Talk, educate, co-view, house rules approach can promote more effective media management
TUESDAY, July 10, 2018 (HealthDay News) — The talk, educate, co-view, and house rules (TECH) parenting framework can promote positive and specific media parenting behaviors that could help mitigate the potential negative impacts of media consumption for youth, according to an article published in the July issue of Pediatrics.
Joy Gabrielli, Ph.D., from Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., and colleagues conducted a review of the literature and evidence from behavioral observation and focus group studies to support the American Academy of Pediatrics guidelines on recommended parenting practices within the media environment.
The researchers present four behavioral domains encapsulated by the TECH framework. Parents should talk with their children about media use and monitor their activities, educate them about media-related risks, co-view and co-use media with their children, and establish house rules for media usage. Specifically, questions should be asked in an open and non-judgmental way, and information should be sought on media consumed by children. Parents should describe the marketing practices of alcohol, tobacco, food, and marijuana industries and discuss how media rarely depict the negative consequences of risky behavior. Parents should watch appropriate child-targeted media together and model turning off inappropriate content. House rules should include clear boundaries on rating level of media allowed and where media is allowed; technology can be used to promote house rules.
“Parents can influence youth health risk trajectories, and pediatricians can help by offering them specific skills to improve media management in the home,” the authors write.
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