Special audience, special concerns: Children and the media

The number and type of media platforms have expanded over the past 50 years from the traditional media of television, radio, movies, newspapers, books, and magazines to include other interactive digital media. Interactive media have come of age; and interactive entertainment products intended to be used by children within and out of school settings is growing: CD-ROMs, computers, the Internet, video games (for a variety of handheld and console platforms), interactive toys (including educational talking books), and a variety of wireless software for cell phones and other wireless devices. In short, for today’s children, interactive media have become part of the media landscape in which they are growing up. These devices represent the most recent in a century-long introduction of media technologies into the lives of children.