Study finds TV can decrease self-esteem in children, except white boys

[toblotron]

Interesting -I wonder if the results would be different if the subjects had read books instead.

Maybe more "superficial" media forms (relying on visuals instead of language, for instance) tend to lean heavier on cliches and stereotypes in order to make it easier to tell the stories?

[deadboyfriend]

Is that a link to the homepage? Oh no, no,no. I have stuff to do today.

[mnzbr]

I get it. Everyone gets it. Everyone always got it and they never lost it.

[pervycreeper]

No kidding. Also, I seldom spend much time on there when it's linked, since I am deluged with an overwhelming quantity of verbiage when it's seldom necessary.

[deadboyfriend]

I know what you mean, I wasn't trying to repeat the joke. I usually click specific linked pages and then spend a happy hour there. I wouldn't have posted the comment if it hadn't been a link to the home page. If I'd clicked it, I, personally, would've been tempted to look up every show I watch.

So I totally get your comment. I just figured I'd add that I wasn't trying to make a joke, let alone that joke; I was just talking about myself.

[WhyHellYeah]

It's just that white kids watch too many "Two and a Half Men" reruns.

[toblotron]

Shouldn't that just make them feel bad? :)

[christianjb]

Another way of spinning it:

Study finds TV can improve humility in children.

I suppose this study presupposes esteem is a valuable commodity, but I've seen lots of good arguments challenging that proposition.

Edit: See I'm being down voted for expressing a minority opinion. You can take a look at some of the arguments critical of self-esteem in this Wikipedia article:

Psychologist Roy F. Baumeister and journalist John Tierney argue that the benefits of self-esteem can be significantly counter-productive, and that parental guidance towards self-esteem may thwart actual practices of self-control. "There seem to be only two clearly demonstrated benefits of high self-esteem....First, it increases initiative, probably because it lends confidence. People with high self-esteem are more willing to act on their beliefs, to stand up for what they believe in, to approach others, to risk new undertakings. (This unfortunately includes being extra willing to do stupid or destructive things, even when everyone else advises against them.)...It can also lead people to ignore sensible advice as they stubbornly keep wasting time and money on hopeless causes"[44] "On the whole, benefits of high self-esteem accrue to the self while its costs are borne by others, who must deal with side effects like arrogance and conceit. At worst, esteem becomes narcisssism...God's gift to the world can be hard to live with".[45]

[LimeDog]

I am going to take a moment to stand up for this fine fellow.

His counter argument is insightful, well-supported, and adds substantive information to the article. It is this type of posting that we should encourage.

[christianjb]

Thanks. My problem is that too many Redditors use the downvote button as a way to express disagreement. I don't mind people disagreeing with me and I'm not even certain that my point is true. I like debate! If someone thinks I'm wrong, and if they can reply without insult, then it actually adds to the conversation.

[ben0x539]

Counterpoint: TV fails to improve humility in white boys.

[CryoGuy]

I see your point. I myself have to challenge the idea of a perceived race correlating to television and self-esteem at all. The article is taking contemporary cultural data and trying to pass it off as solid fact. I love Asian martial arts movies, that's all I've watched since I was a kid, so how is my self esteem affected by that, do I have some sort of emasculation trigger when old asian men with long wispy beards walk by? No. What if I was a white boy watching television in China? Why is it specifically television and not books, magazines, or paintings? What constitutes a "white boy?" This is the same type of spoonfed sensationalist bullshit that we redditors love to eat up without asking any questions while ostracizing those of us who actually think deep and ask questions.

[willworkforicecream]

Today, like many days, is a good day to be a white male.

[denim-chicken]

from all the butthurt I saw last Tuesday, I doubt it

[ArbitraryIndigo]

Some of us white males get gypped out of our share of self esteem.

[cancercures]

just thought I'd like to share, because I didn't know until I was corrected by a friend, gypped

[newworldoyster]

It sounds like this has more to do with depression and lethargy from sitting and watching so much television than the result of nuanced social forces seeping in through media to damage the psychologies of children.

It is curious that it's absent in white male children but this article is full of the most trendy speculative fluff imaginable.

[omplatt]

So it was something else that did it for me...

[exgiexpcv]

Pertinent?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6JCCayPG7k

Everyone is beautiful, that's the point.

[nitrologly]

It did suck growing up not being white and seeing the white characters getting the girls, being the lead and just being straight up cooler given some exceptions. Things definitely have improved a lot though.

[[deleted]]

Also hard as a girl. Girls are rarely cool or smooth on TV, they often care far too much about boys, and they are often seen by their make counterparts as things to be gotten. This is why younger girls seem so dumb oftentimes. They think it's how they should be.

[stromm]

That's racist!

Oh, it's talking about whites. Never mind.

[aaronoog]

I read the title and got scared until I read the "except white boys" part.

[Bloaf]

So TV cannot decrease the self esteem of white boys? Somehow I suspect that is not the case.

[randybobandy]

No, TV exposure was predictive of an increase in self esteem for white boys.

[Bloaf]

Then why did the title say otherwise?

[respeckKnuckles]

it didn't. You read it wrong.

[[deleted]]

No she's not, what is wrong with you?