I thought the article, "A Mean Read" by Dr. Coyne, about books was very interesting! I know books seem to be a dying form of media but they are actually incredibly mainstream, especially for children in schools. Kids are constantly asked to read. The variety in books continues to grow. However, it is so interesting to note how little research there is on the effects of books. The reading reports how adolescents is important and has a profound impact on their self-esteem. This suggests that adolescents are continuously interested in books and reading. Yet, even though it is a common theme for studying in other forms of media, there is no research on violence in books. It was also important for me to see the format of the paper from a content analysis perspective. The findings showed that a form of violence is in every single book! That was news to me! Children are constantly being showed that violence is extremely common with no real consequences. What are the next steps for this type of media research?
I also loved that article! I was surprised to find that more teenagers are reading now than ever before. I wonder if a next step for this type of media research could be doing research about the kinds of books adolescents are reading and how to incorporate them in school curriculum to help students be more interested in what they are learning?
ReplyDeleteI also thought this reading was very interesting. Before taking this class I hadn't really considered books a form of mainstream media but they really do heavily influence our society and culture at large.
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