Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

pt. I. The popular media as educators and socializers of growing children. How children use the media: 1. The use of television and other screen media / George Comstock, Erica Scharrer -- 2. The role of reading for children and adolescents in a digital age / Roger Desmond -- 3. Children and new technologies / Todd Tarpley -- 4. Digital media and youth : games, internet, and development / Kaveri Subrahmanyam, Patricia Greenfield -- 5. Social networking, social gaming, texting / Yong Zhao, Wei Qiu, Naiyi Xie. -- Cognitive functions and school-readiness skills: 6. Attention, comprehension, and the educational influences of television and other electronic media / David S. Bickham, Marie Evans Schmidt, Aletha C. Huston -- 7. Electronic media as incidental language teachers / Alice Ann Howard Gola, Lara Mayeux, Letitia R. Naigles -- 8. Media and the child's developing imagination / Patti M. Valkenburg, Sandra L. Calvert -- 9. Creating vigilance for better learning from television / Jennings Bryant, Wes Fondren, J. Alison Bryant -- 10. Effects of prosocial media content on children's social interactions / Marie-Louise Mares, Emory H. Woodard. -- Some hazards of electronic media : fears, aggression, and sexual attitudes: 11. The media and children's fears, anxieties, and perception of danger / Joanne Cantor -- 12. Effects of violent media on aggression / Brad J. Bushman, L. Rowell Huesmann -- 13. Prosocial, antisocial, and other effects of recreational video games / Craig A. Anderson, Douglas A. Gentile, Karen E. Dill -- 14. Research on sex in the media : what do we know about effects on children and adolescents? / Paul J. Wright, Neil M. Malamuth, Ed Donnerstein. -- Personality, social, and cultural variations: 15. Media and identity development / Nina Huntemann, Michael Morgan -- 16. Television's gender-role images and contribution to stereotyping : past, present, future / Nancy Signorielli -- 17. Media and the family / Robert Kubey, Smita C. Banerjee, Barna William Donovan -- 18. Television, children, and multicultural awareness : comprehending the medium in a complex multimedia society / Joy Keiko Asamen, Gordon L. Berry -- 19. Children's media use in a global perspective / Cecilia von Feilitzen. -- Health issues and the media: 20. Children and advertising : content, comprehension, and consequences / Dale Kunkel, Jessica Castonguay -- 21. Children, adolescents, drugs, and the media / Victor C. Strasburger -- 22. Food marketing : targeting young people in a toxic environment / Katherine Battle Horgen, Jennifer L. Harris, Kelly D. Brownell -- 23. Popular music : the soundtrack of adolescence / Donald F. Roberts, Peter G. Christenson.

pt. II. Forging the media environment for the future : the media industry and its technology: 24. The economic structure of the commercial electronic children's media industries / J. Cory Allen -- 25. The children's television business : programming and structure / Alison Alexander -- 26. The role of research and evaluation in educational media / Michael Cohen -- 27. Hazards and possibilities of commercial media in the schools / Nancy A. Jennings, Ellen A. Wartella.

pt. III. Policy issues and advocacy: 28. Children and media policy : historical perspectives and current practices / Dale Kunkel, Brian L. Wilcox -- 29. Television broadcaster practices : compliance with the children's television act / Karen Hill-Scott -- 30. Child and parent responses to the age-based and content-based television ratings / Bradley S. Greenberg, Lynn Rampoldi-Hnilo -- 31. Safeguards for youth in the digital marketing ecosystem / Kathryn C. Montgomery -- 32. Public policy and private practice : government regulations and parental control of children's television use in the home / Amy B. Jordan -- 33. Parents and other adults : models and monitors of healthy media habits / Marjorie J. Hogan -- 34. Media literacy and media education / Mami Komaya -- 35. Children's advocacy groups : a history and analysis / Laurie A. Trotta.

This revision examines the social and cognitive effects of new media, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Skype, iPads, and cell phones, and how children are using this technology. The authors summarize the latest research on children and the media and suggest directions for future research. This book also provides students with a deliberate examination of how children use, enjoy, learn from, and are advantaged or disadvantaged by regular exposure to television, new technologies, and other electronic media.