S.MUTHULAKSHMI, M.Ed Scholar, V.O.C. College of Education, Thoothukudi.

CHANNELING THE MEDIA HABITS OF THE CHILDREN

ABSTRACT: The various mediums of media are prevalent in our society. And this makes the vulnerable members of the society to indulge in media mania. Children, as they cannot discriminate between good and bad have a diverse media habits may be good or bad. The future of the country lies in the development of the child and hence constant attention should be given in analyzing their practices and habits. Nowadays the children are spending more time with the Media than their parents and the effects of these Print and Electronic media is high in children. Hence the channeling of the media habits of the children is highly needed in this prevalent scenario. This channeling process can be effectively only by their parents and teachers. Thus this paper deals about channeling the media habits of the children and the role of teachers and parents in channeling them. INTRODUCTION: In todays world, media has made a very special place for itself in our lives. Media is playing a very significant role in making the world smaller. Through various mediums of media whether it is radio, television, newspaper or internet, we are able to connect with large number of people around us. Media is like a mirror of the society which reflects each and everything about the society to us. If we just look around then we would find that there is no aspect of our life which is not touched and affected by media. Be it our work, relationships, education or entertainment, media is seen everywhere. And there is no denial that we can not live without media. Media has a huge responsibility of conveying the truth and relevant information to the common man. True fact is that slowly commercialization is also coming in media. Certain media ethics is primarily needed. Nowadays, news which can help in increasing the TRP rates of the channel becomes the priority for them.

MEDIA HABITS OF CHILDREN Television viewing among children in India is growing strong. This is evident from launching of new childrens channels. But it is not just children's channels that the young latch on to. They are free to watch any programmes in any channels. And the childrens channel is no longer a medium to impart moral values. They too spoil the child. Thus the kids viewing habits go from bad to worse. The media habits of children can be broadly classified into two, they are print media habits and electronic media viewing habits. Due to the technological growth and increased economy we have no home without television. And now due to the commercialization, more than 100 channels both Indian and foreign channels knock at our doors. In the present scenario of Indian families, both the parents go for job and their children are often alone in the house. They are free to access with the media dumped into the house. And also with long hours at school, tuition's and ever increasing loads of homework threatening to take over a child's life, TV is the only recreational activity available and accessible to child. All that is shown in the media nowadays are full of violence. Children do emulate the violent behaviour they see on television, movies and video games. Violent content is widely used because it is one of the cheapest ways to make programming more profitable. The child is free to watch whatever is telecasted in the idiot box. If there is no gate keeper for the programmes that children watch then it is evident that their viewing habits will completely go worse. Children cannot discriminate between good and bad unless they are instructed. Their thinking capacity is completely designed by the media if it is not properly guided by the adult.

RESEARCHES ON MEDIA HABITS: Leyens conducted a research on physical and verbal aggression in which the participants were juvenile delinquents at a school in Belgium. They lived in four dormitories, two of which had high levels of aggressive behaviour and the other two had low levels. During a special movie week, boys in two of the dormitories (one high in aggression and the other low) watched only violent films, whereas boys in the other two dormitories watched only nonviolent films. There was an increased level of physical aggression among the boys who saw the violent films, but not among those who saw nonviolent films.

In a longitudinal study, the amount of television watched and levels of aggressiveness were assessed in some young children. When aggressiveness and the amount of television watched were reassessed in the same participants several years later, findings was that the amount of television violence watched at young age predicted the level of later aggressiveness, measured by the number of criminal convictions by the age of thirty. It is important therefore to control the transmission or display of violent media materials. EFFECTS OF PRINT MEDIA IN CHILDREN: Media is not just confine to informing us about the world happenings and serving a means to connect with people, in fact it also affects out thinking patterns as well. The way we think and perceive various issues about the world is also shaped up by media. Today everyone especially youth is growing so aware about his responsibilities towards society is because of media. Campaign such as Teach India and Incredible India helps in spreading awareness about human rights and duties. Also, media has the power to form and alter opinions. This means media can portray an ordinary thing so negatively that it may force people to think or act in quite the opposite way. Media glorifies violence and contains graphic descriptions or images. When viewed by the vulnerable portion of the society, i.e., the children, it can have grave effects on their upcoming and thinking patterns. Also the Paid news is a blot on the beautiful face or our democracy. This implies that what we read through print media may not be true but the children surely cannot understand these and they believe whatever they learn through books and papers. The cartoons in the print media is also a great abuse nowadays as they depict a poor and bad picture of the weaker sex and can create a gender discrimination among the children. Anything in a printed or written form creates and needs more attention to read it, hence a small abuse in the print media affects the children more as they are given more attention. EFFECTS OF ELECTRONIC MEDIA IN CHILDREN: We can see the impact of media right away, such as when the child watches super heroes fighting he copies their moves during play. But most of the time the impact is not so immediate or obvious. It occurs slowly as children see and hear certain messages over and over, such as the following, Fighting and other violence used as a way to "handle" conflict , Cigarettes and alcohol shown as cool and attractive, not unhealthy and deadly. Too much exposure to bomb blasts, terrorist attacks, cartoons beating up each other, has also desensitized them to violence and aggression.

