NBC's 'kids' secret lives' series

NBC's Today Show zoomed in on kids and media this week in "The Secret Lives of Children." The show did a great job of illustrating the problem of growing up (and parenting) in what pediatrician and author Meg Meeker refers to as "a toxic sexual culture." But I feel there was a little too much fear-mongering in NBC's treatment of the Internet - note the headlines, "What you don't know can hurt kids" and "For kids, danger lurks a click away." NBC's Dateline reporter actually joined Internet vigilante group Perverted Justice on a sting that caught some pedophiles visiting what they thought were a teenage girl's house. But the Today Show pieces are worth reading. They make some tried-and-true points - stressing the value of engaged parenting and tech literacy and suggesting that parents should be more concerned about contacts (pedophiles) than content (porn) where online kids are concerned. What these articles don't mention, though, is that Net-initiated sex crimes against kids represent a fraction of overall sexual exploitation of children in the US - in 2000 (latest figures available), there were 500 arrests for Net-related crimes vs. 65,000 overall (see "Rethinking 'stranger danger'" and a study done for the American Psychological Association). Here are the parts of Today's series on what kids are exposed to on TV and on the radio.