Parenting for the Digital Age: The Truth Behind Media's Effect on Children and What to Do About It

by Bill Ratner

Overview

From how to deal with cyberbullying to the strange, true stories behind Barbie and G.I. Joe, media insider Bill Ratner takes an inside look at our wired-up world in a fascinating book—part memoir, part parenting guide—for the digital age. Landing his first job in advertising at age fourteen, Ratner learned early that the media doesn't necessarily have our best interests at heart. His career as one of America’s most popular voiceover artists and his life as a parent and educator gives readers a first-hand look at the effects of digital media on children and what you can do about it.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781939629005
Publisher:	Familius
Publication date:	11/04/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	190
File size:	514 KB

About the Author

Bill Ratner is an American voice actor. He is best known for being the voice in movie trailers and for being the voice of Flint in Hasbro’s syndicated TV cartoon G.I. Joe. He reprised the role of “Flint” in episodes of Family Guy and Robot Chicken. In addition to his successful career in voiceovers Bill is a master storyteller—National Storytelling Festival Slam Teller, Best of Hollywood Fringe Festival winner, 8-time Moth StorySLAM Winner, published short story writer, essayist, and playwright. He performs his stories in comedy clubs, theatres, taverns, schools, and storytelling festivals across the country.

Read an Excerpt

Something had changed in the American toy marketplace. And only TV advertisers, Washington insiders, and a few parent media watchdog groups, appeared to know about it. In 1982 for the first time since television broadcasting regulations were drafted, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) relaxed the rules that governed advertising in children’s TV programs. Advertisers were ecstatic over the changes. But parent groups were alarmed.
Educators, media experts, and mental health professionals believe that child TV watchers are different from adults. Children are more susceptible to the manipulated messages inside TV ads. But the Reagan Administration, feeling residual pressure from the Mideast oil crisis and the 1980 recession wanted to give some relief to TV advertisers to boost the economy. So the rules were changed. The immediate results were:
• An uptick in the quantity of TV ads aimed at children.
• A boost in large toy merchandisers’ stock prices.
• An increase in consumerism and obesity amongst children.
• An alarming rise in the number of hours children were spending in front of TV screens.
As a voice actor I was an integral part of the shows that kids watched. My G.I. Joe character “Flint’s” face began appearing on everything from shampoo bottles to lunchboxes. Commercials I narrated advertised an endless parade of action figures, dolls, toy vehicles, plush toys, and comic books. Kids’ TV programs were no longer just amusing childhood diversions; they were hard-charging thirty-minute infomercials. I began to feel responsible for the new kid-consumerism, and I thought I should do something about it. So I created a program on media awareness for children and went into Los Angeles schools to talk about the nature of TV commercials and the primary purpose of children's programming on commercial television - sales.
But hold on a minute. Isn't this all just innocent kid stuff? Hadn’t I done the same thing as a child – tugged on my dad’s sleeve in the five-and-dime store and begged for a pair of Disney mouse ears after seeing an episode of the Mickey Mouse Club on TV? Yes, but back then the rules were different.

Table of Contents

Challenges

• Chapter 1: The TV Broke, Daddy
• Chapter 2: How We Came to This
• Chapter 3: The Brotherhood of Radio Staions
• Chapter 4: Betty Crocker—Meeting the Myth
• Chapter 5: My Dad’s Big Speech
• Chapter 6: Barbie
• Chapter 7: TV Cartoon Bonanza: The G.I. Joe Chronicles
• Chapter 8: TV Promo World
• Chapter 9: The Corching Lure of the Media
• Chapter 10: Cyber Manners
• Chapter 11: Okay, I’ll Be Honest

Solutions

• Chapter 12: How to Start a Babysitting Co-op
• Chapter 13: TV Cartoon Scandals —Media Awareness for Children
• Chapter 14: What the Shrink Said
• Chapter 15: The Moth
• Chapter 16: Families Talk
• Chapter 17: Conclusion 

Editorial Reviews

Bill Ratner offers that rare and old-fashioned thing that no hand-held device will ever make obsolete: a good old-fashioned story . . . along with a valuable antidote for getting back to what matters most: human relationships."

—Joyce Maynard, author of Labor Day

“Lively and warm…A fine personal narrative.”

—Kirkus

“Lucid and thought-provoking.”

—Jane Claire, Barnes & Noble Books

“The well-rounded and vast enthusiasm and curiosity about life of Bill Ratner . . . lends a very warm and up flavor of this book.”

—Carol Smaldino, Huffington Post

“A fantastic book with tips and techniques about parenting in today’s digital society but not boring and preachy as one might expect . . . The perfect book for any parent with a toddler to a teenager, a fun, fascinating read.”

—Heather Janssen, The Crafty Mommy Blog

EBOOK COMMENTARY

Bill Ratner offers that rare and old-fashioned thing that no hand-held device will ever make obsolete: a good old-fashioned story . . . along with a valuable antidote for getting back to what matters most: human relationships."
—Joyce Maynard, author of Labor Day

“Lively and warm . . . A fine personal narrative.”
—Kirkus

“Lucid and thought-provoking.”
—Jane Claire, Barnes Noble Books

“The well-rounded and vast enthusiasm and curiosity about life of Bill Ratner . . . lends a very warm and up flavor of this book.”
—Carol Smaldino, Huffington Post

“A fantastic book with tips and techniques about parenting in today’s digital society but not boring and preachy as one might expect . . . The perfect book for any parent with a toddler to a teenager, a fun, fascinating read.”
—Heather Janssen, The Crafty Mommy Blog

From the Publisher

“Bill Ratner offers that rare and old-fashioned thing that no hand-held device will ever make obsolete: a good old-fashioned story . . . along with a valuable antidote for getting back to what matters most: human relationships."

—Joyce Maynard, author of Labor Day

“Lively and warm . . . A fine personal narrative.”

—Kirkus

“Lucid and thought-provoking.”

—Jane Claire, Barnes & Noble Books

“The well-rounded and vast enthusiasm and curiosity about life of Bill Ratner . . . lends a very warm and up flavor of this book.”

—Carol Smaldino, Huffington Post

“A fantastic book with tips and techniques about parenting in today’s digital society but not boring and preachy as one might expect . . . The perfect book for any parent with a toddler to a teenager, a fun, fascinating read.”

—Heather Janssen, The Crafty Mommy Blog

Endorsement