The issue of youth delinquency has become a major concern to most parents. Hardly a day passes without a report of some youth involved in one act of lawlessness or the other. From car snatching, use of illicit drugs, armed robbery, among others. Given that the youth of today are the ones to take over the mantle of leadership in the future, the big questions are: Are we• guaranteed a safe-future with this kind of leadership? What has changed? What happened to the shy, respectful, obedient and studious Ghanaian youth of the not too distant past? At a ceremony at the Christ The King Church in Accra recently to confirm 140 baptised Catholics into the faith, the Archbishop of Accra, Most Reverend Charles Palmer-Buckle, asked parents to be wary of the "new armed robbers and carriers of immorality" they had introduced into their homes. He said that while parents had built high walls around their houses and fenced them with electric barbed wire, the new "robbers" they should look out for were the television and Internet they left their children with all day without supervision. He said that those technologies offered the sites where children were picking up some of the unacceptable habits and behaviours which were hanging on contemporary society like an albatross. Gradually, consciously or unconsciously, the television and Internet have taken a central role in our lives. Some studies have suggested that apart from sleeping, one other activity that occupies and takes the time of children most is television-watching and lately, browsing the Internet. Thanks to the television and Internet, today most busy parents are able to concentrate on their search for money and other businesses away from home knowing that they will not be missed so much by their children. Even when parents are at home, the children are often times so much engrossed in their viewing and browsing activities to the extent that there is minimum interaction between parents and children. Sometimes children are so glued to the set that even when parents call out their names, they do not hear, and have to be called so loudly several times. Some would prefer even to forgo meals in favour of the television and the Internet. Continuous "struggle" among siblings for possession of the remote control is a common sight in some homes. Perhaps, having regard to the educative and entertainment potential of the television and in a bid to stop remote "control wars", most parents who have the means have acquired more than two sets for the home, sometimes it's one for each! Children sit in front of the television with textbooks and notebooks in hand pretending to study with one eye on the television and the other on the notes! How this works out beats the imagination! But they go on flipping from channel to channel and are able to tell where Rihanna's next concert is to take place, how many times Tom was able to get even with Jerry and why Lil Wayne is heading for jail. Ask them to do a simple academic work and their countenance immediately portrays an obvious lack of interest. In her review on Children, Television and Gender Roles, Elena Beasly notes that children spend an average of 3.3 hours a day in front of the television every day. Van Evra, Judith in her study into Television and Child Development finds that children do not simply absorb TV information, but actively process it and impose their own interpretations and expectations. . Even though the power of television and the Internet is not absolute in influencing behaviour, because of some intervening variables, we cannot completely rule out its role, especially in the face of contemporary behavioural changes in the youth. For instance, how come that some teenagers who have neither been to the US nor had any physical contact with some• American musicians for instance, dress like 50 cent with bling, earrings and tattoos. Sometimes we see our male teenagers even imitating the way these Black American stars walk with one hand holding on to their crotch, their trousers constantly falling off and words such as 's**t and f**k you' flowing without inhibition from their mouth in the name of fashion and "to be seen as "G" by their mates ! Where else could they have picked these attributes? Children flip from channel to channel absorbing stuff that may not be suitable for their formative age. How many times haven't we heard about children being involved in some freak accident as a result of imitating some action figures such as Batman and Danger Mouse on television? Add the influx of some Nigerian movies which don't get shown on public TV in Nigeria but show freely on our sets and the picture becomes even bleaker! Then again are the health effects of our newly acquired sedentary lifestyles. Some sit and watch television or browse the Internet as they push loads of snacks like pop corn into their mouth. This is in contrast to how not too long ago we used to walk to school, get water, climbed trees, sang and created our own play items such lorries from tin and ran after lizards. Our influences on how to behave in society was acquired from the family, the community and school before the growth of the mass media which has had a significant impact on the lives of everyone. Thanks to television and the Internet, our active way of life has been reduced to the minimum. Little wonder we have teenagers with pot bellies today! But it's not all doom for the relationship between us, the Internet and television. Television viewing has its positives. Television and the Internet are great sources of information and learning which could help in the development of social roles and behaviour. TV entertainment programmes kill our boredom. We are able to improve our language through sheer information sharing on television and we are able to learn history just by clicking the button of the Internet. The two mediums carry us to places where we have never been, keeping us abreast of happenings in other parts of the world and business trends. We are able to seal business transactions via communication on the Internet. Therefore, television and the Internet maintain their primary role of providing information, education and entertainment which are positives. Through discussion programmes we are able to share ideas and views which are a prerequisite for the thriving of democracy. Our leaders are able to know what we want and what we are thinking. But the concerns raised about what these powerful mediums are doing cannot also be glossed over. If only parents could be available to guide their children, but alas, where is the time? Afua Yeboah, a mother of two, has had to impose strict sanctions at home,- No television on week days! As to whether she is at home always to ensure that her directives are followed is another matter. Addiction to TV seems to have no simple remedy. Television and the Internet cannot take the place of parenting but that is exactly the way it seems now. Parents send their children off to watch TV when they think they are "worrying them too much" when all they want is some time with them and to get their questions answered. The key question is: How can we create a healthy balance between television and Internet use and other household and community activities for ourselves and our children? One of the ways is to make sure that content is child-friendly. Again, communal viewing with parental/adult supervision should be encouraged when practicable. Parents must be more assertive and wrench their parental responsibilities from the mass media. As The Most Rev. Palmer-Buckle preaches, children should be brought up with God as the focal point, for the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. The earlier we thought this issue out the better. Else, like The Most Rev Palmer-Buckle said, we will build even higher walls with high voltage electric, barbed wire fences hemming in these new "robbers" and our children and the results may not be too pleasant for us as society with set values and norms. Credit: Doreen Allotey Source: Daily Graphic