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Kenya: Parents Must Act Now to Control Cyber Culture Among Children
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The Nation (Nairobi)
19 July 2008
Posted to the web 21 July 2008
Andrew Limo
Nairobi
The pendulum of opinion on the impact of computers and the Internet on children will always swing. Is the technology good or bad for our kids?
Should the State control access or should it be left to parental guidance and "filter" software?
These are the same questions we asked when TV and radio came to our sitting rooms and our schools. Television media was going to "transform learning".
But many years later no one is sure if it has. At least old radio made an attempt. I can vouch for Mwalimu James Onyango Joel of the Kenya Institute of Education for he answered many of our questions in the broadcast to schools' programme, "Post Box".
Now I guess he has some helping hand from Google and Yahoo and many other search engines.
With internet, education for children should be fun. That is, if one accesses the right content. They get more informed and more imaginative, though in practice, the young use the Internet more for entertainment.
Children always fight over game consoles and there is nothing as addictive to youngsters as the Playstation, Nintendo or Sega.
Parents who afford these modern gadgets are happy that the children are kept busy. For the children, it is a golden opportunity to get away from adult control.
While the TV brings the family together, the computer is busy killing family life. Most communication technologies tend to reduce interaction among people in a given physical location while increasing interaction with those in the virtual space.
We do not talk on phone or email or chat online with people in the same room.
These technologies can bring about anti-social behaviour, especially among children. Children engrossed in a car racing game will find an extension of a handshake from a long lost uncle interruptive, if not offensive.
In the good old days, such children would instantly race out of clay modelling to soil the guest with a loving embrace.
There is a new cyber culture which makes kids happy to interact with strangers thousands of kilometres away than listen to the wisdom of the land by the fireside from Grandma and Grandpa.
The problem with the "new Grandma" is that it does not only inform, it also corrupts the morals of the young. Violent computer games have been blamed for the shooting at schools in the US. Paedophiles seduce children online and aggressive marketing on websites spurs consumerism.
The influence of computers on lifestyles of Kenyans is growing for two major reasons.
First, the cost of hardware, software and connectivity have fallen considerably even as quality rises. The wireless revolution has helped greatly in widening the presence of Internet connectivity.
Secondly, more people, even in the rural areas, now have the skills and knowledge on ICTs. In urban areas, smart entrepreneurs are coming up with computer game parlours which target the young.
They are found mainly in big stores and children busy themselves with them as parents shop around.
Everyone agrees that the technology has pros and cons. The big question is whether or not the new media should be controlled.
Past attempts in the US to outlaw indecent materials have been met with resistance from the proponents of the constitution's First Amendment Act, which guarantees freedom for Americans.
Some people argue that the Internet should never be regulated, for unlike TV or radio, it does not use public airwaves.
Whatever the case, something must be done to control access to harmful content, especially by children.
I have admired police action in Nairobi against underage drinking and smoking. The Internet also needs to be policed. We need some regulation that defines what is decent online and what is not, and more importantly how to police it.
Any initiative towards formulating policies should involve owners of cybercafés and school administrators.
But perhaps we should be more pro-active and start developing good local content that would entice children to Kenyan culture and values.
The Information and Communications PS Bitange Ndemo thinks we should even digitise the Bao game, that age-old pass time of many Kenyan communities.
Instead of counting pebbles on a dug-out wooden tray, new cyber players will be clicking on software for the same game but on a different medium.
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Kenyans should not wait for the wrong culture to take root then cry for regulation. The time to guide and protect the digital generation is now.
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