Does the media affect attitudes and behaviour of the youth? Is everything you see around you a result of the media? Are you media-literate?
The Department of Visual Communication (Post Graduate), Loyola College, Chennai, along with Sacred Heart Institute for E-Learning and Development (SHIELD) conducted a seminar on “Youth and Media” recently. The seminar focused on the impact and influence of the media on the youth; how it changes their attitude and personality and how they become socially responsible people. There were also talks on the growing need to educate youth about the power of media.
Cinematic influence
The seminar saw Pushkar and Gayatri, of “Va Quarter Cutting” and “Oram Po” fame, producer Shashikanth, S.P.B. Charan, national snooker champ Vidya Pillai and actor John Vijay stating their case. School children from Corporation schools were urged to participate as this was an opportunity for them to be a part of a hot topic.
The discussion kick-started with the topic: influence of cinema, particularly Tamil cinema, on the youth. The audience wanted to know why Tamil film industry cannot make movies like “Peepli Live”. Pushkar's reply was, “Tamil films have a sense of our culture. They have a strong feel of this time and the space”. He continued to explain why “Peepli Live” should not be a benchmark because lots of films of that kind are being made but do not get publicity.
Actor John Vijay had his own take. “Films are a form of art and entertainment. They are supposed to be looked at as a person's ideas in motion. Indian youth are born with an attitude because they are born in a land of wealthy tradition and strong history. Media influences the behaviour of an individual youth and not his attitude, which just helps him understand the new trends in fashion education and lifestyle.” But Uma Vangal, a documentary filmmaker and media activist, Prajnya, felt that “an initiative to educate the youth about the media is necessary. Media literacy is integral today and they need to gain some insight into this field. Media has role models that young people follow and it is very important that we be responsible in matters of shaping the attitude of the young people.”
Hints of negativity
Films create a platform for entertainment but what about the negative impact? “Films are one of the largest means to reach the masses. And the kind of hero worship and mass hysteria seen in India is not present elsewhere. Keeping this in mind, filmmakers must try to make films that don't influence the masses negatively ,” remarks Varsha Vardharajan, an assistant cinematographer with two films and several ads in her kitty. “Cinema is imagination and an extended mirror of reality, but filmmakers should also try not to resort to gimmicks or portray any one community or region in a degrading manner to make the film more ‘interesting'.”
A look at the world media landscape for children and youth, presents two opposing themes: opportunities and risks. For example, globalisation of media brings opportunities to broaden outlooks and provide more equal access to information, but it also threatens cultural identification and values.
Technological advances bring the promise of new skills and greater youth participation in society, but also increase the risk of child exploitation and informational divides. There is an urgent need for societies to both protect youth and empower them to shape their own media environments.
“Media has both positive and negative effects. First, people blamed print media saying that it had an effect on the youth. Then when television came along, the same thing happened. And now it's the Internet,” remarks Tamil novelist and script-writer, Pattukkottai Prabakar. He feels that, at the end of the day, it depends on the individual's attitude. But, he says, the media also has to be social responsible. “It has become very powerful and has a wide reach. Even a 10-second ad on blood donation can influence lots of people.”
Take television for instance: From the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s, the number of television channels, household television sets and hours spent watching television more than doubled. There are now approximately 250 television sets per thousand inhabitants in the world; far more than the number of telephones. “Media houses have different attitudes towards various subjects. The way the electronic media reported the Ayodhya verdict is a very good example, even for people like us within the industry, on the importance of responsibility and the respect for people's sensitivity, whereas the media's coverage on the Games received flak all over,” says Divya Chandrababu, a news reader on NDTV. Divya also feels that youngsters should not grow up getting used to all the negativity around them. Social responsibility should be the norm, not an exception, for the media.
The others
Most young people tune in to the radio primarily for music and entertainment. However, some local radio stations have been very successful in attracting and informing more socially active segments of the population, young and old alike. Multitasking with radio seems to be the common form of entertainment today. We have become a “headphone-centric” society. Always wired to a different world.
“After TV became a hit, radio did sink a bit, but now private FM channels have become a part of everyone's life. Radio gives you the opportunity to think differently, visualise things, convey a message in the most silly manner and probably that's why it's a big hit with the people, especially the younger generation,” says Chandni Natarajan of Aahaa FM. The Internet has been gaining popularity among young people, though more slowly than the television and radio. In spite of significant differences among the developed and developing world, the use of computers and the internet is rising steadily, fastest among young men.
“Whether media affects the youth depends on individuality — how you prioritise and compartmentalise issues. You could get different pictures of the same story but I don't think all youth are affected by media,” says Priyavadhani from M.O.P Vaishnav College for Women.
New media, especially social networking websites, has now the youth under their control. With Facebook and Twitter governing our daily lives, it seems we “tweet” about what we are doing every second. Facebook has more than 500 million active users, about one person for every 14 in the world. “It's like they are lost in that world,” remarks Priyavadhani.
Lakshmi Subramaniam, Senior Correspondent, India Today, states “Definitely the media is responsible for shaping society. However, media literacy is something that is lacking.” In the last two decades, media has become very important in the lives of the youth. They learn from it; they are entertained by it. Till now the focus was on literacy or the ability to read and write.
But today, when students are learning from various media, there is an urgent need to focus on media literacy as well. The ubiquity of media in the lives of the youth calls for extensive initiatives, which is a challenge that has to be met.
At the rate at which media is growing, the youth need to be prepared to face the most powerful tool in shaping their lives: Media.
Rehna is a M.Sc Visual Communication student at Loyola College
