Annotation (Sample)

Media Effects on Attention and Other Cognitive Skills - Source 1

This article found in the journal The Future of Children mentions a few previous studies that have tested the effects of television on young children’s cognitive skills and functions. It briefly touches on a study from the 1980’s that found a weak correlation between those two variables. It also indicates that more recent studies have focused more on the content of the television shows as well as children’s attention span. The main study of this article involved three groups of preschool children that were exposed to three different types of content either on TV or as a film. (prosocial, neutral and violent) The findings suggest that the crucial factor in measuring the effects of television on cognition is content. This article also mentions that there is a much stronger correlation between children’s violence and playing video games. Since most of results from these various experiments can only show weak correlations, the effects of media on young children’s learning is only representative and not conclusive.  

This article is helpful in a couple of different ways. Firstly, it mentions various different researches that were done on the same topic but at different times and with different variables. It is also helpful in summarizing the main points of each experiment and highlights their outcomes and findings. This article is objective, concise and reliable. 

This article might fit in with my research paper on the effects of media and children’s cognitive skills. Or more importantly, the effects of television and video games and children’s attention span. This article could be compared with the other essays I’ve read, such as “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Although this article is objective and unbiased it does not include some definite and conclusive results from the studies. It is mostly focused on correlations and predictions, but no cause-and-effect relationships. This information could, however, be used to support my main argument and add some scientific evidence to my paper.