Pull The Plug
Questioning whether young people want the electrical umbilical cord.
(CAN/WORLD) In our culture today, more and more young people seem to know more about their computer game, than they do about a rugby game. We are the MediaSnacking generation, constantly feeding from the internet with aspects such as MSN Messenger, to indulging in a whole night of playing the Xbox. But do we as a youth culture, really want this ever growing media technology to fulfil our lives? Do we really want to be able to order a Pizza from Domino’s whilst watching Sky? Or to be stuck indoors all night talking to friends on MSN?
Across the pond, Howard Waldorf School in Toronto (Canada), have asked this question, and have come up with a ‘media curfew’ for their students, in order to drag them away from their screens.
As Andrea Gordon mentions in her article, the sound of ‘just five more minutes’ can be heard all over the country when in response to a parent’s plea for students to do the dishes, or the homework, or even just to go to bed. Students of 11-12 years of age at Howard Waldorf School, helped along by their parents and teachers, tried and are still trying their ban of media on school nights, and hope that it will stick until the students reach grade eight (having starting in grade six).
I think this idea is good to an extent. I think that we shouldn’t stop young people from embracing the media world around them, as it is an exciting and new world that the young generation have grown up in, and influence heavily. Yet having said this, I do believe that there is rarely a healthy balance between ‘media’ time, and everyday life—as mentioned in the article by Debbie Gordon, “a Toronto mother and former advertising executive who runs media literacy workshops for school-age kids through her company Mediacs”. Playing on an Xbox can be fun for a few hours, especially when the weather outside is wet and horrible, but minutes turn into hours and before some know it, a few hours have passed staring at a screen. This raises a question about whether there are enough adequate things for young people to do in our society today. For example, the cinema in my local town is a few miles away from the town centre, and once you get there its around five/six pounds just to see a film –it just seems too expensive and too much effort getting there for young people.
There seem to be a lack of youth clubs, or places to go at off-peak times just for young people to hang out in. I know that older generations have coped with providing their own entertainment, but we now live in a culture where accessing media seems to be more attractive and less effort that going out and playing football therefore kids take that option. Of course I am generalising, but I believe that if more people in high places actually invest in more youth clubs, and just generally more things to do for young people across the globe rather than just shoving a screen in front of their faces, we can embrace both the media culture and the old socialising/providing our own entertainment culture that could prove to be very exciting.
The school in Toronto has the right idea by encouraging young people to not depend so much on the media for entertainment, but to ban it apart from weekends is perhaps a tad extreme—as it’s not just games and TV students use, the internet can be very informative and when used properly can even help students with their studies!
Contributed by Emily
