{ முகநூல் கருத்துக்கள்}{ட்விட்டர் கருத்துக்கள்}

Media (newspapers, magazines, television, internet, movies etc) is everyday in our lives. We do not realise how dominant it is - guiding our thinking, our likes and dislikes. Gone are the days when there used to be a beach, some parks and one television channel. One of the most trumpeted signs of a country's economic progress is the corresponding increase in outlets of entertainment. In India today, there are theme parks, shopping malls, multiplexes and dozens of television channels competing for our attention. This explosive growth and attention for our mindspace has several consequences - most of which we are still not aware of.

For very many centuries, lives of almost all the communities across the world has been guided by the religious texts and sources. The rights and wrongs in our personal lives were always sourced to - and sought from - religious prophets. New Media Order is gravely threatening that - clearly in many cases and subtly in many other.

There used to be times when we used to say - this content is not appropriate for ANY age, it slowly has changed to - this content is not appropriate for CERTAIN age. That distinction is further getting eroded - without any fight.

A television serial - which is promoted as a family entertainer - addresses adultery/pre-marital themes. In the audience are our six year old kids! Not to mention a U-certified movie - with double-meaning dialogues. Take into account magazines which - week after week - serialise alleged private lives of the famous and the not-so-famous. The picture is complete. We consume all this - knowing or unknowing of its consequences - without any fight.

Given that we are merely a part of the large mixed societies that have varying degrees of acceptance of what is right and what is wrong, it is probably wishful thinking to isolate ourselves into gated communities - shutting off all the sources of entertainment. It is not easily practicable and definitely difficult, if not impossible.

This issue can be successfully addressed - to a great extent - by following a few logical measures: educate, enable, regulate and provide alternatives.

We must take efforts to educate the people about the effects these media outlets are having on our and our children's cultural values. We must warn them - a TV serial may entertain, but also may slowly poison your value of what is right and what is wrong.

We must also enable our families with knowledge about the tools to differentiate and identify a proper and improper content. This could be by doing such a basic thing like teaching about Child Lock on TV or installing Filtering Tools on the Computers that surf the Internet.

We must also canvass the public authorities to regulate the content that is made available. Take - for example - a Cricket match on TV - which is a family event across many homes. Advertisements during such events - which are watched by many chidren upwards of age 6 - includes promotions using models who are scantily dressed. A regulator should tag a program as family-only (or not) and this tagging should guide the advertisements that are broadcast in between such programs as well.

Finally, we must also try to provide clean and alternate sources of entertainment. Given the stressful lives most of us lead - due to work pressure etc, all of us crave for one source of entertainment or the other. This is the common human nature - to look for mediums to relax. By providing sources of entertainment that are diverse, interesting and family-safe, we can surely put up an effective fight against the current, culturally one-sided media onslaught.