A recent incident of a seven-year-old girl who set herself ablaze while allegedly imitating an act in a tele-serial has shocked everyone, raising concerns over children watching such content on television. The role of parents when it comes to restricting what shows their kids should watch and to deal with the entertaining aspects for the younger minds is important too. While television has both good and bad effects, it becomes the prime duty of an adult/parent to monitor them for positive impact rather than imposing total restrictions, reports Bengaluru Chronicle.
The girl’s incident came to light much later when the mother filed a police complaint with the sole purpose of warning other parents who neglect the consequences of their kids being exposed to all kinds of shows. “We have lost our daughter but we want other parents to be more cautious, and never allow children to watch TV shows which are not meant for them. It easily influences their minds and they start imitating as they lack the judgement about what is right and wrong,” Chaitra, the girl’s mother told media after filing complaint.
Reacting to the incident, former Karnataka Television Association president Ravi Kiran has said that despite disclaimers during the start of every episode of a TV serial, it has failed to make a greater impact on the audience. “None of the serial makers create such scenes with negative intentions and it is only to make the plot more gripping,” he said.
“There are a lot of shows and programmes which young minds easily get drawn to. Instead of totally restricting them, they should be encouraged to watch programmes which have a positive impact on their minds. A lot of research indicates that TV shows can boost the learning and reasoning capabilities of children but too much of TV should also be discouraged as it affects their social and physical activities,” says Dr Naveen Gowda.
Whereas TV analyst Subramanya feels that the concerned authorities should come up with a law to distinguish content for children like certificates for films. “Something like alcohol and tobacco consumption warnings put up on TV and films, it should be made mandatory to carry a disclaimer not just at the beginning of a show but throughout in bold making it clear that it is not appropriate for children and parental guidance is needed. Not just TV shows, even advertisements needed to be governed for children’s viewing,” he adds.
