Excerpt
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We shall go deep into the social media and its drawbacks on the lives of their innocent
children and youth and see how or whether it causes concern towards their parents, teachers
and leaders.
2. Social Media
Hunsinger rightly advices that it is very important to know how internet works at a basic level
in order to understand the implications of social media interfaces and infrastructures in our
everyday lives. The internet is a network of networks to which a computational device
connected to local networks can send data encapsulated in a protocol to another one that is
similarly networked.
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These sites come under social networking.
"Social Media," also known as "social networking" is the term used to describe any type of
social interaction using technology with some combination of words, photos, videos, and
audio. It helps to circulate and share contents life video, music and written postings. Social
networking sites actually originated in the mid-1990s, but only started exploding across the
web in recent years. It is the network of people.
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Social networking sites help you see connections that you otherwise wouldn't see. You begin
by filling out a profile and then begin to look out for people you know. You and the other
gets connected and in the course of time begin to get connected to person others know. This
link and network makes you know people who are on the same site and are connected to
someone you know. There are sharing sites that help you share photos or videos with others.
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The users of these networks create communities and groups to share music, videos or text
postings. The more used social networks in India are Facebook and WhatsApp. Social
network allows you to make your personal profile with a valid email address and contact
details. These sites have various privacy settings. Social networking sites are highly
customizable. Users can search for friends, blog, discuss topics in message forums, explore
new music, view film trailers and comedy clips, join groups, plan events, advertise a
business, and many more activities.
The information that goes shared from one gadget to the other is view and edited or deleted
by various stations. These stations are owned by someone or the other. It is not that we send
the material to some persons and that it is confidential. It is survey and monitored. However,
the material we share need not be modified all the time by these stations. Hunsinger mentions
that, "we must open the black box of social media in order to consider its broader effect on
our lives not just as they appear to be constructed to us and by us in the media, but also how
our lives are being constructed by those interfaces and infrastructures. Only with a critical
1
J. Hunsinger: "Interface and Infrastructure of Social Media". In J. A. Hunsinger (Ed.), The Social Media
Handbook. New York: Routledge. 2014, pp. 1-4.
2
J. G. Browning: The Lawyer's Guide to Social Networking. New Delhi: South Indian Edition. 2012, p. 18.
3
Cfr.J. G. Browning: "The Lawyer's Guide to Social Networking". p. 19.
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eye toward it all we can make informed decisions about our use of social media and the
internet."
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Social Media provide a hangout for people where they informally and anonymously, if they
so wish, share everything about their lives. They talk about their tastes and preferences for
various products, they rant, they divulge private information, they seek and audience, they are
actors, they build their personal homepage, they market themselves (LinkedIn), they direct
movies (YouTube), they become age experts (Blogs), the list can go on endlessly. The tools
they use to socialize are Facebook, Orkut, Twitter, WhatsApp and scores of other networking
sites. Social Media provide base for relationship, business, advertising, marketing, education,
etc., to pick up online conversations and turn them into leads.
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3. Use of Internet
The internet is the connectivity of all communications done through a station of network. It
makes all small stations of networks connect to the larger ones and return to the main station.
It is the world wide web of connectivity. As Chakravarty notes:
The internet is becoming embedded in everyday life. In the developing world, community centres and
cybercafés are helping the internet move from an elite preserve to a way in which ordinary people can
do business and chat with friends, quickly and cheaply. As internet becomes part of everyday existence
and as exploiting it no longer seems to be the key to earning zillions, it is starting to be taken for
granted. Ignoring the internet is as big a mistake as seeing it as a savior.
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Much existing research on computer-mediated communication and online behavior has laid
out differences between computer-mediated and face-to-face communication, and provided
in-depth reports on online communities. While important research has been done from this
perspective, the concentration on computer-mediated versus face to face, online versus
offline, and virtual versus real, has perpetuated a dichotomized view of human behaviour.
Such dichotomies pit one form of computer mediated communication against another; text
versus graphics, as well as one category of human endeavor against another, such as
computer use at work versus home, online content for adults versus children, and computer
and internet users versus non-users.
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4. India a Unique Cultural Society
If we consider the meaning of the society, the Oxford Dictionary defines it as a system where
by people live together in organized communities.
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Indian society is often characterized as
one of `unity in diversity' and its villages as `independent republics'. These patterns play the
4
J. Hunsinger: "Interface and Infrastructure of Social Media", pp. 15.
5
Cfr.J. Hunsinger: "Interface and Infrastructure of Social Media", pp. 16.
6
J. Chakravarthy: Net, Media and the Mass Communication. New Delhi: Authors Press, 2004, p. 123.
7
J. Chakravarthy: Net, Media and the Mass Communication. New Delhi: Authors Press, 2004, pp. 123-124.
8
A. P. Cowie (ed.): Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English. 4
th
edition. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1989, p. 1213.
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most important role in human communications in India.
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In ancient India, cultures blossomed
in different parts of the subcontinent. These cultures derived strength and inspirations from
each other.
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Yet we have reached to another type of society where "India with its unique concept of the
`collective' nature of interpersonal networks, affirms that while we keep our windows open to
the world, our feet are rooted in the innate wisdom that has come down to us over the last
5000 years. It is within these parameters, that India's transition from the oral to the modern
mass media based society has to perceive."
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5. Media Value System and Indian Culture
India is known for its typical and graceful nature of living as traditional, keeping its culture,
religion and moreover tolerating any culture with its natural receptivity and welcoming
attitude. Therefore, India is known for its typical `Indian Cultural Values.'
