Children And Mass Media:the Role Of Mass Media In Children Socialization

Children And Mass Media:the Role Of Mass Media In Children Socialization

Chapitre One

Introduction

1.1 Study Background

Despite the fact that the development of the printing press and the introduction of television did not occur concurrently, they have become a powerful force in elevating men’s views and deeds.

It becomes more intricate as the planet need fresh viewpoints. More is being done, and there is an awareness that there is more to be done, more information required, and more information to be given. Modern industrial technology has enabled the vast reproduction of information. The rotary press, motion picture cameras, and television all provide a foundation for reaching a large audience.

In a more complicated world of specialization and shrinking distances, a man’s ties to his next-door neighbor may be less essential than those that bond him to men of his own career, interest, or taste.

As traditional community living’s social relationships have eroded, the media has generated a new set of common interests and commitments. The broadcast and print media, commonly known as the mass media, had provided a new type of shared experience in which millions of people could laugh at, feel men’s thrills and worries, and respond to the same heaves.

Only until the symbols produced are meaningful can mass media operations take place.

In a world with standardized items, it is natural for enjoyment to be provided through impersonal business and play, as is common in more primitive civilizations.

Concerns about the potential effect or influence of mass communication on men’s opinions and attitudes have been prevalent for several decades and exist in a less intense manner than with mass media.

The phrase “the penis is mightier than the sword” has been modified by social observers who say that the mass media is more potent than an atomic weapon.

The role of the media in human history is particularly significant. They are the greatest information multipliers, just as the machines of the industrial revolution multiplied human power with other types of energy.

The emergence of printing in the 15th century was significant not only because it shifted the balance from many centuries of spoken firsthand communication to the sharing of information on a grad scale, but also because it spread learning beyond the privileged.

According to Wilbur Schramm, “shortly after the development of printing, print media became tools of political and social change.”

He maintained that without the print medium, the European revolution would have been unthinkable, as would the emergence of public schools.

In modern times, man’s life and existence have come to rely heavily on the media to inform and entertain him about what is going on in his community and the larger world. As a result, there is an unstoppable march toward a world based exclusively on mass media communication. The mass media has evolved into the most potent communication tool ever devised by man.

The slow but steady spread of satellite communication has further reduced the world to a global village. What function does the media play in the process of socialization of children? What are the intertwining relationships between the child, the media, and his society’s cultural acquisition, phrased differently?

1.2 Problem Statement

The goal of this study is to look into the pattern of media usage among children from various socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds as part of a larger investigation into the role of media in the process of childhood socialization.

Apart from deviating from the main effect in mass media research, this element has been prompted by underlying assumptions.

1.3 Objectives Of Research

This study was prompted by the significant influence that mass media plays in the socialization of children.

The mass media contribute to the child’s socialization process through the knowledge they provide, the values they represent and portray to him, the experience the youngster gains from the media, the thrills and horns they provide. The mass media also reinforces the work of other socialization agencies such as peer groups, families, churches, and schools.

Secondary, because the mass media are message multipliers that increase the number and speed of messages sent, as well as the size of the audience, it is reasoned that given the enormous powers of the mass media, they should transcend all other agents in the socialization process, particularly in situations where the mass media has been adopted as an integral part of the learning process.

A third reason for the study is that during childhood, when the child’s primary concern is defining a coherent picture of the world, learning that occurs (and some learning inevitably occurs) may influence the individual’s future behavior throughout life. This type of learning includes exposure to political horrors, institutions, values, and belief systems of the society in which the youngster finds himself. This is referred to as “anticipating socialization” by Bowman and Byton.

Fourth, socialization or the acquisition of one’s society’s culture is important not only for the normal behavior of the human person, but also for how one interacts with other members of the society. And if a society’s culture is to be sustained and perpetuated, the contents must be continuously transmitted or communicated from one generation to the next.

As a result, if the child internalizes the essential habits, beliefs, and values of society, the suitable becomes crucial for the harmonies. The operation of a civilized society.

However, contrary to popular belief, certain social science scholars studying the roles of numerous agents, viz. In the socialization process, the family is more important than the media.

1.4 Problem With Communication

This research is particularly concerned in the role of mass media in the socialization of children. The primary issue is hence how much influence the media has on individuals during their childhood socialization.

As a result, the primary focus of the problem is on children’s communication behaviors. In other words, how do youngsters interact with the media? What influence do mediated cultural messages have on children? Which impacts, and which children are affected? What exactly is socialization? The term “socialization” was defined by Chining.

As the phrase referring to the process by which a kid adopts the culture (norms, blues, and skills) of his society, becoming an acceptable part of that community.

