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<article xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" article-type="perspective-article"><front><journal-meta><journal-title>Journal of Pioneering Medical Sciences</journal-title></journal-meta><article-meta><article-categories>Perspective Article</article-categories><title-group><article-title>Let’s Watch Some TV: Changing the Dissent to Consent</article-title></title-group><contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author"><name><surname>Alamri</surname><given-names>Yassar Abdullah S</given-names></name><xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1" /></contrib></contrib-group><aff id="aff1"><city>MB ChB/PhD candidate</city><institution>University of Otago</institution><city>Christchurch</city><institution>Department of Medicine</institution><institution>Van der Veer Institute for Parkinson’s and Brain Research</institution><city>New Zealand.</city></aff><history><date date-type="received"><day>1</day><month>2</month><year>2011</year></date></history><history><date date-type="accepted"><day>20</day><month>3</month><year>2011</year></date></history><pub-date><date date-type="pub-date"><day>30</day><month>6</month><year>2011</year></date></pub-date><license license-type="open-access" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"><license-p>This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.</license-p></license></article-meta></front><body><sec><title /><p>Reading &amp;nbsp;The Lancet&amp;rsquo;s story of the 6-year-old boy who refused his tonsillectomy operation after watching a YouTube video[1], reminded me of Mr. Y, someone I know for some years now. When he was around that boy&amp;rsquo;s age, he refused the same operation. His parents would try all tricks to convince him into getting his tonsils out, but that resulted in no luck. To the parents&amp;rsquo; benefit (and his!), the same-aged actor from his favorite dubbed Mexican series had to undergo a tonsillectomy, the very surgery that his parents had been talking him into. Not surprisingly, Y happily agreed and he was in theater 3 days later!
Media has a big influence on how a child would react and formulate his/her view on a subject, be it health-, behavior-, or sexuality-related. This is because since we are very young, we get most of our information from television, films, video games, music, and now, the Internet.[2]
It is not surprising to see adolescents in US, for example, spend a daily average of 7.5 hours in front of media ports, including television, cell phones, movies, and computers.[3]
Therefore, pediatricians should pay attention to any &amp;lsquo;residual&amp;rsquo; effects that media may have left on their young patients, especially in the preoperative setting. The &amp;lsquo;smart&amp;rsquo; use of media to deal with issues young patients may bring up and dealing with them early and effectively may include using kid-friendly books and illustrations and showing them educational clips intended for their age. This way they would be less likely to seek information from &amp;lsquo;other&amp;rsquo; sources, and we can have scheduled surgeries on time!
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&amp;nbsp;</p></sec><ref-list><title>References</title><ref id="ref1"><mixed-citation publication-type="journal">1. Maskell S, Cross G, Gluckman P. The internet and informed dissent. Lancet.&amp;nbsp;2010;375:640 2. American Academy of Pediatrics. Media education in the practicesetting. Available at: http://www.aap.org/advocacy/mmguide.pdf (accessed Aug 26, 2010). 3. Rideout V, Foehr U, Roberts D. Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Olds. 2010. Available at: http://www.kff.org/entmedia/upload/8010.pdf (accessed Aug 26, 2010).</mixed-citation></ref></ref-list></body></article>