TAMPERE, Finland, May 9 -- While the emerging social media have put more pressure on public administration in China, many young people show less interest in media participation and civic engagement in India.

Whereas in Finland, policymakers are worried that enterprises are producing too many filtration softwares to assure parents that their children are protected against exposure to adult content.

This was the contemporary global picture depicted at a seminar held in Finland on Friday. Over 140 researchers, teachers and government officials from 26 countries gathered at the University of Tampere for the two-day conference named Media Education Futures.

The conference featured a variety of perspectives, arguments between different cultures.

Li Xiguang, dean of Tsinghua University International Center for Communication Studies, said it does no good to check mobile phone for new information so often, like once every three minutes, a way of life said to be common for some young people in China.

Believing the world currently suffers from an explosion of information, Li has spent the past 15 years practicing the ancient "mind of caravanserai" art on his students, which helps students exercise their minds like a muscle of their body.

The practice is intended to help people look at different cultures and people in a more analytical manner instead of simply accepting stereotypes created by the media, Li said.

In Finland, a Nordic country where the use of internet starts in infancy, over 90 percent of children under eight years old go online. Parents use numerous filtrations and screening instruments available in the market, a trend which Leo Pekkala believes is dangerous.

The speaker from the National Audio Visual Institute of Finland said parental control tools could not replace parenting, education and awareness raising in the ubiquitous media culture of today's children.

In western countries, the importance of teaching coding as part of 21st century skills has been highly visible in the media. In Finland, the draft of basic education core curriculum includes coding, and some companies have coding clubs for kids.

"Nevertheless, coding alone is not enough as a civic skill in information societies," said Sirkku Kotilainen, professor of the School of Communication, Media and Theatre at the University of Tampere.

Research results presented in the conference indicated that civic skills needed in information societies include critical awareness, which is the basis for understanding media societies. Critical thinking is also the basis for creativity.

Manisha Pathak-Shelat, an experienced media educator in India, said that media education has been emphasizing the instrumental aspect rather than the critical, creative or civic aspects due to financial reasons.

The argument was echoed by other researchers that the world is paying too much attention to the challenges brought by the new media, while the essence of communication remains the same.

Kotilainen said broader cooperation among researchers with different cultural backgrounds was needed rather than traditional Europe-centered tie-ups.

"We have heard media education has developed in other continents for tens of years. There is momentum for us to learn from each other now," she said.