Media as Mirror (or, why kids media needs to look like the kids who consume it)

Have you seen the trending viral video of a young girl opening a birthday gift to find a special doll? The girl has a prosthetic leg…and when she opens the box, she realizes the doll does too. Her smile is ear to ear. Initially, she giggles as she unwraps the gift. But quickly, tears flow. “She has a leg like me,” she says to her parents, in between tearful gulps of air. It’s such a genuine moment. Seeing a doll or a toy or a character that looks like us is affirming. It let’s us know we’re not alone and that the way we look is “normal”, it’s OK. This girl probably has lots of other dolls. At her age (she looks about 8) she has likely accepted the fact that dolls don’t look like her. “Real” dolls have two legs, just like “real” girls. That’s just the way it is. But then the world shifts. And the world says to her, “Actually, you’re normal too. Here’s a toy that looks just like you.” In the video, the excitement of seeing a doll that looks like her is overwhelming. (Overwhelming for me too. I defy you to watch this and not tear up.)

When we move through life seeing people who look like us represented in toys or games or TV, we don’t consider what it might feel like if that weren’t true.

But when you’re the person who looks different, you get the message loud and clear; people who are normal or pretty or handsome or popular or cool or successful, look like X. And I look like Y. So I guess I can’t be X.

This is why kids media needs to look like the kids who consume it.

Kids who grow up affirmed that they are OK just the way they are, that they are good people, that they can be and do whatever-- grow up to be well-adjusted adults. (And before you jump at me for over-simplifying child development, I understand this is not a guaranteed recipe. There are many reasons why kids struggle to be well-adjusted adults.)

This is what really interests me about children’s media: its ability to help create happier kids. Children’s media isn’t the sole answer, but it’s certainly a vital component of the answer. This is primarily because children consume a lot of media. They consume it for many hours a day, every day. In fact, anything kids do for hours a day, every day, is going to be highly influential, whether that thing is eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, playing with a hula hoop, or watching Dora the Explorer.

Media is influential.

Influence is opportunity.

I would even go so far as to say that influence is opportunity with a heaping side dish of responsibility.

If we want to make great children’s media that makes kids laugh and think and learn and laugh some more, then that media needs to reflect the children watching it. (or playing it, downloading it, listening to it, etc.) Reflecting the children that consume media helps to create relevance for those children, and relevance is a key component of motivation. This can be seen in the ARCS Model of Motivational Design. The ARCS Model was developed by John Keller and is based on the notion that there are four components to motivation: attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction. The same components apply whether I’m motivating someone to learn, or motivating someone to clean their room. I need to get your attention. I need to be sure that this action will have relevance to your life. You must feel confident that you could achieve this thing if you tried. And once you do it, it must bring you some sense of satisfaction. The full model explores the details within each area. (For more information read this.)

Try not to see this as a concept just for formal education (although it works well in that context). I think the value of the ARCS Model is in its flexibility. I can use ARCS to help me think through the best way to motivate my daughter to clean her room or the best way to motivate myself to exercise. But the ARCS Model can also be an important key when considering how children interact with media content.

Imagine you work for an entertainment-focused children’s media company (maybe you already do). The ARCS Model provides a format or a rubric for your thinking about how to engage children in that content. Getting an audience is about motivating children to watch or play, etc. First, you need to get the child’s attention. You need make sure the content has relevance to a child’s life. You need to help the child believe they can play the game successfully (or watch confidently or listen attentively, etc). And if the content is enjoyable, then the child will finish with a sense of satisfaction, which will likely lead to repeating the process. It’s easy to see how relevance is important to any company creating child’s media content; not just educational children’s media content.

When kids consume media they’re looking for relevance in everything.

Do the characters live in a place that looks like where I live? Do the characters go to school in a place that looks like where I go to school? Do they play with their friends the way I play with my friends? Does their family eat dinner the way my family eats dinner?

Do any of the characters look like me?

Children aren’t consciously asking these questions, but that invisible checklist in their brain either leads to affirmation…and more consumption, or disconnection…and less. (I’m not discussing the value or concerns regarding further consumption or less. But clearly that’s an important issue as well.)

Since children’s personalities aren’t “one-size-fits-all”, an individual child won’t find relevance in every component of any single piece of media. But nor can they find none. Plus, some areas of relevance are stronger than others. Characters that look like us grab our attention and automatically create relevance-- especially if the character is a good person. Those choices are likely to build our confidence, which, all by itself could create satisfaction. Just from seeing a character that looks like me.

When children see themselves reflected in the media, they get a kind of permission, allowing them to imagine themselves in those storylines. By creating relevance, children can explore situations small and big, near and far, safe and dangerous.

Seeing the video of the girl with the doll is a reminder about how deeply the characters in a child’s life after them, whether that character is a doll or a toy or a character on a favorite TV show or video game. Creating emotional relevance for children can bring them joy.