He defined norms or normative patterns in any community as “values that defy what is felt to be proper, legitimate, or expected or of social relationship.”

Chinoy maintains that the contents of any society’s culture are communicated or passed to the kid via socialization agents, namely parents. The family, the school, the peer group, and the mass media all have a role.

1.5 Socialization And Mass Communication.

One of the most astonishing aspects of human development is the child’s change from a raw, helpless, and defenseless infant to a self-fending adult through the process of socialization.

Socialization is the process through which an individual adopts and internalizes the culture of his group, causing the process to take into account the expectations of others.

It is critical to underline that socialization is a continuous process that occurs from childhood to old life.

Some issues necessitate ongoing training throughout one’s life. Depending on the normative are concerned, responsibility for socialization is usually assigned to a specific handed or institution. On-the-job toilet training is directed by other members of the occupation or by a specialist.

A lot of socialization is intentional, but it sometimes happens inadvertently when people catch up on social standards without being taught about them.

Wright explained that in more developed civilizations, the mass media plays a larger role in the complicated process of socialization. Individuals depart some societal conventions from the media at various points in their lives.

The media can either strengthen or dilute the efforts of the family and school in the socialization process.

Children can learn from the media, which also communicates with their parents and peers. They then convey behavioral standards.

The media can be used directly for education and doctrinarian purposes, such as educational television, or through the exploitation of all kinds of mass communication and authoritarian socialites, in which regimes systematically aim to propagate and perpetuate the ideals they support.

In most varied cultures lacking official values and central direction and control, the media’s influence is frequently unplanned and unclear, potentially dysfunctional in relation to prevailing standards of some groups or the entire society. This may result in a mismatch between what was planned and the outcome, with unintended and unwelcome repercussions arising from both the media’s content and technique.

Even the other socialization agents rely on the media for knowledge about what is going on in the world around them. For example, current science communication via mass media has changed how parents care for their children, meet their needs, and respond to their behaviors.

1.6 The Case Of Nigeria

Nigeria, essentially a heterogeneous society made up of more than 200 ethnic groups with varying normative patterns, customers, beliefs, and even languages, has always struggled with the desire for material ideas and objectives that would not turn the country to the norms and images of some of her people.

However, if Nigeria is to remain a strong, united, and vints nation, certain national ideals must be communicated to the majority of the population through the mass media.

Also, the government, understanding the harm that foreign media contents have done and continue to do interns of acculturating Nigerian youths and children, has made some attempts to purposely use mass media to re-socialize the youngsters on their own values and ways of life.

A lot of foreign culture has been unbiased on Nigerian youngsters through television, cinema, comics, and so on. This is visible in their style of clothes, behavioral patterns, and even how they connect to their elders.

A lot of foreign culture has been unbiased on Nigerian children via television, film, comics, and so on. This is visible in their clothes, behavior, and even how they interact with their elders.

Policymakers appear to have recognized the importance of the mass media, particularly for youngsters, who spend approximately 60% of their leisure time watching television.

Perhaps this is why many media materials, particularly those aimed at children, have undergone alterations. For example, most/television programs aimed to children are consciously blending in cultural messages.

“Same Street,” a popular instructional program shot in the United States and adapted for Nigerian children, has made room for local male roles.

Former Miss Stella – Maris Onyeama, who hosts junior television programs on NTA Benin, ensures that children appearing on the screens are more often than not in traditional ears, and their plays and folklore are usually reminiscent of “those moonlight play.”

A children’s program called “Junior Opinion” on NTA Enugu encourages viewers to ask questions about their cultural heritage and ways of life.

Some radio programs, such as “your heritage music from other states,” help to resocialize Nigerian youngsters away from imported values and reacquaint them with their own cultural orientation. Our cultural music represents subtle attempts to achieve this purpose.

Perhaps policymakers are working under the notion that individuals in question are children in their formative years. It is considered that if youngsters identify with their peers in the media, they would empathize with them, unknowingly internalizing the required values and conventions. According to Kelman, attitude shift occurs when an individual adopts behavior drawn from another person or group because the behavior is connected with satisfying his self-defining relationship to that person or group.

It is consequently assumed that if children’s attitudes are consistent with those highlighted by the media, the problem is close to being solved.

However, considering Nigeria’s scoi-political nature, which is characterized by ethnic variety and language variances, it will undoubtedly be a difficult challenge to shape Nigerian kids with identical outlooks on life.

There are clear issues in selecting language values and norms from among the many that proliferate in Nigeria, particularly in the area of media material.

1.7 THE IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDY

The mass media, particularly television and film, are commonly thought to be unusually powerful simply because of their visual advantages over the others. They have been observed to command more entire attention from their audience and to be completely preoccupied at times, particularly with children.

