INTRODUCTION:

The first decade of the new millennium has been perhaps the most tumultuous period for mass communication in India. The contemporary period has come to be labelled variously the information age, the communication age and most recently the cyber or networking age.

Definition of communication:-

Communication comes from the Latin communes, common. “When we communicate we are trying to share information and idea or an attitude” – Weber Schramm. There are two types of mass media reciprocal communication and mass communication. Mass communication has two types, one is the traditional media and the other is the modern media.

Traditional media include folk literature, folk music, puppet, bavai and drama. Modern media include newspaper, books, magazine, radio, television, internet, mobile phone, movies etc.

The mass media has had many implications in the field of social life education, health, economic, art and sports.

Impact on social life (marriage and cast system:-

The impact of programs and serials portrayed in the mass media is affecting family relationship. The democratic environment in family relationship grows. Due to the influence of different media, information available increases the number of opportunities for education. Advertising in the media has increased the migration of family members to economic opportunities. Children are able to boil an academic career independently. The mass media have had a positive and negative impact on the family life system. Due to the mass media married men and women have the opportunity to choose their spouse. Adult marriage trends, anti child marriage dowry etc are forming mass media. The role of the mass media is crucial to the path to a new life by ending a divorce from marriage, if the life of the spouse does not fit. In the fight against the untouchability of Gandhiji or Dr. Baba saheb ambedkar, the media contributed greatly to the caste order, civil and religious in competence. The inter caste marriage has increased through the media. In India, the mass media helped to eliminate untouched ability by constitution and law. The mass media awakens people by giving scientific knowledge of many legal beliefs or superstition. The media has a huge contribution to the importance of the birth of a daughter.

Impact of media on education:-

Right from pre-independence days, attempts have been made by both government and private groups to use the media for educational purposes. Babasaheb Phalke, the pioneer of Indian cinema, made educational documentaries such as ‘The growth of a Pea plant’ and ‘How to make a Film’ besides fictional films. Radio experiments in the use of radio for promoting literacy and education were conducted as early as the 1930s. Television was introduced into India by the Nehru Government with the primary aim of exploiting the medium for distance education. B.G. Varghese’s Chattera experiment attempted to use the daily newspaper to educate urban Delights about rural people and their problems.

The most ambitious attempt to exploit the mass media for education was of course, SITE (Satellite Instructional Television Experiment). It sought to educate rural people in six States of India about the need for family planning, improved agriculture, hygiene, nutrition and health care. Classroom-type instructions were also provided to school children.

Today, Durdarshan devotes at least ten per cent of its telecast time to educational or enrichment programmes for farmers, school children, youth and other groups. It has taken to promoting literacy on a nationwide scale. UGC’s ‘Countrywide classroom’ and IGNOU’S transmissions are ambitious post-SITE attempts to use television for higher education. ‘Gyan-darshan’ an exclusively educational channel, was launched by Durdarshan in 2004. A second educational channel called ‘Topper’ went on air in 2008 to help students prepare for their school examinations.

The folk media are perhaps much more effective in promoting the message of literacy than any of the mass media. In Kerala, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and other states, folk forms of the local regions have been utilised both by voluntary social action groups and by government-supported literacy campaigns. For example, in Maharashtra, literacy campaigns have used folk musical forms such as lavani, powada, gondhal, jagar and others. During the campaign, cultural teams went out to the different villages on Kalajathas. ‘The main thrust of the messages conveyed through song, dance and discussions was literacy. However, it was reported that other issues such as mother and child care, family planning, watershed management, the problem of alcoholism and dowry, small savings and agricultural development were also conveyed’.

Impact of mass media on Indian family:-

The proliferation of TV, cable and satellite channels in India is of great concern to parents and teachers. With so much time given to watching the small screen, parents are worried that little or no time will remain for conversation in the family, for family get-togethers and for family visits. However, parents must acknowledge that they too spend a lot time with television, and that frequently they exercise no control on what their children watch and when. Further, parent’s frequently use television as a baby-sister or as an excuse for staying at home.

Two early studies of television and the Indian family, Andal Narayanan’s Impact of Television on Viewers, and Neena Behl’s close look at what happens to one Indian village when television is introduced in it, suggest that television plays a vital role in influencing family relationships. But when the novelty of the medium wears off and it becomes part of the furniture it appears that the effects on the family are not as worrying as they were first thought to be. True, multi-channel television often creates friction among siblings, or between parents and children, or even between parents themselves. But then TV also helps to bring a family closer especially when all members enjoy a popular programme together. It provides topics for conversation, for expressing opinions and for family discussions. A lot depends upon what the members of the family do with television. Since few Indian families can afford more than one TV set, gathering around the TV set is similar to the earlier practice of gathering round a fireplace. The family, like any other social institution, is a power structure. The exercise of power in the home, in earlier times, was through the breadwinner, generally the man of the house.

Impact of mass media on children:-

Without communication an individual could never become a human being; without mass communication an individual could never become part of modern society. Socialisation is a life-long active process, beginning on the day of one’s birth. The child learns to socialise from the parents and the social groups he or she belongs to. As children grow up they come into contact with other social groups, but their basic loyalties are to their own primary and secondary groups which provide them their sets of attitudes, beliefs, and norms of behaviour. Children come under three kinds of social control: (1) tradition orientation – social control based on tradition; (2) inner orientation – social control achieved through standards, guidelines or values existing in each individual; and (3) external or other orientation – social control achieved by conformity to standards existing in other persons and groups.

The child of today comes into contact with groups other than those in school; for instance, through the mass media, which give him/her access to remote groups and their cultures. Besides, the mass media provide models of behaviour, and norms of living. The child begins to imitate them, particularly in cases where he or she is least integrated into the family or the peer group. Such children rely heavily on media advice and models; while others do not since their activities outside the home provide them greater stimuli and other role models.

CONCLUSION:-

Factors that prove a hurdle in the cause of growth in Indian country like illiteracy, unemployment, corruption etc. After independence, our country of India has undergone a massive change. But even in this country when the internet, mobile, video chatting, teleconference is underway, many people are still illiterate in the country. Due to their lack of knowledge insufficient information, they do not experience the right direction today. If they can absorb the knowledge provided by the means of this information, they one day surely illiteracy can be removed from the country. There is no doubt that using the information in such a systematic way makes even the lower classes wise. So that India is jumping to the minister of information age and stepping in.

REFERENCES:

1. Mass communication in India (Jaico Publishing House) - Keval J Kumar.

2. Effect of Television on the Indian Family. (Somaiya Publication Bombay-1985) - Andal Narayanan.

3. Text Book of 12^th(Sociology) – Gujrat Rajiya Prathyapushtak Mandal – Gandhinagar.

4. Jansanchar Sindhant Aur Anuprayog. (Radha Krushna Prakashan) – Vishnu Rajgadhiya.

5. Television in the Lives of Families. (An Ethnographic Study, paper presented at the International Study Conference – London – 1998) –Keval J Kumar.

Received on 10.04.2024 Modified on 25.04.2024

Int. J. Rev. and Res. Social Sci. 2024; 12(3):143-145.

DOI: 10.52711/2454-2687.2024.00024