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All the more,
"throughout the history of India, tolerance, sharing and hospitality have been the inborn
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«...India has a population of more than 950 million which is about 16% of the whole world. India's size is
about 6% of the land i.e. 16% of the people of the world live in 6% of the land. That shoes how
overpopulated India is. The rate of literacy is around 50%. Unlike countries such as Britain and America
India does not have a national language. There are many as 15 national languages and 1652 mother
tongues. Different cultural heritage, social customs, religious backgrounds, etc. have created a wide gap
among the people. 75% of the Indians live in villages; most of them are farmers who depend on primitive
ways of agriculture for an income. The economic disparity among the people is wide. All these factors pose
challenges for the Social Media. Cfr. Jacob Srampickal: Communication and Media in India Today: A
Practical Attempt at Media Literacy in the Indian Context. Delhi: Media House, 1998, p. 65.
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However, with the advent of British rule in India, there was an increase in administrative links, and physical
mobility was encouraged through rails and roads. A new philosophy and culture spread by Macaulay's
education system started making inroads into traditional Indian society and culture. The two were
incompatible in many ways. The communication of the foreign concepts, ideas and philosophies was
successful as a lot of Indians accepted them. At the same time the conflict between the Indian and British
ways of life became evident. The tussle grew up to upheavals and turmoil, which ultimately led to the birth
of independent India. Cfr. R. K. Ravindran: Media in Development Arena. Delhi: Indian Publishers
Distributors, 2000, pp. 16-19.
11
R. K. Ravindran: Media in Development Arena, p. 18.
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The term can be defined as well. The underlying assumption is that these are an identifiable bunch of
precepts, largely positive, that generations of Indians have adhered to. For example, Indian culture dictates
respect for elders, the preservation of marriage, being God-fearing, pati seva devotion to husband and
his family, devotion to children particularly the male offspring, self-sacrifice on the part of women, the
need to dress demurely and not be amorous in public, and general disapproval for sexual promiscuity,
extramarital and premarital sex, even depiction of movies of these type not entertained in India. Cfr.
Sevanti Ninan, "Impact of Television on Indian Cultural Values: Questioning the Assumptions." In
Globalisation, Mass Media and Indian Cultural Values, edited by Michael Traber. Delhi: ISPCK, 2009, p. 117.
The culture and the cultural values are not static; they change, reshape and assume new forms on account
of social, political, economic, historical and artistic developments. These changes may appear to be radical,
revolutionary and in some cases commercial. But they are part of life and all we can do is to react, rectify,
modify or innovate. Cfr. Vasanthi Sankaranarayanan: "Look for the Real Culprit: In Defence of Televison."
In: Globalisation, Mass Media and Indian Cultural Values, edited by Michael Traber. Delhi: ISPCK, 2009, p.
129.
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virtues of the Indians which elevated their moral and spiritual standards in the eyes of the
world."
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Today India does not possess this richness of culture as it is to be traditionally. The Indian
culture and values are getting merged with that of the western culture that tries to promote
globalization in order that this world one day be a single global village. However no one can
be away from such nuances of the media since it is very much connected to society.
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Thus
India has to face the media for communication in day to day life like any other society in the
world.
Social Media has touched every culture, every tradition, every religion and everyone in every
field. Many parents, teachers and social workers express their desire for a clear value-based
media education programme in schools, colleges and other institutions of learning. Their
concern for a value-based approach is legitimate-especially since it comes from those who
take direct responsibility for the formation of children and youth in our society. In reality
however such an approach does not go down well with the young people, especially at the
adolescent phase, as they are usually averse to moral condescension.
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In Indian tradition a child would not be so easily brought up with the intention that the child
should live by himself/herself with its personal responsibility. The elders always kept an eye
on their children and even on the grownups to see that one is in tune with the values of the
society and that one acts in accordance to the traditions of the place and does not bring down
the name of the family. The parents would hardly allow their children to do things as they
wish even if they are adults or above 18 years of age. Though it has both positive and
negative side, it is true that the Indians overall face a radical change in its culture and even its
value system that is promoted day-by-day.
6. Concerns caused by the Social Media
The media has sizable direct impact on the public. Although the often-mentioned effects, they
also include many unintended effects. Indeed effects include: 1) the influence of commercial
advertising on buying behaviour, 2) the impact of social media on political campaigns on
13
Josephine Louis: "Youth and the Values of Indian Culture." In: Kristu Jyoti: A Youth Pastoral Theological
Catechetical Journal 10, No. 4 (December 1994), p. 64.
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Desmond D'Abreo believes that the media (social Media) play an important role in helping people to realize
their joint responsibility in society. People need public information and discussion in order to grapple with
the tasks of the present and the future. Cfr. Desmond A. D'Abreo: The Mass Media and You. Bandra: Better
Yourself Books, 1997, pp. 121-122.
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Pedagogically speaking it lacks tact, since, more often than not, the educators end up discussing the
negative effects of mass media the do's and don'ts of media consumption. Such as approach seems to be
unfair because of the tendency to see the media only in terms of what is right and wrong. However, there
is much more to learn from the media than meets the eye of the conscientious objector. Here we will look
at the various positive values that are promoted by the media. Cfr. Robert Pen: "Mass Media and the
Plurality of Values." In: Divyadaan 16, No. 3 (2005), pp. 329-330.
Excerpt out of 11 pages
- Quote paper
- Albert Fernandes (Author), 2016, Social Media. A Cause Of Concern Today, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/384242
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