Perhaps it is nothing new and one of the most widely discussed topic today which all of us are aware but maybe that is why we are all suffering from the classic case of “we know so much that we don’t do anything about it” disease or feels powerless to do something about it. The influence of media has become omnipresent in our daily life that it is now unthinkable to live without one. Think of your typical day. If you are like many people, you wake to a digital alarm clock or perhaps your cell phone. Soon after waking, you likely have a routine that involves some media. Some people immediately check their cell phone for text messages. Others will turn on the computer and browse through Facebook, email, or websites. Some people read the newspaper while others listen to music on an iPod or MP3. Some people will turn on the television and watch a weather channel, cable news, or Sports Center. Heading to work or class, you may chat on a cell phone or listen to music. Your classes likely employ various types of media from course management software to PowerPoint presentations, or your work involves computer from Microsoft word to Excel and editing programmes. You may return home and relax with video or mobile games, television, movies, more Facebook, or music. You connect with friends on social networking sites or with text messages. And your day may end as you fall asleep to digital music.
Media for most of us are entwined with almost every aspect of life and work. But the key here is understanding the media we are exposed to, that will not only help you appreciate the role of media in your life but also help you be a more informed citizen, a more savvy consumer, and a more successful worker on the other hand keeping a firm grip on reality as it is also responsible for degenerating our society, our culture and the young minds negatively which can be mainly due to the following reasons:
Youth exposure to the subculture of violence: Violence has become the most important element of excitement in modern media. It is estimated that every 18 minutes, there is a violent act on TV channels. Overexposure to violence of all sorts makes people insensitive to violence in real life. Popular TV programs like ‘Savdhaan India’ and ‘Crime Patrol’ are educating the people a lot on their constitutional rights and to be watchful of criminal intents, however there is no denial that it is also making people panicky and suspicious of each other leading to seclusion and unsociable traits.
Films have glamorized and trivialized certain kinds of violence. The television has enabled cinema to reach our living spaces, making horror and brutality a homely matter. Media, violence and gun culture are undeniably related. An instance of the influence of the gun culture brought about by the media on children in the Northeast can be seen in their craze for toy guns. The growth of violence in the indigenous society today cannot be pinpointed to one cause but it is clear, however, that films and television play a role not only in reflecting but also in contributing to violence.
Marketing Sex, explicit music lyrics and videos: Today one of the main reason why parents and children do not spent much time together is because of engagement to various media of their choice, young ones prefer to bury their nose more in computers, mobile phones and gamming where as parents stick to more conventional TV shows, but another reason can also be the fact that the serials, shows, videos and films that are aired in prime time mostly carries explicit contents that make it so uncomfortable to watch it together as family. What most people do not know is that sex and violence itself is a billion dollar business. Makers and producers of film, TV programs, music industry, video games and websites makes lots of money out of these types of media programs. Films and TV shows have sexual undertones. Music is now filled with depressing anthems of violence and hatred often aimed at women, glorifying gay and lesbian culture etc. In the last decade, social analysts have also noted a steady increase in violent and anti-social music lyrics and images.
Pornography: Not only through movies and pictures, pornography has a new door to the home, school, and library today through the Internet. The Internet has become a useful tool for pedophiles and sexual predators as they distribute child pornography, engage in sexually explicit conversations with children, and seek victims in chat rooms. It has now become a blackmailer haven to earn quick money at some one’s expense. In a culture where young and women are protected and cared for, they are now the targets for various nefarious motives of perverted adults. Threats to expose secrets, harm to the reputation and suicides rate are intrinsically interrelated and on rise. Research reveals many systemic effects of Internet pornography that are undermining an already vulnerable culture of marriage and family. In fact Indian makes up the fifth highest number of daily visitor to the porn websites and ranks third in overall Android traffic to Porn-hub with USA and UK at 1st and 2nd rank respectively.
The influence of foreign culture: One of many instances where foreign culture can adversely affect our society can be use of recreational drugs. When a certain hit movie or a movie star glorifies smoking Marijuana also known as ‘weed’, ‘Cannabis’ etc and epitomize it as cool and an ‘in thing’ it has certainly not gone unnoticed especially from the younger sections of people who earnestly desire to imitate everything from language, to food habit, to hair and dress styles, greeting styles, and even body language of the foreign culture. Presently a new and a common problem that most of the colleges across Kohima and Dimapur are facing is the menace of college students in the ‘stoned state’ or ‘high’ during the class hour leading to disruption of class, erratic behaviors and rebellious actions.
Consumerism and Extravagant Lifestyles: The mass media is the vehicle that has helped in the spread of globalization. But the present trend of globalization is driven by a consumerist culture promoted by the Multinational Companies and the Transnational Companies for their profit and influencing people to be brand-conscious to a great extent. The simplicity of indigenous dress and designs are shunned and people are judged by the dress and brand they wear which means human beings are being commodified and when this happens human value and essence is lost, humanity takes a back seat.
The mass media have the potential of pervading and persuading the society and have come to occupy a central place in the society’s existence. And thus their impact on people’s life for the better or worse depends on the way in which people use them. They have the tremendous power to improve the indigenous society by informing, educating, entertaining and enriching them. But the enormous potentialities of the mass media can also be abused to distort reality, for propaganda purposes, to lower community standards, to manipulate the thought patterns and value system and to leave them excessively addicted, to the extent of introducing the culture of worklessness among the people especially whose survival depends on sheer hard work. Therefore, Media education is the need of the hour, the process in which people are helped to interpret and value media content and to understand media's cultural, political, commercial and social implications. To be media educated is to develop “the instinct to question what lies behind media productions; the motives, the values and ownership and to be aware of how these influence media content”.
K. ALIBO ACHUMI
Asst. Professor, Dept. of Sociology
St. Joseph’s College, Jakhama.
