As discussed earlier in the desk review section, there are no regulations that require broadcasters to dedicate any percentage of their programming to children’s content. Many parents were also in agreement that the general content aired on television is unsuitable for children. They expressed unhappiness with the language used in much of the media content available on all platforms—books, television programmes, song lyrics—which are often unsuitable for children’s consumption. There is not much entertainment in the Maldives, and there is not much room to play in Male’. So whenever children are not in school, children have to be kept and looked after in our sitting rooms. In this situation, the safest place for them is MNBC One, or VTV or some channel—what are they being exposed to? Programmes for adults, or Dhivehi songs. From costumes to everything else, it is difficult to open your eyes and even look at them. Parents are also grappling with new problems posed by children’s use of the Internet and its various social media platforms. Like parents across the world, social networking sites such as Facebook have created new issues of children’s privacy and safety that both parents and children have to adjust to. Maldives has highest level of Internet penetration in the South Asian region, and as of June 2011, had over a 100,000 registered Facebook users (27. 2 percent of the population)41. Parents are finding it difficult to regulate and monitor children’s usage of Facebook and other social networking sites – made especially difficult by the fact that a majority of parents are unaware of the dangers that unrestricted access to such sites put the children in. Parents who attempt to restrict their children’s use of such sites are, therefore, seen by children as lacking in trust because all their friends have been given unfettered access by most parents. Several parents expressed the need for creating awareness among parents about the Internet and its potential to put children in positions in danger if given unrestricted access. Parents’ opinion and views of children’s involvement in civil society and media content are related. As discussed in earlier sections, parents as well as the education system at large, are reluctant to allow children to participate in any activity that is in any way associated with politics. Discussions with parents/teachers suggest that live coverage of debates at the Majlis [Parliament] has been partially responsible for this unfortunate state of affairs. One child I know […] has spoken about the televised Majlis debates and often said that if that’s how they behave in the Majlis, why cannot we behave the same way in class? Why can’t we shout at each other? That’s what they do in the Majlis. Another parent responded: That’ democracy they say, don’t they? 41 The Internet Coaching Library, “Internet World Stats: Usage and Population Statistics”, accessed, http://www.internetworldstats.com/asia.htm, November 22, 2011 49