2009/10/13

PETALING JAYA: The favourite pastime of 84 per cent of Malaysian youth is surfing the Internet; 73 per cent of them like to watch television and 42 per cent play computer games.

This worrisome trend of the extensive use of the media revealed in a survey has led Federation of Malaysian Consumers Associations (Fomca) to launch the "Protecting Our Children from Risks and Influence of the Media" project under the National Consumer Campaign (3K) 2008-2012 yesterday.

National 3K coordinator Datuk Paul Selva Raj pointed out children aged 5-10 in Selangor spend an average 13.3 hours a week watching television without supervision.

"Television viewing often encouraged more materialistic values leading to unhappiness in children whose parents denied their request for advertised products, thus increasing parent-child conflict."

Couch potatoes were not only unhealthy but were less interested in interacting with their friends.

On the risks of Internet usage, Paul cautioned parents to be more computer-savvy and keep tabs of what their children were up to.

"They should tell their children never to provide personal data online without their permission and guide them on how how to respond or send email to strangers they meet online."

Source: http://www.nst.com.my/articles/15hobbyes/Article/index_html#