Francine Black, Staff Reporter

MEDIA CONSULTANT Marcia Forbes is encouraging parents to pay greater attention to what their children are exposed to via the media.

Speaking at a meeting of the Rotary Club of Kingston East and Port Royal at the Morgan's Harbour Hotel on Monday night, Mrs. Forbes said that some of the messages being conveyed by music videos and other programmes viewed by their children were negative.

"So tonight my real mission is to encourage you as parents, especially those with children 18 years old and under, to pay attention to what they are watching on TV and doing on the computer," she said.

Mrs. Forbes pointed out that parents were becoming increasingly unable to effectively monitor what children view or access because of the new communication technologies which allow for 'privatisation' of media consumption.

"There is, therefore, now a greater need to lay down values and principles to guide children in their choices and to educate them about media content," she said.

According to Mrs. Forbes her research has found that adolescents have the same concerns about the slackness, nudity and lyrics in the music and videos as adults, however, tend not to be receptive to criticisms from them.

ARE PARENTS AWARE?

She also questioned whether most of the parents even know what the DJs were singing and if they knew, whether they would want their child to be consuming this information.

In the presentation she also noted that adolescents themselves believe that stronger parental involvement in bringing up children would decrease the chances of them being influenced by the negative content of some music videos.

The adolescents interviewed suggested that parents implement a number of strategies to decrease the child's exposure to negative messages, including no television or computer in the child's bedroom and limiting the amount of time for watching television. In addition, parents should watch television with their children and discuss openly their concerns without criticising.

Back to News

Go-Jamaica | Jamaica Star | Go-Local Jamaica | Sports Jamaica | Letters to the Editor