Wednesday, September 26, 2012

The Impact of Television on Bhutanese Youth: A Case of Gedu College and High School

The ideas that all of you will be going through focuses on the impact of Television on the youths of Gedu College and School, all the ideas and findings are not just through secondary data like articles, journals, and etc. but we gave the conclusion based on primary data that we have collected directly using Questionnaires, observation and interview. It is great opportunity to know how television as part of the modernization has affected the youths. There are many systems of modernization that have good and bad effects to the youths of all the nations on the earth. One of the popular issues this days are youth issues, i.e the youth are changing or adopting cultures and tradition which doesn’t belong to them but after the introduction of television this problem has prolonged all the way. Most of the nations are now trying to find out the ways to keep or sustain media as part of their development process. Some say that television gives basic knowledge and make them understand the world better, but some are against it. There are many articles and thesis on Television and Youths stating both positive and negative effects. This project presents the results of a study designed to test the effects and impact of television on the Bhutanese youth. Unlike previous studies, however, the impacts of such media on youth are evaluated in the context of culture and traditions. Specifically, the research examines the effects of television and its impact on youth on their behavior in terms of style and behavior. We have mainly focused on the students of Gaeddu College as well as Gedu School. The polarization debate on Impact of Television on Bhutanese Youth seems to have been inevitable. Most of the Bhutanese people love watching television and majority of them are willing to adopt the styles of other countries since they are fascinated by that. For instant the way the youth maintain their hair style and if we really observe them, we will find around hundreds of styles which is not brought in here. The direction, in which TVs are moving today, has generated enormous tension to which we have not been able to find appropriate solutions. The problem is very prompt and it has been established that the content of TVs is damaging for not only culture but society and morality as well. Although some substantial research has been done on the negative consequences of TVs across the world, the behavioral consequences and distortion of values caused by exposure to them is yet an unexplored area. Surprisingly this days Television is accelerating the adoption of new ideas and is extending into rural areas this seldom brings positive benefit to the country as well. Empirical studies conducted all over the world show that media content like television can and does influence people’s beliefs, attitudes and behavior. As par the study done by Department of Information and Media, Ministry of Information and Communication, Royal Government of Bhutan it is revealed that mass communication in Bhutan could be replacing other “socialization agents” like as parents, temples and schools. At no time in Bhutan’s history have television been such a strong force than they are now as the entertainer and news media reach more Bhutanese than ever before. These developments have come about as a result of the rapidly changing socio-economic and political situation in Bhutan. The coming of democracy has mandated an open media as a vital part of Bhutan’s transition. Television is the most powerful influence on a previously closed society. It has spurred the process of globalization (Bhutan, Media Impact Study 2008). Surprisingly Television is accelerating the adoption of new ideas and is extending into rural areas. For the first time, a generation of Bhutanese children is growing up with the Television in the home. Kezang and Whalley (2008) states, the television is a prime element in the concept of culture, one of the pillars of Gross National Happiness. The television is considered as a strong influence on culture as well as the television is an important element of Bhutanese culture. In both ways, the television is shaping Bhutanese culture. The debate on whether television diversifies the culture is a valid concern in Bhutan. In the early years of television, content was focused on information and education and was appreciated at the time. Today, we have so many channels and so many newspapers and still people feel that is not enough. Access to TV has improved tremendously and has now penetrated rural areas with the Government establishing power connections to 15,000 rural households in the final years of the Ninth Five-Year Development Plan (2005-2007) in a country of about 125,000 households (Bhutan, Media Impact Study 2008). The view given by Phuntsho (2007), Bhutan’s Buddhist spirituality and the television culture appear to be disparate, however, in the world which is inundated and influenced by the television and in which interdependencies between the television and other social systems are forged inextricably, a complete abnegation of the television culture is not even possible. The reliance of religious systems on the television is inevitable for its survival in the large society. Moreover, the ubiquity and intensity of the television have turned religious