Kids are hooked on interactive gadgets.

Gareth Manning, Sunday Gleaner Reporter

Children's dependence on the interactive media, like in most other places in the world, is a growing phenomenon in Jamaica.

It is already a problem in developed countries like the United States of America, where children's bedrooms are often saturated with different forms of electronic gadgets - computers, video games, iPods, cellphones, MP3 players - just to name a few.

Locally, the phenomenon is growing exponentially. For example, adolescents are among the largest consumers of cellphones in the country and, over the years, the attraction to other kinds of media, such as game systems, have also become popular. Hot among the sales these days are the XBox 360 and the Nintendo Wii.

"By far the most popular gifts are game systems," Paul Shoucair, operator of Mobile Music in Kingston, tells The Sunday Gleaner. In his five years in the business, he has observed a steady increase in demand for these technologies. Part of the increasing demand is due to manufacturers' improvement of the technology, resulting in the phasing out of old gadgets.

Demand for video games

Tariq Nembhard, marketing manager at Watts New, also in Kingston, has also been seeing a steady increase in demand, particularly for games. The demand usually peaks after GSAT and CSEC exams, and at Christmas.

Most of the consumers are boys from as young as age four to 18-year-olds.

"Maybe it's because the games are competitive and boys like to compete," reasons Shoucair about his customers' habits. Their favourite games range from soccer to adult-rated games that are sometimes violent.

"The most popular games by far are soccer, car games and shooter games. Ninety per cent of the M (mature) - rated customers are people under 18," he admits. He also confessed that many parents are unaware of how the games are rated and so they purchase those with mature content for their teenage children.

The time dedicated by children to the use of some of these media are sometimes many hours, studies show. While they do have a positive impact on learning, unsupervised they could be affecting literacy and social development.

Studies done by the Kaiser Family Foundation in the U.S. indicate there is some link between poor performance, literacy and social development in children who spend long hours, whether surfing the Internet or playing video games. According to one of the studies, published in March 2005, children who did poorly in school spent more time using recreational media while those who spent less time, did better.

Grades

"Kids who mostly earn Cs and Ds and below spend about 20 minutes more playing video games than A and B or B and C students," the study pointed out.

The study found that children who dedicated more time to media use also had more personal problems than other children in the same age cohort. They were more bored, more unhappy and got into trouble more.

However, because the phenomenon is relatively new to Jamaica, not many studies have been undertaken to examine the impact on children of their extended use of interactice media.

But Shoucair believes, with parents often not knowing what games their children are playing or what they are doing on the Internet, there could be some negative repercussions.

"Parents need to be aware of the time that children spend playing games. They need to limit the time. You have to look at the development of a person as whole," he says.

Anthea Henderson, researcher and lecturer at the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication (CARIMAC) on the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies, says many of the findings and concerns raised in the United States about the effect of interactive media on children might be applicable to Jamaica.

Affordability

She points out, though, that access to interactive media is different in Jamaica, and a certain group of children might be more negatively affected than another. Video games, for example, can be quite expensive, costing as much as $45,000 to $55,000, according to industry players, thus making the gadgets affordable to only higher-income groups. The same is true of access to computers and the Internet this has been changing.

"Those from the working class use computers less, and when they use them, they probably use them more for educational purposes than people in the higher socioeconomic groupings," Henderson argues.

She says while most researchers, however, don't draw a causative relationship between extended exposure and development, there is some indication that it negatively affects development and learning.

More purchasing

"The trend is there locally as well. With increasing affluence, more and more young people are purchasing, or their parents will be purchasing, these things, and in many instances, some of those media outlets are placed in the bedroom; and that has an implication for interaction and for learning," she says.

Additionally, Hendricks asserts that there could be some health implications as paediatricians have expressed concern that overexposure to computer screens could damage the sight, particularly of young children.

Watts New's Tariq Nembhard believes the interaction has been more beneficial to children than harmful. He believes it only poses a threat when children are not monitored.

"It helps children with mental development, but, if it is not properly handled, it will affect them," he states

gareth.manning@gleanerjm.com