Cyndi Loza

Whether it’s video games or YouTube that has parents stumped, David Walsh has it covered.

As founder and president of the National Institute on Media and the Family, Walsh has tried to provide parents and teachers with information on the media through education, research and advocacy. Walsh’s presentations and books, among other things, aim to educate people on the effects that the media has on adolescents and ways parents and teachers can help.

Walsh will bring his message to Reno residents tonight at 7 p.m. in the Reed High School Theater, 1350 Baring Blvd., Sparks.

“Parents grew up in a very different time,” said Jody Ruggiero, founder and chairman of Tune In To Kids, a series of events that encourages families to engage with their children through real-life activities rather than the media. “They’re just learning about the (digital) world as an adult, and kids are born into it.”

The presentation will not be for or against any part of the media, Walsh said. Rather, it will be about how parents can sift through it all.

“The same YouTube technology that can unleash creativity in kids can also be used by kids to bully other kids,” Walsh said.

“Part of what we have to do is to learn how to manage the media and not buy into all the marketing hype that the media promotes.”

Some examples of media hype is Baby Einstein multimedia products, Walsh said. He said these interactive DVD products promotes children 3 months old to 3 years old to get hooked on TV rather than helping them become real Einsteins.

Walsh also warns that media, such as the Internet, video games, toys, TV and movies, encourage children to expect their products and things in their lives to be “fast, easy and fun.” He said this can often lead to “discipline deficit disorder” in children. Some of the disorder symptoms are selfishness, a sense of entitlement and disrespect, he said.

“If we just let our kids values be shaped by the media, then we’re just inviting more of the discipline deficit disorder symptoms, and we’re not equipping our kids for success or happiness,” Walsh said.

Among some of the actions Walsh said can help reverse the disorder is for parents to learn how to say “no,” set and enforce clear limits and consequences and expect kids to do chores, volunteer and help others. More items will be listed at the presentation.

Parents should walk away from the presentation with “an awareness, knowledge and strategies they can use right away,” Walsh said.