Youth, Media and new technologies in Brazil

Abstract

This chapter discusses the media and new technologies from the perspective of Brazilian adolescents and parents as part of an international study. It intends to investigate how children and adolescents interact with new media within their social environments, such as family, school and groups of friends. In Brazil, the study was conducted in the city of Rio de Janeiro and involved young people, from 11 to 17 years of age, from five different schools. The authors focused the data analysis on the use of three audiovisual apparatuses: TV, computers and videogame consoles. Computer games, educational CD-roms and the internet will also be analyzed. Data on cell phones were also included, although the focus of the study was kept on the previously mentioned media. According to Levy (1999), new communication technologies are disseminated throughout society. Their use was incorporated either directly by accessing these new media (internet or television, for example) or indirectly through services that make use of these media, such as ATM machines, supermarkets, distribution of electricity, among others. The impact of new communication technologies in the everyday lives of children, adolescents and their families has given rise to an intense debate in the last few years. The analyses presented in these debates, however, stem, most of the time, from perceptions centered on adults (Casas, 1998), without considering the viewpoint and judgment of younger users. Questions have been posed both in Brazil and in the world that reflect upon society’s path and its future transformations. How do adolescents make use of different communication media available nowadays? Do these media influence their lifestyles and socialization? How do adolescents view the electronic equipment they make use of? What kind of TV shows do these adolescents watch? Are they important to their lives? Are these adolescents communicating with their parents and other adults about these electronic media? These and other questions concerning different communication media and the adolescent population will be further discussed based on the data collected. As agreed on with the international team, a consistent sample of adolescents of the middle stratum of the population was investigated, in order to avoid extremes such as the very poor or rich. We therefore sought schools that mirrored the social and economic characteristics of the average population, thus choosing