La recepción de mensajes televisivos y otras pantallas en las distintas etapas del desarrollo evolutivo del niño y el adolescente

Abstract

An audiovisual screen, when viewed as a parallel approach to processing multiple stimuli, is considerably different from reading a book as the latter involves sequential reading. Exposure to television and other screens increases the reception of form and content; a mosaic made up of brief informative items, replete with audiovisual stimuli, always mixed and combined in a labyrinth of different forms and stimuli. It is difficult to ascertain whether a spectator looks at or watches television, whether they pay attention to the messages or analyse them. We would have to place ourselves inside the screen to discover this and “look at them watching”. Attention conditions a spectator’s capacity for understanding; however, understanding also affects attention. If children or young people think they are not going to understand the programme, they stop paying attention. Very young children need more powerful visual stimuli, physically active characters, brighter colours and fewer harmonious sounds.