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Media changing the Youth Culture: An Indian Perspective
Prof. Dr. Ritu Soni, Head, Department of Computer Science, Guru Nanak Girls’ College,Yamuna Nagar, Haryana, Iidia-135003E-mail- ritusoniynr@yahoo.com
Prof. Ms. Bharati Kamboj, Department of Physics, Guru Nanak Girls’ College, Yamuna Nagar, Haryana, Iidia-135003E-mail- bharatikamboj@gmail.com
Abstract:
A study of the effect of electronic media on the Indian youth has been carriedout. The internet has revolutionized the entire world. The Indian youth is being exposedto all that is being offered by it. As a result, the Indian traditions are getting diffused towestern culture. The way youth is doing purchases or helping others or raising their voices against corruption or any political matters, information access rights are changingwith times. Along with the benefits of internet, the youth is also being influenced by itsnegative aspects. With the technology embedded society emerging, India is undergoingcontradicting cultural changes.
Introduction
: The term “
culture
” originates from Latin term for “cultivation”, the preparation of land for producing crop[1]. It is defined as all of the beliefs, behaviors, and products common to a particular group. These include the values and customs that wehold in common with others; the language that we speak; the rules we follows; the toolsand technologies we use to make things; the goods we consume; the organizations we belong to; and the larger institutions of society[2].
1.
Traditional Indian Culture
If we talk about
Indian Culture
, we have certain diverse traditions according to differentsocieties. For example : It is tradition in India that youngsters follows their elders inhouse hold work & in business, maintain localized traditions for worshipping god, beliefs, cooking traditions, dressing traditions, folk etc. this is possible due to joint familystructure available in India. Work is divided between family members, children and older generation get cared, money is pooled, resources are shared. Such a system leads toemotional balance, proper care of every body, high tolerance among family members,helping attitude etcBut due to globalization, the Indian traditions are getting diffused to western culture or within other communities or other social cultures. Media plays a very important role inthis kind of diffusion.
How media is changing culture: old media
Different media emerging from time to time- may it be newspaper or radio or films or TVand now internet- has a huge impact on Indian culture as well as society. News paper creates mass awareness, gives right to pen where as radio and films and TV provideentertainment along with mass awareness and right to voice.With the advent of TV, people are more exposed to different cultures and their traditions.Advertisers use TV as media to promote their products. Social life is taken up by TVrooms. All kinds of programs are viewed by all generations, thereby giving adulthoodexposure to children. Thus the cultural impact of all this exposure on society is huge.
(IJCSIS) International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security,Vol. 8, No. 7, October 2010266http://sites.google.com/site/ijcsis/ISSN 1947-5500
2Ministry of Broadcasting of India has made some polices for certifying the films but thereis no such certification in TV programs.
Amazing internet
And then comes the internet!!!! It has revolutionalized the entire world, making it a smallglobal village. Every kind of information is available at the click of mouse. Traditionally,the Internet was used by scientists, academics and engineers to send emails and shareinformation. Today, the internet is also used for the downloading of music, the formingof virtual communities, and the establishment of news groups.
Internet Access Reports
[3] verify that internet is accessed mostly for information retrieval, checking mails andgetting sports updates.Fig 1Fig 2In the age of digital literacy, children could well overtake their parents when it comes tousing the internet for social networking, social gathering, tweeting, chatting, sendingemails and downloading movies and songs. According to a recent survey by IMRB andIMAI (internet and mobile association of India), nearly 22 million school going children between the ages 8-14 are internet savvy. E-mailing continues to be a popular draw with91% of those surveyed; general information gathering comes second with 76%.
Internet Users
17
(80%)
37
(76%)
38
(27%)
41
(66%)
48
(72%)
55
(67%)
68
(34.3%)
81
(7.1%)
94
(73%)
227
(74.7%)
298(22.4%)
050100150200250300
China USA
Japan
India
Brazil
Germany
UK
France
Russia
S. Korea
Australia
Country
Usage in millions
(IJCSIS) International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security,Vol. 8, No. 7, October 2010267http://sites.google.com/site/ijcsis/ISSN 1947-5500
3 Nearly 41% of Indians enjoy chatting and online gamming account for 41%. A 2008study conducted by IMAI showed that 25% of respondent use the internet to hunt for alife partner. (TOI Dec 4
th
2009)[4]. Some of the news from Times Of India shows that“India has recently become the third largest market for twitter in just a few months, with5 million subscribers of total of over 11.5 millions”.
2. Youth population
TCS [5] has identified the youth in four categories -
The Globetrotter:
The Globetrotter has global ambitions and wants to study and work abroad. However, a growing confidence in the economic future in India is also reflectedin the survey as many students are also keen to bring skills back to India and put them touse here.
The Gadgetphile:
Students from both metros and mini-metros who love gadgets andwith access to a web enabled mobile, the latest gaming console, i-Pods and if he/shedoesn’t have one, then aspires to own an i-Phone.
The Nation-Builder:
The Indian student is focused on his/her career but is as muchinterested in the additional benefits that careers brings such as travel, learning new skills,experience to be gained, interesting workplace and salary.
The Social networker:
A true digital native, the Social Networker is likely to have asmany online friends as real ones and these friendships go beyond the traditional boundaries of gender, caste, and geographies.
History of Youth Culture and New Technologies:
The concept of youth culture and new technologies is a relatively new term. However therate at which technology has moved into the lives of the young as stated by Seel [7] isunprecedented. Growth within this area began in August 1981 when IBM released theIBM PC [6]. The next major development was the internet established in the 1990’s,which “created an entirely new means of social interaction? [7].More recently, there has been the convergence of individual technologies. An example of this is the convergence of mobile phone technologies with that of the internet.
3. Youth contribution in culture building:
Any culture is reorganized by its unique identity. For youths there are three processes inthe formation and construction of their identity;
reflexivity, makeability andindividualization
(Aakhus & Katz 2002, p.255).
Reflexivity
: is a cultural way of mirroring (individual, subjective, social, cultural) selves or identities through symbolicimages in media, verbal language or face-to-face interaction.
Makeability
: is the perspective that sees personality and lifestyle factors as being open to influence;individuals are able to make choices about their content.
Individualization
: means thatas industrial society develops, the significance of social background decreases while thesubjective importance of the inner world increases. (Aakhus & Katz, 2002, p.255). Thefollowing are some of the areas where the influence of youth culture is recognized:
Youth trends for purchasing:
The effort to commercialize and commodity anything and everything not only leads tothe degradation of Indian culture, it is harmful to us as citizens. According to the survey,57 per cent of the respondents browsed the Internet on their mobile phones, and close to
(IJCSIS) International Journal of Computer Science and Information Security,Vol. 8, No. 7, October 2010268http://sites.google.com/site/ijcsis/ISSN 1947-5500
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Media changing the Youth Culture: An Indian Perspective
A study of the effect of electronic media on the Indian youth has been carried out. The internet has revolutionized the entire world. The Indian youth is being exposed to all that is being offered by…
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