However, this researcher believes that youngsters in this country have only been exposed to a limited use of mainstream media, particularly electronic media. Millions of people have restricted access to the media.

Most children’s programming in the media consists of songs, dances, story telling, and games. The current trend is to screen primary and secondary school children in traditional dancing to one form or another of traditional music.

In short, they are offered to television audiences as entertainers. If new tactics for exposing youngsters to a broader range of media are not implemented, I believe they will grow into tradition-directed, dance-oriented, and talk-less adults.

If we are to make these efforts sustainable, the massive reorganization that is currently taking place in the country must pay special attention to new strategies aimed at instilling in Nigerian children and youths the sparkling qualities of ethnic tolerance and coexistence, discipline, and patriotism.

This is because ethnicity lies at the root of the majority of the country’s human problems, including monopoly worries, ethnic rivalry, and suspicion.

These issues have been exacerbated by the stro-type and dogmas that have long been used to explain specific life styles of some ethnic groups in Nigeria.

Any solution must therefore include the total re-orientation, if not re-socialization, of learned attitudes and steriotypes, which Nigeria, with the exception of the kinder queens, is rife with.

For example, the law enforcement officer who notices the wav men. It fails to recognize that culture is relative and diverse, and that one culture is preferable to the other.

It could be a better endeavor to make most adults recognize that these stro-types are myths with no basis in reality.

This study is thus timely in that the findings and results may give some dues to new strategies aimed at improving the communication behavior of children as one way of using mass media in mobilizing the youth and children in general in the side to build a nation where tribes and tongues may differ in brotherhood we sand, this is because youths and children account for more than 40 million of Nigeria’s population.

1.8 QUESTIONS FOR RESEARCHERS

The following research questions will serve as a guide for the concerns that will be addressed in this study.

1. Is there a relationship between children’s media use and their family’s socioeconomic status or their level of education?

2. Is television the most important medium for youngsters to receive information? In other words, do youngsters favor television for knowledge distribution over other media and/or socialization agencies?

3. Do children utilize the media to enforce societal social norms?

4. What is the emphasis that children place on mass media in comparison to traditional socialization agents such as family, teacher, friends, or peer groups throughout childhood socialization? Are some media more important to children than others?

5. Do youngsters go to the media to learn the normative norms of their societies?

Hypothesis 1.9

The following hypothesis is intended to be proved or is being proved based on the theoretical framework of this study. The five hypotheses listed below will be tested.

Hello: The better the socioeconomic standing of the family, the less media the children consume.

H2: Television is the primary source of information for youngsters.

Ho: Television is not the primary source of information for children.

H3: Children cite the media as a source for learning cultural norms.

Ho: children does not consider the media to be a source of obtaining societal norms.

H4: In the process of childhood socialization, the mass media are comparatively more essential than traditional socialization agents (such as family, teachers, friend or peer groups, etc.).

Ho: The mass media are not more significant than traditional socialization agents (such as family, teachers, friends or peer groups, etc.) in the process of childhood socialization.

H5: Children use media to reinforce society norms (i.e., children use media to reinforce learning patterns and behavior).

Ho: Children do not use media to reinforce cultural standards.

1.10 STUDY LIMITATIONS

As with all human endeavors, there were various elements that tended to undermine the study’s seamless completion.

For one thing, the time allotted for this assignment was so short that the researcher did not have enough time to complete it thoroughly.

For instance, during data collection, this researcher had to use extra work deciphering their interview schedule of respondents, some of whom were inside the incomprehensible age restriction.

Above all, there were financial and transportation limitations. Overall, the project, despite being a costly endeavor, has been a pleasant experience.

1.11 Term Definition

Because the operations and ideas employed in this study were used contextually, they must be defined.

1. The term “mass media” refers to public television, radio, and the big circulation press (newspapers).

2. Children: In this study, children include students from two large schools who range in age from 7 to 13 years. These pupils were chosen at random from Enugu’s University, Primary Secondary School, and Abegy Primary School.

3. Childhood: The period between the ages of one and thirteen (1-13).

4. The practice of listening to the radio, watching television, and reading newspapers.

5. Societies: In this study, the term “societies” refers to the many environments in which the children found themselves, including their homes, schools, and Enugu town.

6. Societal norms/ normative patterns: These are societal principles that define what are considered to be proper, valid, or expected ways of behavior faction or social connection.

7. Socialization is used in this study to refer to the learning process by which a child adopts the culture (norms, habits, values, and abilities) of his society, becoming an accepted member of his group as a result.

8. Agents of socialization: those institutions that impart cultural content to youngsters, such as the media, family, friends, school, and the church.

9. Information received through the mainstream means of communication is referred to as mediated information.