Based on the investigations I posted before about materialism and how media impacts us; and mostly children, I am going to be writing an opinion editorial about a more specific topic that involves mostly all these characteristics. My main idea is to write about how specifically children are affected by the selling media; how does media influence them and make kids greed and selfish?

Before I write my Op-Ed I decided to research more about my topic, and look deeper into my question. My first concern was that kids are now begging for the latest must-have playthings or school essentials, why? They think these thing are critical to their social and emotional survival. And all this ideas are just created because of media.

I found an extremely helpful article posted on a parent guide on the web, it talks mostly about the consumer culture and how to confront it. Children and Teenagers are also shown as an important factor of the consumerism, here you can see what I mean.

Bolstering Media Literacy

Young children are particularly vulnerable to merchandising tactics due to their lack of media savvy and immature cognitive capacities. One study found that when kindergartners and 1st graders viewed a television program and a commercial, only half were able to correctly identify the commercial, about the same rate as chance. These young children see commercials as just another form of entertainment. Until youngsters are about 7 or 8 years of age, they do not comprehend the true purpose of commercials, which is to persuade. Likewise, advertising can be devastatingly effective.

One parent I spoke with explained: "Shows are packed full of commercials that say "you've got to have it right now." My younger son gets totally consumed. He'll come up to me and say, "You know what I want for my next birthday? I want the Bionicles because it does this and it flies like that!"

Research tells us that many parents eventually give in to their youngsters' unrelenting requests for something new. However, bolstering children's media literacy, their ability to think more critically about what they're listening to and watching, goes far in helping children to develop impulse control and bypass the attitude that buying something new leads to lasting gratification. (See the sidebar for help with this.)

I also found these questions, which point out in some way the truth about all the advertisements.

Questions and tips to initiate discussions about media with your child

• Does the toy being advertised look like this in real life? Would you need any extras that don't come with the toy?
• Have you seen a commercial like this before? Who do you think it's designed to target? Would you want this product if you hadn't seen it advertised? What makes it seem appealing?
• Consider a "buying journal" that the whole family contributes to. Keep track of everything you buy for a week. How many items in the journal were discovered through advertisements?
• Talk about how each family member uses the home computer. Is the use educational, social or consumer-oriented? Is anyone "addicted" to the computer?
• Consider taking a collective TV diet for a week or a few days. What do you learn about yourself? What do you learn about your family?