Perceived Role Of Entertainment Television In Shaping Social Behaviour Of Teenagers

ABSTRACT

Television as an electronic medium of communication has evolved into a potent force to be reckoned with in the transmission of social values and norms in a civilised society. It has not only become a part of everyday life, but serves as a veritable source of information, education and entertainment by the reason of its dramatic and demonstrative powers. It has been noted by media scholars that in contemporary television programming, its focus is more on entertainment than for development purposes. Moreover, there are TV stations that have emerged with specialised programming in entertainment, called entertainment television. Examples are Black Entertainment Television (BET), Music Television (MTV), Channel ‘O, Mnet Series, Movie Magic, Entertainment Television (E!TV), etc. Also, it was observed that teenagers fall into the category of media audience that spend a lot of time watching TV. Therefore, it plays an important role in structuring their lives in some shape and form also leading to the likelyhood of forming false ideals. Therefore, the study sought to find out the frequency of teenagers’ exposure to entertainment TV; the kinds of entertainment programmes they watch; what they pay attention to in the programmes they watch; and how the entertainment programmes shape their world view concerning social behaviour in their environment. A dual-research design was employed (survey and focus group discussion). The questionnaire was used to collect data for the survey from a sample size of 339 respondents who are 100 Level undergraduate students of Covenant University, Ota, Ogun State. The focus group discussion made use of the focus group discussion guide and a midget or tape recorder to collect data from 12 participants divided into two equal groups (male and female). The results of the study showed that teenagers frequently watched entertainment TV as represented by 81.9% of them who indicated so. It was also evident that there was a significant relationship between teenagers frequency of exposure to entertainment television and programmes, and its role in shaping their social behaviour. It was also noted that the influence of the programmes on the teenagers could be negative or positive depending on the individual teenager and the kind of programme he or she is exposed to. The study recommends that television entertainment programme developers and broadcasters should develop, produce and broadcast entertainment programmes with high positive values, while the negative social values should be de-emphasized.