Comunicar 39-ingles - Revista Comunicar

61ping the youth to know what to do at the right time (agirl).• I like listening to the radio because it enables meto know more about our country (a girl).• Listening [to the radio] helps – It encouragespeople to know what is happening worldwide (a boy).The children express how they learn and critiquepolitics and culture through the media, and describethe multiple uses of the media, and their role in society.• The most interesting is Afro-Cinema. I like itbecause I have to know what is happening in othercountries e.g. Nigeria (a girl).• The Kiss FM teaches us how to take care ofourselves. It makes us relax. Kiss FM educated thelearner. This channel gives jobs to the jobless (a girl).• In my leisure time, I like to read the newspapersabout chapter six of the harmonized draft constitutionof Kenya, in which part three speaks about humanrights and the gender commission (a girl).• When I was on the way…I was with a crowdof people with the same newspaper and they wereadvertising it. I was interested in it and I borrowed oneto have a look. I was looking ahead. I got somewhereand I saw a lot of children reading a poem. That poemwas very interesting and it was about «Education is thekey of life» (a girl).As the previous quotes show, the use of media is anatural part of everyday life, and the sense of communalityis strong in the use of the media. The strongwomen’s movement in Africa was frequently acknowledgedby the children, and issues related to women’srights were followed carefully.• I heard [from a radio] shocking news about thebrave girl...The same day and date and time I heardabout the woman who got burnt (a girl).Overall in Kenya as in India, reflecting on thesocial questions related to the media was a significantpart of the media diaries. They speak of shared socialdiscourse how social issues affect everyday practices atschool and at home.8. ConclusionAn analysis may conclude that the new media,Internet and the mobile phone, were the main informationproviders for young people, as was common inall countries. At the same time, there were some differencesamong countries. India and Egypt, for instance,were similar to some extent, with respect to the usechildren made of the traditional media in rural areas.There were some similarities among people who livein rural areas in all countries in terms of the mediaused, and not merely the new media, while inArgentina the mobile phone was the vital medium intown and country.Children use the new media regularly on a dailybasis for specific purposes, such as chatting, searchingfor information and downloading material. Childrenhave also become more active and interactive online.The new media have also led to the creation ofsome common habits of usage among young peopleregardless of their countries of origin. They even usecertain words and items for SMS and Facebook thatare known to them and, in most cases, unknown toolder generations.Though the new media have brought many benefits,previous research suggests that the Internet andthe mobile phone may harm children (Sonia Living -stone & al., 2006: 54-55), which urgently requiresmedia literacy education to be implemented especiallyin countries with a lower level of media literacy educationsuch as Egypt and India.Children nowadays are heavy users of newmedia. They are also more participatory and interactivethan before. As suggested by Kotilainen (2010: 81-82) children’s citizenship can be strengthened by civicmedia education.Research findings show us that there is a clear dividein media use between young people from urbanand rural areas. Both of these young collectives considerthe media to be attractive but not all can accessthem. The young living n rural areas are limited to traditionalmedia, although the mobile phone is used toaccess Internet and other services. This means, thatthe mobile phone could help to close this gap betweenthe urban and rural young.Children and young people, especially in Kenya,have a need to know what’s happening in theircountry, but also in the world, a finding that shows theinterest of young people in current events.The emotions linked to media use and consumptionis also a fact to keep in mind: they need to be online,to communicate with their peers, to consult information,to have fun, all these activities are integratedinto their lives as a whole.But the question remains in our paper about whetherthese young people have linked use of media tomedia education. No one has told them of the importanceof being creative or critical in their use of media,a finding that urges us to prioritize the integration ofmedia education in all educational programs. Theseyoung people are using all these new media, they areconsulting all this information but they have no educationalspaces where they can reflect on their own useof media, and for this reason, they need media literacyComunicar, 39, XX, 2012© ISSN: 1134-3478 • e-ISSN: 1988-3293• Pages 53-62