systems into the most powerful social phenomena. There is some thinker like Gev (2011), who cites that television has been a great asset of mankind since its first advent. People of all ages’ weather, child or old are interested in watching television. Television has eventually developed into a means of entertainment and resource centre. As every other thing, television too, though very useful, has got negative aspects as well. So, it’s necessary for all the elders to make right choices regarding what they and their younger watch. The person who always spent his or her time watching television is popularly known as ‘Couch Potato’ and the person who always watch television are prone to many health problems. Many research’s world-wide have also shown that people who spend comparatively more time on television have greater chance of getting heart diseases, eye problems, they become overweight and have muscle problems. It is found that young youths of different ages watch and understand television in different ways, depending on the length of their attention spans, the ways in which they process information, the amount of mental effort they invest, and their own life experiences. These variables must all be examined to gain an understanding of how television violence youths. Youth are much more likely to doubt the reality of television content and much less likely to identify with television characters. The small percentages of those who continue to believe in the reality of television and to identify with its violent heroes are the ones likely to be more aggressive, especially if they continue to fantasize about aggressive-heroic themes (Josephson, 1995). Commenting on the study, Winston (2002) told that Television is a very powerful influence on youths on everything from what they should be eating to how they should behave. According to the report in the September issue of Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine the youths watch about 2.5 hours of television each day, on average and their viewing time increases during the weekend. And it is reported that the more television a youths watched, the more likely they were to demonstrate social problems and aberrant and aggressive behavior. However a more recent article by Ferguson et. al. (2007) cautioned that the literature on television and body dissatisfaction is weaker and less consistent than often claimed and that television effects have been overemphasized. Similarly recent work by Steinbrerg (2008) and Monahan (2008) has found that, using propensity score matching to control for other variables, television viewing of sexual media had no impact on teen sexual behavior in a longitudinal analysis. The recent research, conducted by Robinson (2006) and Martin (2006) from the University of Maryland, people who are not satisfied with their lives spend 30% more time watching TV than satisfied people do. The research was conducted with 30,000 people during the period between 1975 and 2006. This new study slightly contradicted previous research, which concluded that watching TV was the happiest time of the day for some people. However, Robinson (2007) commented that watching TV could bring short-time happiness, which would be just a result of an overall dissatisfaction. Television has the impending to unite communities, provide information to allow positive cultural, social and ecological change, and to create exact global community. It also has the potential to estrange, dissocialize to promote aggressive and negative behaviors, provide nonconstructive and inappropriate role models to youths, and to create unenthusiastic values. References: 1. Department of Information and Media, Ministry of Information and Communications, Royal Government of Bhutan. BHUTAN MEDIA IMPACT STUDY (2008). 2. Kezang & Jason Whalley, Do Information and Communication Technologies Further or Hinder Gross National Happiness, 4th International Conference on GNH, Thimphu, Bhutan, 2008 3. The Center for Bhutan Studies (Eds.). (2007). Media and Public Culture, Proceedinf of the Second International Seminar on Bhutan Studies. Thimphu, Bhutan: Center for Bhutan Studies. 4. Luke, C. 1988. Television and Your Child: A Guide for Concerned Parents. Toronto: TV Ontario. 5. Wendy L. Josephson, Ph.D. for the Department of Canadian Heritage, February 1995. Reprinted by the Media Awareness Network with the permission of the Minister of Public Works and Government Services Canada. Retrieved from: http://preventdisease.com/news/articles/tv_link_kids_behavior.shtml, on, (12/8/2011). 6. Huston, A. C., Wright, J. C., Rice, M. L., Kerkman, D., and St. Peters, M. 1990. Development of television viewing patterns in early childhood: A longitudinal investigation. Developmental Psychology, 26, 409-420. 7. Huston, A. C., and Wright, J. C. 1989. The forms of television and the child viewer. In G. Comstock (ed.), Public Communication and Behaviors. Volume 2 (pp. 103-158). New York: Academic Press. 8. French, J., and Pena, S. 1991. Children's hero play of the 20th century: Changes resulting from television's influence. Child Study Journal, 21, 79-94. 9. Freedman, J. L. 1986. Television violence and aggression: A rejoinder. Psychological Bulletin, 100, 372-378. Retrieved from, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_aspects_of_television, on (28/9/2011).

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