DEČJA I RODITELJSKA PERCEPCIJA TELEVIZIJE, MEDIJSKE NAVIKE I IZBOR TELEVIZIJSKOG PROGRAMA

Abstract

The paper examines the perceptions of primary school students and their parents about children’s use of media, especially television programs, and about parents’ insight into this. Therefore, the aim of the paper is to investigate children’s self-perceptions and parents’ perceptions of which media children use the most, about several different aspects of television viewing (intensity, preferred television channels, content, etc.), and about the degree of parental insight into the reception process of their children. In accordance with the aim, the following research questions were defined: what are the most common media used by primary school-age children; how much time do children spend consuming television content; what is the perception of parents about their own role in monitoring children’s consumption of TV content; and what motivates children when choosing television contents. Within the framework of the specific hypothesis, it was assumed that the two most represented media at the age of fifth to eighth grade of elementary school are television and internet, that children spend up to three hours watching television, that parents have insight into their children’s choice of television content, as well as that children’s interest in television content is primarily motivated by entertainment. The survey method was used in the research. Two questionnaires were applied: one for children and one for parents. The survey sample consists of 246 respondents: 128 students and 118 parents, more precisely, 64 pupils from the fifth to the eighth grade from two elementary schools: one city school (“Ćele kulaˮ) and one suburban (“Vojislav Ilić Mlađiˮ in Trupale, also from the area of Niš municipality), i.e. sixteen children of the specified age (V, VI, VII, VIII grade) from each school and 59 parents from each school. Percentages and percentage ranks were used in data processing. According to parents, their children spend most time on the internet (over two and a half hours), followed by television (over two hours), radio (approximately one hour per day) and newspapers or newspapers for children (over half an hour). Half of the children spend between one and three hours watching television, and even 38.3% less than one hour, while 11.7% of children spend more than three hours in front of the TV. Therefore, the average time children spend with all the media is quite a lot. Their taste is defined by entertainment, which is ranged in selection of television programmes such as movies, series, musical shows and sports. The most prominent group of pupils (41,4%) thinks that violence is shown moderately on TV, but 43,8% switches channel when there is violence on the program. Parents consider the role in guiding their children through the process of consuming media cruical. The parents’ estimation of the average children’s time spent with media is pretty much the same as children’s. As the most important factors that influence their children they specify music and laughter.