Situation
Many children aged between two and ten years spend much of their time watching television. Others spend their time playing with electronic gadgets like iPads, iPods, and others. What many people do not understand is that these gadgets may have adverse effects on children.
While many children learn a lot through iPads, the negative effects of the iPads overshadow the learning benefit. Using an iPad for a long time may lead to children suffering from visual problems (Dillion, 2004). Limited research focuses on the effects of iPads on children.
Many of the existing research agree that children aged between two and ten years encounter visual, pronunciation, violence, and comprehension problems after using iPads for a long time (Korat, 2009).
This paper will come up with a PR program aimed at investigating the impacts of using iPads on children aged between two and ten years.
Objective
The objective of this program is to bring out the negative effects of using iPads among the children. The paper aims at creating awareness within the parents and children concerning the negative effects that iPads have on children.
In the long run, the program aims at ensuring that parents reduce the number of hours their children spend playing or texting using iPads.
Target audiences
Many children do not understand that iPads subject them to visual problems. Hence, they spend many hours using them, which eventually lead to some complaining of eye fatigue (Williams & Skoric, 2005).
To create awareness about the negative effects of iPads on children, this program will target children aged between two and ten years. Besides, parents do not limit the number of hours that children spend using iPads.
Therefore, the paper will also target mothers as one way of ensuring that they help the young children, especially those that are two years old. These children are vulnerable to the negative effects of iPads since they are not aware about them.
Target media
To achieve the intended objectives, the study will use a number of media. One of the media that will be used to convey the message concerning negative effects of iPads on children aged between two and ten years is online communication through social media.
The findings will be published on Facebook and Twitter to reach parents that use these social media platforms. Besides, the findings will be published in monthly and annual reports, which many parents and children can access.
Publishing the results in monthly and annual reports will guarantee that the target audiences access the report at any time throughout the year. Not all parents have access to social media and annual and/or monthly reports.
Hence, the program will also use television to enlighten parents about the negative effects of letting their children use iPads for a long period. This medium will help to reach the uneducated parents who have purchased iPads for their children.
Besides, running advertisements on television will help young children, especially those that are two years old to understand the dangers of using iPads for many hours.
Strategy
The program will develop a comprehensive report about the adverse effects of iPads on children, which it will publish on social media and issue it as monthly and annual reports. Besides, the program will come up with a television advertisement to help young children understand the dangers of using iPads for a long time.
The key message for the study will be that long-term use of iPads among children may make them suffer from visual, pronunciation, comprehension, and violence problems (Wagner & Sternberg, 1987). The program intends to enlighten the parents on the need to limit the number of hours their children spend using iPads.
On the other hand, the program will educate the children aged between two and ten years concerning the dangers of using iPads for a long time. This will encourage them to cut down on the number of hours they spend playing or texting with iPads.
Tactics
The PR program will come up with pamphlets that contain report concerning the negative effects of iPads on children. Every parent will receive a pamphlet. This will give parents an opportunity to learn about the effects of iPads on children.
To reach the children, the program will develop a captivating advertisement, which will draw the attention of the children. The advertisement will be simple and precise to make sure that children understand the intended message.
Calendar/Time table
Budget
Evaluation
At the end of the program, the researchers will use different methods to evaluate the success of the program. They will determine the number of pamphlets that were distributed to the parents. This will help to establish the number of parents that the program reached.
In addition, the researchers will monitor children during the campaign period to establish the number of children that watch and comply with the advertisement. During the campaign period, researchers will also monitor the advertisement to make sure that it delivers the intended message clearly and precisely.
Conclusion
Many children aged between two and ten years have access to iPads. They enhance their academic capacity by reading e-books and attempting online tests. On the other hand, children suffer from visual, comprehension, and pronunciation problems due to using iPads.
Besides, some children become violent due to watching and playing violent games on their iPads. Many children do not know how to adjust the brightness of the iPad screen. Hence, the light makes them strain their eyes when using an iPad. This ends up leading to the children suffering from visual problems.
The main problem is that both children and the parents are not aware of the negative effects of iPads. This underscores the need for establishing a PR program to enlighten parents and children about the negative effects of iPads on children.
References
Dillion, A. (2004). Reading from paper versus screens a critical review of the empirical. Ergonomics, 35(10), 1297-1326.
Korat, O. (2009). Reading electronic books as a support for vocabulary, story comprehension and word reading in kindergarten and first grade. Computers & Education, 55(1), 24-31.
Wagner, R., & Sternberg, R. (1987). Executive control processes in reading: Executive control in reading comprehension. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Williams, D. & Skoric, M. (2005). Internet fantasy violence: a test of aggression in an online game. Communication Monographs, 72(2), 217-233.