THE YOUTH AND THE MEDIA Regional practices, empirical results from Szeklerland , Romania

1. Biró A. Zoltán – Gergely Orsolya – Ozsváth Berényi Hajnal Sapientia University, Department of Social Sciences Budapest, 25-26 September, 2012. THE YOUTH AND THE MEDIARegional practices, empirical results from Szeklerland, Romania

2. Complex research program in the Szeklerland region:The effects of media on children and youth. Sapientia University, Csíkszereda, inspired and supported by the International Children's Safety Service (NemzetköziGyermekmentőSzolgálat) • earlier researches: occasional, small-scaled, not connected • conference in Csíkszereda (Sapientia University, International Children's Safety Service)The effects of media on children and youth

3. The objectives of our program: • Facilitating researches (survey, the first empirical data collection was already made). • Completing the survey with small-scaled, thematic part-analyses • Developinga network of specialists dealing with this subject • Consultations with the local actors about the results • Increasing the positive effects

4. Szeklerland region – some characteristics • Rural region, with small-towns • After 1989: significant deficit in modernization • A phase-lag in the development of the IT sector • Reluctance from the part of the institutions (school, offices) and the middle age groups • The absence of information • The dominant strategy is individual learning, adaptation

5. Main questions: • Decreasing role of thefamily and school, increasingrole of IT equipment, contents How would this workin Szeklerland? • In rural regions, children and teenagers are more “unprotected” against the effects of media • In rural regions, children and teenagers are able to utilize the possibilities offered by the media in a lower level

6. First phase of our program: complex survey, first time in this topic in the Szeklerland region • The research group was organized in October, 2011. • The research method, the questionnaire were based on the researches of the International Children's Safety Service (NemzetköziGyermekmentőSzolgálat) • The survey was conducted between 26 March – 7 April 2012 • Students from the Sapientia University, Department of Social Sciencestook part in the research . • We asked children and teenagers from 7th and 11th grade (13-14 and 17-18 years old) from this region • A research analysis was completed, further analyses areplanned • Research stuff: • Biró A. Zoltán • GergelyOrsolya • Kiss Adél • OzsváthBerényiHajnal

7. We were contacting 63 schools • There were asked 2122 pupils • From 7th grade: 1088 pupil • From 11th grade: 1034 pupil • The questionnaire contained 49 questions • A lot of topics were included in the questionnaire: Internet – usage, knowledge, practice, PC-knowledge, social websites, TV, free time spending, the role of parents and family in media usage

8. About the research: + • The teachers were willing to help • The pupil were open, curious and helpful • The survey was realized in a very short period of time • We met a large interest, in a lot of levels: teachers, school management, pupils, parents • Almost everybody was very interested in our findings and research results - • Some parts of the database are incomplete due to the self-fill-in questionnaire

9. How many time do you spend, on a regular week-day, with…

10. The rank of daily activities • The rank of daily activities

11. Activities on the Internet

12. Social network Except for making phone-calls, what are you using your mobile phone for? Except for making phone-calls, what are you using your mobile phone for? Except for making phone-calls, what are you using your mobile phone for?

13. When watching TV, how often are you watching the following programs?

14. The rank of TV channels

15. Favourite TV channels – frequency of marks

16. Thank you for your attention!