Podgorica, PR press – Children spend a lot of time in front of a screen because it is free, and they should be offered free sports, culture and arts and music and allowed to develop their potentials.
This message was sent by UNICEF Montenegro’s National Goodwill Ambassador Antinije Pušić (aka Rambo Amadeus) at a presentation of the song and video “Let’s Choose What We Watch” he had recorded together with young reporters within the framework of the media literacy campaign “Let’s Choose What We Watch” launched by UNICEF and the Agency for Electronic Media (AEM).
Pušić said that one of the main reasons why children spend so much time in front of a screen is the fact that it is free.
“All the activities they are offered cost money. This includes sports activities, cultural and art clubs, music school. These activities are as entertaining for them as they used to be but, since the living standard is not high and they have to pay for all this, the children have no other choice but to seek entertainment in the virtual world, instead of living in normal and real one,” said Pušić.
He appealed to the society and authorities to offer free activities to children.
“This doesn’t cost much and is a much better alternative to not allowing children to go through such ‘training’. After all, these children will be leading this country in ten or 15 years. Future prime ministers, presidents and decision makers are around us. That is why we have to do everything to develop their potentials. Montenegro should look after Sweden, Norway, and other countries offering all these activities to children free of charge,” said Pušić.
Balša Božović, young reporter of the “Let’s Choose What We Watch” media literacy campaign, said that the media could be useful if used properly and moderately. “Media could be the tools allowing us to acquire new knowledge and making our communication easier, but they could also be dangerous and take too much of our time, often offering useless and inappropriate contents,” said Božović.
Kristina Krivokapić, young reporter of the “Let’s Choose What We Watch” media literacy campaign, believes that it depends on the people and their choices if the media will be useful or dangerous tools.
“Through this song, we appeal to both children and parents asking them to choose what they watch, talk about that, and analyse all media messages critically,” said Krivokapić.
Referring to the verse of the song saying: “We cannot blame digital technology, what makes us follow the fashion is our curious biology,” Matija Sekulić, young reporter of the “Let’s Choose What We Watch” media literacy campaign, said that the society had shown in the last several years that it was addicted to the media.
“We should therefore be careful how we spend our time, and organize it in a smarter way, leaving enough time for other creative activities apart from the period we spend in front of a screen,” said Sekulić.
He said that he would like to change the society by participating in the campaign, “and showing that it is better to spend time together than communicate by phone”.
“Is is healthier, nicer and it makes us feel alive,” said Sekulić.
Dunja Sekulović, young reporter of the “Let’s Choose What We Watch” media literacy campaign, said that she particularly liked the verse “All the action and acrobatics are better without an app”.
“Media outlets provide many useful information, they are practical and offer fast communication. However, the real life is offline. Friendship, love, hanging out and playing together are all offline,” said Sekulović.
Danilo Bulatović, young reporter of the “Let’s Choose What We Watch” media literacy campaign, said that his favourite verses were the ones about the use of smart phones: “I should only turn it on when I really need it, otherwise I don’t have much use for the technology”.
“These verses remind me that we are increasingly relying on the knowledge from our mobile phones, which actually means that we are using our brains less and less,” said Bulatović.
Aleksa Mraković, young reporter of the “Let’s Choose What We Watch” media literacy campaign, said that the verse: “Our brain mustn’t be a vacuum cleaner, you have to be a good swimmer when searching the web,” indicates that the young people need to know how to “swim” in the sea of information offered by the media.
“To do that, we need to be media literate, to choose what we watch, listen, read and to analyse everything critically,” said Mraković.
Rosalinda Toska, young reporter of the “Let’s Choose What We Watch” media literacy campaign, believes that the media should not draw the young people away from other everyday activities, including sports, hobbies, spending time with their friends and reading books.
Milica Vujošević, young reporter of the “Let’s Choose What We Watch” media literacy campaign, said that she had decided to focus more to the real world and encourage others to go out.
“Now, I visit theatres more often and know their repertoires. I used to watch what I found interesting mainly on my phone or computer. Now I am trying to spend the shortest possible time on social networks and it really works,” said Vujošević.
With the support of UNICEF, AEM has launched the media literacy campaign “Let’s Choose What We Watch” in order to encourage the development of media literacy of children and parents, and strengthen the capacity of media outlets for the production of quality content together with children and young people, and ethical reporting on all topics related to children’s rights in Montenegro.
