TV, FB, PC's, Virtual world....and their sideeffects.

Here is an interesting column that I read  from a tabloid lying intact in a court file of my mother.( Dates back to 2002)
...
Sevanti Ninan, a columnist in “The Hindu” with the weekly column on the media has lately published a book called “ Through the magic window :Television and change in India ” where among other things, she discusses the effects of TV’s populist fares on children in middle class homes. Citing examples of some lower middle class homes. Where TV’s have been bought on hire purchase and the monthly installment of Rs 200 causes even the hardship of cutting down on one meal per day, she talks about the attitude of parents who say that they have bought the sets to stop their children from:-


a) Watching TV in other homes.

b) Mingling among peer groups and getting into trouble,in the case of boys

c) Forming socially undesirable friendship or relationships in the case of girls

Hence TV provides a kind of security and helps to keep children home in neighbourhoods which are not safe.

Heres my view on TV atching : -

What they watch definitely influences both children and adults. Children get a warped sense of reality, believing in the rosy pictures of life presented to them through the serials and films where even teenage love triumphs and parental and societal opposition is quelled. They also take the stars as their role models and dress and behave as they do. Adults get longings and cravings which may or may not get fulfilled but their dreams are more often for their children.

Some middle class families save on outings and other entertainments after buying a set. But It is also a major concern as how long hours of TV watching has made children reprogramme their activities like play and homework in order to watch TV. Outdoor exercises and play is given up in favour of TV watching, but children are not watching programmes meant for them. They are watching adult programmes and are so addicted to TV that they even do badly at studies. This has made several parents realise the drawbacks of TV watching but many parents are helpless in regulating the time or the content of their children’s TV viewing.

Television in India is now some 60 years old. In the US,it’s 85. A local tabloid article hich I recently came across shows how the frontal lobe of the brain which does the thinking and planning seemed to be shrinking in size and while that part of the brain which records images seem to be groing in size. It is also found that the passive nature of TV watching has also affected the personality of the watcher. It has made people verbally and physically more aggressive and they seem to have given up community get-togethers, outings and activities and sports.

With the options of PC’s getting cheaper day by day, social networking websites like FB’s clientele increasing every years by an astounding 120% and new generations LCD’s capturing themajor demands of the people ( Let alone, today cz of Dhanteras in Patna, a record 7500 LCD’s were sold ), there is no doubt that slowly and slowly we are being taken over by the virtual world. Before writing this article, some half an hour back, I saw a status message of one of my dear friend in FB, and what he wrote was:-

Sumit Sandal

When I am bored on FB, I just keep on refreshing page on my mobile to see if I missed any latest update. Does Doing that has anything to do with FB FREAKNESS !!!???

:@ :? :)



Afterall these are the side effects of the technology we live with.



Regards,

Dilkash

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