The Role of Teenagers in the Digitalisation of Television: Actors or Spectators?

Technology has changed everything, and the technology of the future will change everything today. Such is the saying about how ever more advanced technological development has led to the modernisation of technology, which means that people need information that is fast, accurate, and reliable. One medium for delivering information is television. Television broadcasting is one of the most widely used entertainment media for getting rid of boredom.

The results of a survey by the research consultancy Nielsen Indonesia on changes in consumer behaviour, including in media consumption. The results of Nielsen TAM monitoring in 11 cities show that average TV viewership began to increase  over the past week, from an average rating of 12% on 11 March to 13.8% on 18 March, equivalent to an addition of about 1 million TV viewers. Indonesian television programmes must be closely monitored, especially television programmes for teenagers, because there are many low-quality programmes that serve up negative viewing and thus affect character formation. According to a 2019 survey, television shows scored below the minimum score of 3 set by the broadcasting commission, namely children's programmes (2.95), variety shows (2.68), soap operas (2.36), and the worst of all, infotainment programmes with a score of 2.25.

The high level of television viewership is  a challenge for television broadcasting. This is especially so for shows that have not been filtered and are not educational. The Central Indonesian Broadcasting Commission (KPI) held the 2020 Television Broadcast Programme Quality Index Research, evaluating about 447 television programmes. KPI Central Commissioner Nuning Rodiyah explained that the “outcome” of this research is to change the public's viewing patterns so that they begin to make a habit of watching good and high-quality shows drawn from the references produced by KPI's research. It cannot be denied that today most of our society prefers entertainment programmes such as soap operas, films, entertainment and so on. However, on the other hand, based on research conducted previously, the quality score of those shows is still below the average score set by KPI (beritajatim.com).

Getting quality broadcasts is the right of every citizen. Achieving it needs the support of all related parties, teenagers included. Teenagers, as representatives of Gen Z, often called the tech-savvy generation, are expected to play an active role in supporting quality broadcasts in order to produce an intelligent society. Teenagers can participate actively in realising quality broadcasts for an intelligent society, one way being to minimise the low-quality broadcasts shown on television. With the science and technology (IPTEK) knowledge they have, teenagers can file complaints with KPI about broadcasts considered to be of poor quality and not in line with society's norms. Television shows in Indonesia must still be monitored, because inappropriate broadcasts can have a bad influence on the character of Indonesian youth.

Building quality broadcasts must go through ensuring optimal benefit in choosing and sorting broadcasts. The rapid development of the broadcasting world must be accompanied by minimising the negative aspects  of broadcasts, whether financial or moral or intellectual. So that under any conditions, broadcasting can influence character formation, especially of the nation's generations. In addition, the creation of quality broadcasts can strengthen national integration and advance the intellectual life of the nation, as mandated by the Broadcasting Law. To realise quality broadcasts, the following are roles that parliament can play.

First, instilling basic values in the use of broadcasts through the “Media Awareness” and “Literacy for a Million Viewers” movements. Rapid technological progress, supported by the digitalisation of television, makes the challenges for the broadcasting world ever heavier, so a strong foundation is needed for choosing and sorting quality broadcast programmes. The public, especially teenagers, need to know and strengthen their understanding of technological progress, especially in the broadcasting world, to reduce the negative effects they receive. In addition, teenagers' contribution is greatly needed for healthy, intelligent, and characterful broadcasting to be achieved.

Second, standards for intelligent and quality television broadcast programmes need to be established. This is done to anticipate programmes that could damage the character of the nation's generations. Establishing these standards needs to be followed by re-screening television programmes before they are published and become public consumption.

https://m.harianmomentum.com/read/44550/harian-momentum-edisi-15-november-2022