Recently, graphic pictures of an accident in which a little boy was killed surfaced on Facebook. A user thought that it would be an interesting conversational piece, and tagged other users in the picture.

But the reaction that it garnered was quite shocking.

Instead of chastising the user, those tagged decided to comment on the picture, some cracking jokes, others debating whether the little boy was really dead or not.

TEENage is greatly disturbed by this. We, the upcoming generation, the next set to lead the country, have become so desensitised by the media. So much so that we cannot mourn at death. Gruesome, violent and sexually explicit images and lyrics have all become a part of the Jamaican TEEN’s norm.

Our upcoming generation has become so desensitised that even when given a chance to help and make a difference, we do not care enough to send around an Ananda Alert text, instant or BlackBerry message.

The Ananda Alert system was created after Ananda Dean, a young girl was kidnapped and killed. The system was put in place to notify persons of missing children, so that they can be on the lookout for them before they suffer a fate similar to Ananda’s.

But what caused us to become so unfeeling?

We see the media as the main proponent of this desensitisation. One cannot turn on the television without being bombarded by adult shows. It’s not only on our televisions, but over the airways and on the Internet.

Before, you would have to search the Internet to find these explicit images, but now, due to the popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook and Hi5, these images come to you, whether through posted links or by being tagged in pictures.

The humour of the Internet has got darker and darker, as it reflects the growing animosity in the world around us.

Ideals of war, racism, sexually violent acts, gang violence and violence towards children have become common-placed they take the shape of jokes. As we Jamaicans say, you have to tek bad ting mek joke. But do we really have to?

However, it is not fair to put the blame of the desensitisation of this generation solely on the media. Children should only be exposed to children-friendly programming and media. Parents need to step up and fulfil their duties and ensure that their children are not exposed to traumatising media which may damage their innocence and remove their child-like sensitivity.

In the US, over 84 per cent of video games are bought by parents, many of which carry ratings of mature and adults only. It seems that parents do not pay attention to these ratings, because they leave it up to their children to decipher which content is inappropriate.

Some parents hold the misguided belief that by telling their children not to repeat explicit lyrics or curse words they hear in movies and video games, and to hide their eyes during sexually explicit scenes, is enough to protect them from the dangers of this adult media.

Too many parents are no longer concerned with what their children are listening to, as long as they (the parents) don’t have to hear, so they buy their children music players to appease them. Nor do they care about what their children are watching or reading, as long as they don’t have to share their TV time or computer when they have work to do. How can they monitor what their children are consuming?

TEENage believes that parents should monitor the media to which their children are exposed at all levels. They should check the ratings on video games and movies and keep a tab on the websites the children view and the music that they listen to.

Instead of letting the media (television, video games, music, Internet) raise their children, parents need to step up and do their job.