Value Education through Social Media & Entertainment

“Values are the deeply held beliefs that drive and direct your behaviour." – Glenn C. Stewart

         Our motherland India is very well known for its ancient and rich culture, heritage and age old traditions. Our ancestors have always believed in and passed on the unique knowledge and values through the generations.       

Today, India is rapidly changing. Due to globalisation and the technological advancements, the atmosphere here is becoming more competitive and challenging day by day.  I feel that in these changing times and in our busy lives, somewhere we are losing touch with our culture, traditions, our morals and values. We have been so deeply immersed in our own problems that our courteous and righteous ways of living are fading away and we strive to focus only on our own interests and our own needs. In today’s time, society is in constant need of value education and moral building, to inculcate good morals and values in our future citizens.

            Children these days are often unattended to, misled and are easily influenced by the wrong ideas they see or hear in their surroundings. Due to the technological advancements, a mobile phone and internet are easily accessible to children and they are exposed to a lot of content on the internet. We are not new to the serious issues happening with children and them abusing the internet in many forms like:

i. Online gaming (i.e. The Blue Whale game, Pokemon Go, PubG, etc.)

ii. Creating chat rooms or using other social platforms to post objectionable and explicit content and hateful comments (i.e. #Bois Locker Room)

iii. Faking their date of birth to create fake accounts or profiles on social media sites like Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, TikTok, etc. and using them to make online friends, practice online dating, chat with people and befriending people whom they have never seen or known.

 All these platforms are taking a toll on children’s lives. Not only the children but even the adults are too, most of the times glued to their phones or some sort of screens. The mobile screen time and its addiction is distancing people from each other.

              Due to the Corona pandemic and current situation, children are not even allowed to go out and play. They have to attend online classes which are just adding up to their screen time. I feel that the screen time, the mobile and the internet is doing more harm than good to the children. Today’s generation of children have an easy access to a lot of information and content available on the internet that they often tend to misuse it if not guided properly.

                Media is a very powerful tool, be it the internet, social media, cinema, television or print. It plays a big role in shaping our society and influencing an individual’s behaviour.  I remember watching the movie ‘Ek duje ke liye’, in which the lead actress writes their couple name - ‘Vasu-Sapna’ on a rock on the beach. That one act in that film has inspired many couples to follow them that they made it a tradition to write their couple names on every wall they see, where ever they go, be it a monument or a fort and sometimes without even knowing it, damage intellectual property. This is the kind of the negative effect films have on our society.

  “Media literacy is not just important, it’s absolutely critical. It’s going to make the difference between whether kids are a tool of the mass media or whether the mass media is a tool for kids to use." - Linda Ellerbee

 The Indian Entertainment and television industry is one such powerful industry which also happens to be one of the biggest industries that supports the economy and provides numerous job opportunities to many individuals.

There are numerous TV channels which broadcast various shows throughout the day; some on a daily basis. These daily soaps are a huge source of entertainment for a large sector of the Indian population. Even though children do not watch these daily shows dedicatedly, they are still exposed to the content to an extent unknowingly or subconsciously as they are present in the household surrounding at the time when these types of shows are played and watched in the house.

I think most of the shows are stereotyped, biased and often show the weaker sex being tortured or ill-treated or constantly suffering. In the rat race to raise their TRPs (Television Rating Points), the channels are ready to show almost anything without thinking about the quality of the content being shown.

 What are we learning through this? How is it benefiting our society? What is it teaching the future generations about our society? No creator seems to ask these questions.

 India is a country which still believes in the joint family culture and it is still followed in many parts of the country. Since childhood, we are taught to respect elders and love our family members. But the kind of television shows that we see on TV nowadays, often show family members hating each other and conspiring against each other. India is very controversial about the Saas – Bahu (Mother-in-law: Daughter-in-law) relationship dramas, in which the latter is often tortured or conspired against by the former.

‘Indian Soap Operas have blotted their copybook by focusing more on the outcome rather than paying heed on improving the content.  Now the parents think twice before handing over the remote to their children as they are afraid that the children will only imbibe the values like belligerence, bone-idleness, deceit, materialism and ill-will.’ - Article By Enakshi J

https://womansera.com/why-indian-daily-soaps-have-had-their-chips-who-is-responsible-for-regressive-content-on-indian-television

 

Few of the Marathi daily shows like: ‘Rang maza vegala’ , ‘Raja Ranichi g jodi’, ‘Yevu kashi kashi mi nandayala’, ‘Mulagi zali ho’, etc. are all talking about women being discouraged and undermined.

Television shows like ‘Pavitra Rishta’, ‘Sathiya saath nibhana’, ‘Sukh mhanje nakki kay asat’, etc. show the joint family system in a negative light.

In these shows the characters are shown doing wrong things – i.e. burning someone’s books in the holika dahan, breaking all the traffic rules, holding grudges, purposely hurting or insulting others.

 "The value of life is not based on how long we live, but how much we contribute to others in society."– Buddha

 I would like to urge all writers to please –

1. Introspect their content,

2. Try to have a positive outlook about life in the shows,

3. Focus on inculcating values in their shows.

 Lastly, I urge all channels to refrain from turning the television into an actual Idiot Box J

Ulka Parab                                                                                                                                                  Educator