Dr. Bobbie Eisenstock

Bobbie Eisenstock, Ph.D.
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Dr. Bobbie Eisenstock is a media educator and consultant specializing in the effects of the digital culture on children, teens and families.She is the author of numerous articles, most recently New Media, New Rules and Screen Time, Quality Time for Cable in the Classroom, Raising Media Savvy Kids for Common Sense Media, and the Children, Health and Media Fact Sheet Series for Kaiser Family Foundation.As part of her educational outreach, she facilitates workshops for schools, community groups and national organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, National PTA, Planned Parenthood, Cedars-Sinai Pediatric Residency Program, Alliance for a Media Literate America, and the Television Academy of Arts and Sciences.This past year she served as a judge for the TV Academy's Fred Rogers' Blue Ribbon Panel, and Cable in the Classroom's Media Smart Research Award Program.Currently on the faculty at California State University Northridge, Dr. Eisenstock has taught at UCLA, Antioch University, and in the college program for prison inmates at the California Institution for Women.She received her doctorate from the Annenberg School of Communications at USC.

After the keynote, Dr. Eisenstock will join a panel of local experts and youth to engage Forum participants in conversation about issues as they apply to our community.

On the first day, I noticed there were two sessions on "Teens and the Online Culture" and "Growing Up Online" that were being presented by Bobbie Eisenstock, PhD., a media educator and consultant specializing in "the effects of digital culture on children, teens and families."She consults with folks at the National PTA, Cedars-Sinai Pediatric Residency Program, the Kaiser Foundation and is currently on the faculty of California State University, Northridge.

I was impressed by her knowledge of social networking sites available to kids, and her common sense ideas for "basic rules of the road" for parents and kids who use social networking sites - like MySpace. (I blogged about my first MySpace experience here.)

But I was honestly stunned by the negative horror stories - about children being lured online into bad situations offline (to very dire consequences) - that were attributed to the niavety of children and blogging and social network sites.
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And Bobbie Eisenstock's rules of the road should be available to every parent wondering what to do about it.

Pass it on.

Other special guests include Frank Baker, Erica Delparine-Sugars, Just Think, San Francisco, Bobbie Eisenstock, California State University, Northridge, Lynda Bergsma, U.Arizona, Melinda Hemmelgarn, Kellogg Food and Society Policy Fellow, Missouri, Tessa Jolls, Center for Media Literacy and Stacie Steinbock, Sex,Etc., Rutgers University, Jonathan Lawson, Reclaim the Media, Seattle.

Parents should be particularly observant of the impact watching the coverage has on children," said Bobbie Eisenstock, a journalism and mass communications professor at California State University, Northridge.

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Eisenstock, an advocate for media literacy, says this is a time when parenting skills are put to the test.

"Parents need be traffic guards at media floodgates to shield children from frightening and horrific images of war and help children to manage their reactions, fears and concerns.This is not easy because parents are coping with their own anxieties about the war at the same time," Eisenstock noted.

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Eisenstock says younger children can't really express their fears with words, so parents are likely to see their reactions to the war in their behavior.They may be more clingy than usual and have issues separating from a parent when a baby sitter comes over.They may experience more nightmares, an increase in aggressive fantasy play, fear for person safety, withdrawal and unwillingness to attend school or planned events.

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Eisenstock says the coverage may becoming too much for many viewers, resulting in news fatigue.She believes the public had an expectation that it would be a short war and the mindset needs to shift to sustain support for the war.The nonstop coverage, Eisenstock says, challenges the balance of our need to know with our need for normalcy.

"It's difficult because we are an instant-gratification culture; we like our fast foods, our sound bites and our problems solved in a half-hour sitcom or one-hour drama," she said."This is not going to be like that."

She says the current crisis can be used as a "teachable moment."

Ventura County librarian Starrett Kreissman says local libraries have seen an increase in Internet usage related to the war.Families are asking the children's librarian at Preuter Library, near the Port Hueneme Navy Base, for information and craft activities that are an outlet for children to show support for the troops.

Kreissman said kids at the Preuter branch are making American flags out of paper to put in the car windows.

Elementary school officials say they try to stay away from the topic of war, but they answer honestly when children ask questions.
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Eisenstock advises taking a break from the news to do "normal" everyday activities and, when the news is on, use it as an educational tool.

"The crisis is an enormous teaching opportunity ... not only to help kids understand the news but to encourage discussion about nonviolent alternatives to solving conflict, even global conflict," Eisenstock said.

-- Cal State Northridge professor Bobbie Eisenstock, in the LA Times