MEGATRENDS AND MEDIA

MEGATRENDS AND MEDIA
When an inappropriate scene appears on the TV, parental reactions
were described as follows: children said that 12% of parents usually
cover children´s eyes, 12.9% of parents’ turns off the television, 26.5%
of parents do not react in any way, more than a third (33.5%) of parents
sends the child away and 17.2% of parents choose another solution. Only
17% of parents talk regularly to their children about what they should
not see on television or do on computer. 19% of children responded that
their parents never talk to them about these matters, which is alarming.
The relation of the issue to the age of children is apparent. The older the
children, the lower the frequency of discussions about media contents in
the family (chi-square = 55.299, p < 0.001). Gender differences between
children were not found.
Further, children were asked to imagine a situation when parents are
not at home and have forbidden them to watch television or turn on
the computer. When they come home, 57% of children say that parents
do not check whether they obeyed the ban. About a third of parents
(34.4%) ask the children if they obeyed. According to children, about
half of parents talk to them after they ind out that children disobeyed
them. A large share of children said that they would be punished in this
situation. Almost 13% of children said that their parents would not do
anything. Overall, parental effort in an active monitoring of their children
is apparent; they are interested in the media activities of children and
they try to instil values and attitudes into them that they considered to be
correct. On the other hand, for the ield of pedagogy the liberal attitude of
some parents in such a situation is alarming.
5 Family media education as a family value
Hendryiani et al. 18 suggest that “parents should discuss with children
possible media inluences, including the effects of massive use of the
media. They should also involve children in setting the rules relating
to media, such as when and how long they can watch TV or play video
games ... “ Our research has shown that children - particularly older ones
– participate on family discussions. However, it is not as often as children
would like. Considering the different views of parents and children on this
issue, it is evident that some deiciencies prevail. Parents should keep in
18 HENDRIYANI, et al. Views on children‘s media use in Indonesia: Parents,
children, and teachers. In The International Communication Gazette, 2014,
Vol. 76, p. 335.
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