Youth’s Access To Net Needs Guidance: Expert
By FeiPhoon

Bandar Seri Begawan - Behavioural and cultural influences propagated via the Internet and other forms of media are not to be spurned, but youths need guidance, an education expert said.

Professor Mogana Dhamotharan from the Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Institute of Education, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, recommended that youths' access to the wealth of information provided by today’s most popular media choices not be restricted, but rather they should receive guidance from parents and educators on how to process their experiences.

The associate professor, who did her PhD on educational technologies and distance learning at the University of Glasgow, was addressing an audience of around 40 people, a majority of whom were in the teaching profession.

"Media is not to be blamed (for negative influences). The youths may have been unsupervised, or were not given enough information," she said, advising that parents ought to strike a balance between allowing their children some personal time and being with family.

"Youths need to be taught how to react responsibly to media," she explained.

Amongst the globallyrecognised studies she cited was one which discovered that the average length of time young people spend with media was equivalent to that of a full-time job, and some extra hours to spare. Another revealed that an overwhelming majority of youths did not have their media usage monitored by their parents. She made a reference to a phenomenon suspected to proliferate in large metropolises, where some youths undergo acute social withdrawal because their parents fail to intervene early.

"(Knowing how to use) the Internet is critical today because of all the online services we will have in the future," said Professor Dhamotharan. "On the other hand, youths need to be aware of the possible dangers, and parents should stay alert."

"How do we emphasise that? That's the big challenge here."

She suggested, however, that Brunei might already have a unique approach up its sleeve if the advent of technology should spawn a similar social malady here.

"Culturally Brunei is very focused on social events, and this quality should be maintained," said Professor Dhamotharan. If Brunei sails smoothly through the next phase, she added, the country could serve as an example to the rest of the world.

With regards how far the nation has progressed towards embracing technological advances, the professor said that owing to frequent exposure to technology through their education, people were becoming increasingly accepting of making technology part of their daily lives, such as having a computer and Internet access at home for leisure purposes as well as work.

In observing these trends, she expressed her hopes that Bruneian society would respond similarly following the installation of interactive whiteboards by the Ministry of Education in most Bruneian schools.

"The children find them exciting! It's still a novelty at this stage, and soon they will be bored, but can we eventually achieve (the usage of) a balanced mix of media in schools?"-- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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