Use of cigarettes and alcohol is very commonly shown in all programmes. Messages about tobacco and alcohol are everywhere in media. Kids see characters on screen smoking. This creates a thought that it is a normal activity and there is nothing wrong in following such practices in their lives. Divorces, marriages, love affairs and extramarital affairs shown so frequently at prime family viewing time have made children casual about human relations. Religious channels can increase bias about certain communities. NEED FOR CHANNELING THE MEDIA HABITS OF CHILDREN: In the present scenario, the children are very easily accessible to all media and in particular they are often with the television and their access to television and newspaper is not restricted. Media offer entertainment, culture, news, sports, and education. They are an important part of our lives and have much to teach. But some of what they teach may not be what we want children to learn. Effects of print and electronic media have adverse effects in the children. Also, Media can adversely affect the thinking capability of individuals and instill negative or destructive thinking patterns in the society as a whole. Special attention should be paid to the children who access these Medias often, as the newspapers and television is not only meant for the children but also for a varied group of individuals whose interest and needs are varied. Hence there is a great need for constant investigation of the childrens media habits. Channeling the media habits of the children is of great need today as their uncontrolled media habits may make them a juvenile delinquent. Since an average Indian child watches TV for at least two hours a day, it leaves very little time to do creative or interactive work. Also TV has made most children smarter but not necessarily intelligent. Children these days have extremely small attention spans. While poor eyesight and obesity are some of the problems that children these days suffer because of TV, longer exposure to cathode rays from TV also is supposed to affect the right brain. Whatever form they take (ads, movies, computer games, music videos), messages can be good or bad for the child. Just as we would limit certain foods in our child's diet that may be unhealthy, we also should limit his/her media diet of messages.

ROLE OF PARENTS IN CHANELLING MEDIA HABITS: The parents are the immediate checkers of the childs media habits. They should be the watch dogs and gate keepers of the programmes watched by their children. 1. Parents can make television time a learning experience by making them to watch over the educational channels or many other useful channels. 2. Kids should be given small tasks like drawing or tasks of their interest while watching television so that they don't just stare at the television. 3. Parents have to have a hawks eye over what the kid is watching. If a kid is watching an offensive music video, we should not just ask him to switch channels. We should tell him why he has to switch the channel. 4. Parents should not just tell him that television is not good for him. But should ask him to explain what he thinks is great about watching television. The child himself should understand what's good and bad for him. 5. Constant explanation should be given to the student while they watch the fantasy stories that how they differ from reality and discuss with them what will be the real life consequences in such situation. Child should be encouraged to ask questions. 6. The difference between the real life and a television act should be explained whenever a parent gets a chance. 7. Most important is the parents themselves should not be engrossed in Television. 8. Parents should ask the child what he has learnt from the programme just watched. Whenever possible, the parents should instill right thoughts so that he doesn't take anything at face value and is encouraged to think and differentiate between right and wrong. 9. The time to watch TV should be fixed. They should not tune in to TV as soon as they enter home or any time other than the schedule. 10. Parents should plan what programmes they can watch along with their child in that hour. It could be news, cartoons all the family should watch it together.

ROLE OF TEACHERS IN CHANNELING MEDIA HABITS: Next to the parents, the children spent more time with the teachers. Hence the children can be easily channelized by the teachers. 1. Teachers should never speak about the programmes that are not prone to the children as they may create a curiosity in the students to know about that or watch that. 2. The children should be given details about the educational programmes broadcasted in televisions and other educational articles and brain teasing games in newspapers so that they get aware of them and get ready to watch them. 3. Teachers should give activities, exercises that is related to some programmes in television channels such as, watching over a quiz programme in an educational television and copying down the question asked over there. 4. Teachers should find out media habit of the child by asking them to list out their favorite programmes and then make steps to channelise the media habit of the child. 5. If the children are found to have a poor media habit individual care and attention should be given to the child by guiding him in watching and accessing good information. In addition the help of their parents can also be sought. 6. The children should be taught to discriminate between the good or bad. 7. Children should be given activities and projects that suits their age and consumes time of the child, so that the child would not find time to indulge in unwanted activities. Care should be taken that the child should not be over burdened and the activities that interests the child should be given. 8. Discussions and debates can be conducted once in a week about a particular programme or a published matter that occurred in that week that has been indicated by the teacher earlier. So that the children can spend their time in gathering details about the enriching information either telecasted or published.

CONCLUSION: Media freedom is the cornerstone of democracy. It affords the public the opportunity of discovering and forming an opinion of the ideas and attitudes. Without the free expression of ideas and opinions, no society can develop effectively. However, media freedom must go along with responsibility. Media practitioners must exercise high standards of objectivity, professionalism and refrain from undue personal attacks because of the resources at their disposal. One cannot expect the television to shoulder the responsibility as it is a commercial medium and will continue to function as long as the method is effective. The solution lies on the parents. If the consumption stops even the production will too. The media designers or producers cannot be blamed the solution lies in media users too to get rid of the evils. REFERENCE 1. J. Leyens et al., Effects of Movie Violence on Aggression in a Field Setting as a Function of Group Dominance and Cohesion, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 32, 1975, pp. 346-360. 2. L.D. Eron and L.R. Huesmann, The role of television in the development of prosocial and antisocial behaviour, in D. Olwens, J. Bloch and M. Radke-Yarrow Eds. The Development of Antisocial and Prosocial Behaviour: Research, Theories, and Issues, New York, Academic, 1986. 60 3. http://ndc.viburnix.com/uploads/editor_files/pdf/43-abdul.pdf 4. John R. Rossiter, Peter J.Danaher,Advanced media planning 5. N. Bhaskara Rao, G.N.S. Raghavan, Social effects of mass media in India