Media: how to educate content in front of screens
The rapid change experienced in the media and the sum of new technologies have caused such a radical transformation of the environment in which our children are raised. The overinformation to which we are exposed, added to other factors such as the lack of deepening or the tendency to idolize excessively the immediacy, provokes a disturbing boom of the spectacularization in all types of contents.
It is necessary to educate the criteria to get a correct selection of the most appropriate messages. But at this moment, that education for the media in reasonable criteria it is not being carried out either in the homes or in the educational centers or through any other social agent. The consequence is that most parents are not aware of the scenario they face and, therefore, can not provide valid behavior guidelines to their children.
Teenagers and their way of getting on the screen
Teenagers "hook" with some ease to all the audiovisual material that is presented before their eyes. But the way of "watching TV" has changed so much since the irruption on the Internet scene, that it is essential for parents to know the new channels and their offer to guide them with a good education in the consumption of media.
Everything has changed. In terms of television, there is no doubt that the multiplication of the offer has simplified domestic life. It is easier for everyone to be happy with what they want to see. Gone are those first years of cathode tube in which, far from being able to choose, the viewer was folded to what they "cast". And when the offer increased, the war in the families had to do with the command and that new verb coined in the sofa evenings: the zapping.
But since the irruption and popularization of the Internet in our lives, in particular with the arrival of data lines that allow a fast and efficient exchange of megas, and the parallel appearance of tablets, smartphones and laptops, no one disputes a hole in front of the television. Who does not want to see what they put in the room, get up and look for another screen.
This is the main change in the way of consuming television: now you see the programming in private. And this transformation is even more evident in the world of adolescents. They are the first generation entirely native digital, they have technological tools at their disposal, they share consumption habits with the rest of their peers and the industry, which has realized this change, is adapting to the new consumption circumstances.
The consequence of this transformation in the education of the children is marked: the consumption of television escapes with great ease to the control of the parents, because it is carried out from any place and at any time. The derivative of this circumstance is that the socialization processes that traditionally took place around television, are no longer carried out.
The world of series and cinema
Does this change mean that everything teenagers see is bad? Not necessarily. In fact, Professor Álvaro de la Torre, from CEU San Pablo University, an expert in television consumption among adolescents, explains that there is a greater capacity for choice now, and that allows young people to apply criteria to the type of content they see. "They can choose and choose series or movies, they no longer stick to what they throw", explains this expert.
The popularization of payment platforms that allow both the viewing of movies in the VOD (Video on Demand) format, some free and others for a very low price, and full seasons of television series. The children imitate the new consumption habits of some parents for whom leisure time is scarce and they do not want to waste it on contents that do not interest them.
In this sense, the traditional television networks have taken advantage of the arrival of new transmission systems, such as DTT, to use secondary channels as platforms for the series offer for adolescents and young people, a public with a high willingness to buy and a power nothing negligible
Changing habits in front of screens
What they do not spend money on is cinema. The televisions are getting better and more inches, so the cinema, with less affordable prices for young people, has gone into the background as an option. This new generation is less given to "piracy" than the previous ones because he has made the concepts of streaming and TV on demand.
And a very remarkable new phenomenon is that of the youtubers, generators of content downloaded directly on the Internet that achieve a huge impact thanks to the multiplication of visits. This reality would give, and will give, for an in-depth analysis.It is worth noting that in this space young people find products created specifically for them, such as tutorials and video game critiques, and that parents do not know practically where their children move.
Junk television sneaks in adolescence
Despite the fact that, according to Nielsen's audience studies, the consumption of traditional television decreases from year to year Among the adolescent population -a drop of 21% in the last three years-, Professor De la Torre detects a worrying phenomenon in expansion: consumption of telebasura intended, in principle, to an adult audience. Programs of very low quality in terms of content, such as the phenomenon of Big Brother, are devastating among young people to such an extent that the producer seeks players closer to the age of their viewers.
Sometimes, this consumption is allowed by the family, which is also hooked on this type of content. In others, it is seen in solitude, either on television, or on other supports. In any case, each time they use more the resource of social networks to generate a sense of belonging to the group that participates in the common viewing of a space. Television, with social networks, supplements the search for the gregarious effect that teenagers want.
To this circumstance is added the decreasing concern of the society for the cataloging of suitable contents. From the diamond and the two rhombuses of forty years ago, it has become a numerical cataloging to which the parents pay little attention. As they do not show much interest, it is not strange that they sneak into the programming in protected hours unsuitable contents that remain unreported because they have been normalizing.
Alicia Gadea
Advice: Professor Gabriel Galdón, professor at the CEU San Pablo University
