Conscious TV watching

The earliest time when children meet the media is when they watch movie tales on TV. Nowadays kids' channels broadcast films upon strict supervision and this may filter out programs that feature violence. However, they may come across with programs that are designed and intended for an older age group and it is important that we watch them together and discuss what we have seen. This relieves tension immediately. It should be taught to children that if they see anything frightening on TV they should switch off the device.

It is absolutely necessary to read/tell tales to infants. On these occasions children use their imagination and create the good and bad characters themselves. They do need such characters because through them they can live through and understand negative emotions. However, if they only see tales on TV they do not use their imagination and can not identify themselves with positive and negative characters.

It is also important to talk about advertisements and discuss what they are really about. Media awareness can also be developed by asking children - after watching TV - tell us what they saw in their own words.

Actors and actresses often become role models for our children. Let us discuss with our children that their appearance is not their real, natural image and they do not look like the same on screen and in everyday situations. We can show them pictures about the artist without makeup, as an everyday person. Photos in TV, internet or magazines often show a false picture - which might be clear for us but it is not that self-explanatory for children.

 

How technology can help?

Safe use of content requires to make the device - TV, computer, smart phone - safe as well. Telekom uses its best efforts to help parents in this respect. Our services include various filtering programs.

Telekom's Children Lock service helps to prevent that children watch or buy adult content in the Video Store: this can be blocked by a PIN code only known to parents.