1.0 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY Media technologies (TV, video, games, Internet, music, mobile phones) have brought about a substantial change in the experience of childhood in our society. These changes leave many parents unprepared for the challenge on how to regulate their child’s time with such technologies. There is now good evidence about the impact on children from media technologies, and that this constitutes a health issue. Children can use media to increase their understanding of the world around them as well as teach positive social behaviours. These benefits can last through to adolescence. Television viewing has been studied in children who are academically gifted, with results suggesting that selective viewing can promote academic abilities. Furthermore, parents of gifted children are more likely to see the potential benefits of educational TV programs and make more selective viewing choices.
Video games involving information, academic content and problem-solving have been shown to accelerate children’s learning. They can be particularly useful for children who have learning problems. Similarly, the breadth of information available on the Internet is clearly able to broaden children’s knowledge and Behavioural problems can occur in children of all ages. Very often they start in early life. Toddlers and young children may refuse to do as they are asked by adults, in spite of being asked many times. They can be rude, swear and have tantrums, or an outburst of aggressive or disruptive behaviour (Carr, 2000).
Some children may even have serious behavioural problems such as physical fights, drug abuse, arson etc. Rutter and Taylor (2002) admit that there are behavioural problems when the child continues to behave badly for several months or longer or if the behaviour is not of the ordinary and it seriously breaks the rules accepted in his family and community, these behavioural problems may be disruptive, delinquent and deviant. They opined that these sorts of behavioural problems can affect a child‟s development and also interfere with his ability to live a normal life. In reference to the aforementioned, Reza and Mercy (2001) report that violence by young persons is one of the most visible forms of behavioural problems in human society. According to them, world newspapers and broadcast media report daily on violence by gangs in schools or young people on the streets. In view of this, this project will look into the development of mass communication and media technology in Nigeria, and examine its positive effect on the effective upbringing of children in Iree Town in Osun State. However the negative effects of mass media on children are also highlighted and solutions to these problems are suggested.
1.1 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The problem that lead to the study of positive effects of mass communication and technology on upbringing children are numerous among which are of it is stated below.
(a) What impact does Mass communication have on development of children in Nigeria?
(b) How do children of Iree Township respond to adverts and information from Mass Media technologies.
(c) What effects does Radio and TV Programme have on Community development of Iree Township?
(d) To what extent do mass communication and technology affect the cultural values of Nigeria children?
(e) What are the implications of adoption of media technology by children?
1.2 PURPOSE OF THE STUDY Apart from being practical useful in itself in showing how the attribute of the positive effects of mass communication and technology on upbringing children in Nigeria, the study is aimed at the following objectives;
1. To evaluate the importance of mass communication and technology in the community.
2. To show that media technology has positive impacts on bringing up of children in this computer age.
3. To examine the impact of media technology such as TV, Radio, Video Games, Computer and mobile phone in Iree township?
4. To show that media technology is an important means of disseminating parenting information to assist upbringing of children in a community.
5. To identify different ways by which mass communication diffused information and ideal to the people on certain information.
1.3 RESEARCH QUESTION These are the following question that may arise in the course of this research.
(a) To what extent do the people of Oke Eesa Iree are exposed to mass media and technology?
(b) To what extent has mass media contribute to the development of children in community?
(c) What can be done to improve the role of mass media and technology on upbringing children of Iree Township?
(d) Is there any adverse impact of mass media technology on little children in Oke-Eesa Iree community?
(e) To what extent does mass media technology influences children upbringing?
1.4 STATEMENT OF HYPOTHESIS The following are the hypothesis generated during the course of this study.
H0: Mass communication and technology DOES NOT play any role in children and community development.
H1: Mass communication and technology plays a vital role in children and community development.
H0: Mass communication and technology does not influence children upbringing.
H1: Mass communication and technology influence children upbringing.
1.5 DEFINITION OF TERMS 1. Journalist: A journalist collects and disseminates information about current events, people, trends, and issues. His or her work is acknowledged as journalism.
2. Reporters: Reporters are one type of journalist; they create reports as a profession for broadcast or publication in mass media such as newspapers, television, radio, magazines, documentary film, and the Internet. Reporters find sources for their work, their reports can be either spoken or written, and they are often expected to report in the most objective and unbiased way to serve the public good. A columnist is a journalist who writes pieces that appear regularly in newspapers or magazines.
3. Mass Media: Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies, including the Internet, television, newspapers, and radio, which are used for mass communications, and to the organizations which control these technologies.
4. A Printing Press: A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. Typically used for texts, the invention and spread of the printing press are widely regarded as the most influential events in the second millennium AD, revolutionizing the way people conceive and describe the world they live in, and
ushering in the period of modernity.
5. Community The term community has two distinct meanings:
1) A group
of interacting people, living in some proximity (i.e., in space, time,
or relationship). Community usually refers to a social unit larger than a household that shares common values and has social cohesion. The term can also refer to the national community or international community, and,
2) a community is a group of interacting
living organisms sharing a populated environment.
1.6 DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY The limitation involved in this work includes the wide nature and time constraint of the study, which resulted in narrowing down the case study to Iree Township only. The following are the limitation that hinders the study of this research work;
1. Financial Constraint: There are not enough funds to fuel the study of this research work. The researcher has access to a very little source of fund.
2. Time Constraints: Due to the limited time available to carry out this research work, it is not possible to carry out the research extensively as anticipated by the researcher.
1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY This project looks into the positive effects of mass communication and technology on the upbringing of children in Iree community. It critically examines the influence of media technology on children development in the society. The concepts of this project covered Iree community and can well be applicable in any community in Osun State and all other States in the country. This project should be considered from perspective only been purely academic and finding based on the response of the respondents.
1.8 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY The significance or importance of this study is that it disclose in theoretical format the influence; both positive and negative, which Mass communication and technology has on the upbringing of children in Iree Township. The result of this project work will enable parents to understand the benefit of proper usage of media technology around them to help in improving the standard of living of their children. It a also enable government to know the result of promoting the mass communication and technology in the community and especially on the children who are the future of a nation.
