Electronic Media and Contemporary Concerns of Psycho-Social Well-Being

Questions of whether and how electronic media influence self-concept both self-identity and self-evaluations as well as their huge impact on pro-social behavior – co-operative behavior, sharing, kindness, altruism, friendliness, creativity and its impact on a social and anti-social behaviors is rarely being analyzed by the academics at large and psychologists in particular, who is represented in media and what symbol’s media disseminate become’s point of focus and interaction in the population is rarely analyzed in objective terms.  How media messages portraying aggression, hostility, intolerance, lust are being imitated by the audience paving the way for our wishful thinking and aversive action patterns.  Electronic media is a powerful medium through its vivid image portrayals.  It is compelling in nature through high attention and arousal value promoting the viewers to develop expectations, perceptions, and acquisition of such violent scripts leading to vast detoriation of our positive emotions of compassion calm and creativity.  Most of us think that other people and other people’s children are more affected by the media portrayals.  But psychological experiment’s and studies by Bandura (1977), Nathanson (2001) suggest that attention, retention, motor-reproduction, motivation are influential factor’s in the developing of attitudinal disposition among the viewers in varying degrees.  Berkowitz and Roger’s (1986) theory of cognitive new-associationism priming also confirms the effect of media event’s on the viewers.  Dynamic transaction model of Sander (1997) also confirms the effect of media stimulus depends upon the interpretive ability of the receiver.  In such cases the children or the less critical thinking section of our mass easily fall’s prey to such insensitivities or a social behavior patterns.  Most of our psychological studies focus on individual well-being factors ignoring such potent force like electronic media which directly and indirectly manufacture our consent and opinions.  Much of the air-time of media engages and operates on portrayals of five c’s and one p – crime, cinema, celebrity, cricket, craziness and politics.  How common man on the street is selectively omitted because it does not suit the TRP and hence affecting its advertisement money prospects.  Does common man know that most of the media houses are being run by capitalist class whose motive is to strengthen its business and profit?  We tend to ignore that media is a principal source of social and cultural transformation and not a mere source of information dissemination.  In the name of globalization and freedom of our individual expression and choice for consumer’s media is constructing new realities which offer’s scope and space for deviation from our traditional ethos offering less space for constructive, creative and harmonious living.  New definition and meaning of our social values are emerging one day to day basis ignoring its negative consequences on our social fabric.  This sudden boom of about more than 400 news and entertainment channel’s have arrived to our drawing room with an intent of philanthropy inculcating socially desirable values or to satisfy their own business interest of the huge middle-class population of India.

            It is high time that we keep our eyes open and analyze the reality of gospel truth institution turning to crude materialism and safeguard the social well-being of our masses (which include vast majority of children, people of rural India, elderly citizen’s, disadvantaged groups of illiterate and economically and socially backward classes.)