Researchers Take Another Whack at Digital Chldren

Exposure to digital influences is the medium for the problem and the root of it is marketing unhealthful foods and products to children.  The extent to which the digital influence exacerbates the problem is what arouses the concern of the researchers.  (Science Daily:  Children's health, privacy at risk from digital marketing)

No big surprise that it's necessary to be careful about the content children will encounter on the Web and it's obvious in terms of violence, porno, etc but it's not so obvious from seemingly benign sources.  When children's entertainment in some digital form is used as the medium for marketing unhealthy things, it may be less likely to arouse suspicion.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has published the report, which calls for immediate action by policy makers to recognise and address the growing issue of targeted marketing to kids through digital media.

Dr Emma Boyland, from the University's Institute of Psychology, Health and Society, in collaboration with The Open University, WHO, University of Melbourne and Flinders University, produced the report which examines trends in media use among children, marketing methods in the new digital media landscape and children's engagement with such marketing.

- Science Daily

 The basis for their concern is the lack of regulation of such marketing via digital media.

In the absence of effective regulations for digital media in many countries, children are increasingly exposed to persuasive and individually-tailored marketing techniques through, for example, social media sites and advergames. This trend persists, despite the stubbornly high rates of childhood obesity found almost universally in the WHO European region.

- Science Daily

The article continues to describe various kinds of abuses of the system and the consequences but we will jump straight to the punchline.

To address the challenges the report suggests a number of recommendations.  These include States acknowledging their duty to protect children from HFSS digital marketing with statutory regulation, the extension of existing offline protection online and existing regulation of internet content being drawn on to compel private Internet platforms to remove marketing of HFSS foods.

- Science Daily

The Rockhouse pinko Socialists don't want an omnipotent state any more than you but we see the need and we see their suggestions.  Whether this gets lost in a legislative morass of screams about a 'police state' is questionable since any type of regulation of this nature by the Fed usually goes that way.  Nevertheless, the need looks real and doing nothing is not working to protect kids.