potatoes

Creativity and Imagination: Reading versus Television

2. Innocence or Ignorance? How We Safeguard Children in Our Own Interest

Education and Work versus Pleasure

The Threat of Popular Culture - and Bad Taste

Education and Popular Culture

Parents as Police and Adult Secrets

Powerful 'Myths' and the Sexualisation of the Child

Beyond the Myths

Play - Is It Fun?

3. Let's Just Have Fun: Entertainment and Why It Matters

Where is Fun in the Picture?

Fandom and Its Pleasures

'It's fun and interesting': Children Negotiating the Negative Public Discourses

'Do you think television is good?'

Favourites: 'What do you like about these programs?'

Children's Views about Television Being Bad for You

4. 'The funnest thing in the world'

Fun with TV: A Physical and Imaginative Experience

Joining a Crowd, and Solitary Pleasures, around Television

The Fun of Sharing: TV in Children's Social and Cultural Lives.

Sharing Talk with Friends: Competitive Critics or Partners in Pleasure?

Television, Friends and Games

Talking about TV to Adults

5. Sharing Pleasure, Humour and the 'Feel' of Utopia

Parents and Children: Conspiring for Pleasure

Humour

Passing the Time with Television

'Learning' from Television

The 'Feel' of Utopia

Conclusion

Appendix: Research details

Methods and Approaches

Using Visual Research

Bibliography

Index

Back Cover.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 291-303) and index.

ISBN:

1-925523-59-4

OCLC:

1078572083