Sonia Mitchell, Sunday Gleaner Writer

Boys playing video games at the Children Expo 2006 at the National Arena. Many children are getting hooked on electronic games. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

Jamaican parents are complaining that they are losing their children to cutting-edge technology. Many guardians are bamboozled by the tech lingo that's as understandable as computer-programming language.

From cellphones, laptops, cable television to iPods, Xbox, Nintendo Wii and PlayStation, the whole shebang leaves parents scratching their heads, wondering, "Huh?"

Parents fear that most of their children's time is spent watching programmes replete with images of violence, occultism and self-indulgent materialism, sexual promiscuity, profanity, anti-family and anti-Christian plots and sub-plots.

Concerns raised

These concerns were raised at the annual Parenting Forum put on by Youth Opportunities Unlimited and Churches Co-operative Union at the Hilton Kingston, recently.

Amid this fear of technology's impact on children, the Broadcasting Commission is urging parents to pay close attention to children's media use at home. In May, the commission embarked on a campaign encouraging parents to play an active role in protecting children from violence, sex and inappropriate language in the electronic media. In a recent release, the commission also called on local media to ensure full compliance with the law regarding content publication.

But some parents believe their influence over children is waning, as their kids spend most of their time watching cable television.

Andrew Francis, convenor at Jamaica Youth Advocacy Network, stated at the forum, "A lot of things around us are influencing our children today, many of which are negative to their growth and development."

David Pearson, head of theology at the Jamaica Theological Seminary, who made a presentation on the topic 'Teaching values to our children' at the forum, said, "The morals and values in the society have disintegrated, and children are seeking their own identity in which they can exist."

Excessive TV watching

Local research confirms that excessive television watching can inhibit initiative, curiosity, motivation, imagination and reasoning in the programmes children watch, making them susceptible to violent behaviour.

Findings from Dr Maureen Samms-Vaughan's study - 'Cognition, Educational Attainment and Behaviour in a Cohort of Jamaican Children' - are that:

Children who watch 20 or more hours of television each week suffer academically.

The more time boys spend watching action shows, the lower their scores in reading, English and mathematics.

The more time girls devoted to soap operas, the worse they performed in verbal comprehension and reasoning.

Children who watched more than 20 hours of TV each week show problems with their behaviour at school and at home.

Read more Positive Parenting stories in The Gleaner tomorrow.