Podgorica, (MINA) – The fact that children aged between 12 and 17 spend an average of eight hours a day in front of various screens should alarm their parents, media and the society as a whole, it was heard at a conference hosted by the Agency for Electronic Media.
The conference presented the key findings of the first national study on the media habits of children age between 9 and 17 and their parents, which was produced by the IPSOS agency, as part of the media literacy campaign ‘Let’s choose what we watch’ carried by the AEM and the UNICEF.
The study shows that children between 12 and 17 years of age spend an average of three and a half hours a day using mobile phones, around two hours watching TV, an hour and a half with a computer or a laptop, a little less than an hour playing video games and around twenty minutes with a tablet.
IPSOS Director for Montenegro Vladimir Raicevic describes as especially worrying the fact that parents do not show much concern about the time their children spend in front of a screen.
The study reveals that children are most likely to find contents of interests on the Internet or cable TV, which represents an additional challenge for the domestic media production.
According to AEM, every second child in Montenegro would like to participate in the production of media program for young people and their parents support that ambition, which is why Head of the UNICEF Office in Montenegro Osama Khogali has called upon the Montenegro media to offer such opportunities to children and young people.
“Production of innovative media programs with children and for children will not only be beneficial to children, but will also turn local media into family brands in Montenegro,” Khogali noted.
He announced that the UNCIEF will work together with the AEM to provide, early next year, trainings for Montenegrin media on how to produce quality media programs with young people.
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