By Farzeen Amin

Electronic media is the mass medium of communication. It is used for targeting the large masses of population all around the city, country and around the globe. Electronic media is a very big part of our life which keeps reappearing through different mediums and devices where ever we go. There is a television set at every house, there is a radio in every car and there is a smart phone in every hand. Electronic media is inevitable and unavoidable part of our daily life. We transform and reshape our live , our behavior, our dressing, our language and our mind set according to what we listen, observe and watch  on electronic media devices.

First television channel was introduced in Pakistan in 1964. Pakistan television commonly known as PTV ruled the TV screens for more than two decades and in 1990s first private channel was introduced. Now there are hundreds of private news and entertainment channels loudly playing in each house. Television and smart phones have become most effective devices that cast the most long lasting impacts on the people. The discovery of these devices has given rise to the new era, the era of information, awareness, entertainment, social causes and intellectual wars. Electronic media has become the agent of change. It is important to mention that the ‘change’ can be both positive and negative. It has become the voice of mute issues of child abuse, women harassment, honor killing, labor rights, increasing drugs and political injustices. Media has empowered people and special it has empowered youth.

Where media has brought revolution in information spread and awareness it has also given birth to the evil of intolerance, eradication of local culture, expansion of western culture, devalued local languages, molding the minds of young away from reality, the traps of romantic fantasies and it has prominent role in increasing the culture of drugs among the young boys and girls. Media on one hand plays the role of a mentor that corrects you about what is right and wrong, it stands with the victim and against the injustice but it also humiliates the suffering of victims and it has made us insensitive towards tragedies by sensationalizing them.

Youth and media

Youth is a beautiful time of a person’s life. It is the years filled with energy, zeal and compassion, the passion that can be used as an agent to bring prosperity. We witness tremendous talents on the media in our youth but take the lens of media off your eyes to ponder on the dark and dreadful reality of youth driven in depression, inferiority & superiority complex, materialism, status consciousness, suicides, helplessness and fantasies. The young minds are easily affected by watching the rising state of chaos. The believe systems of the young girls and boys slowly start shattering after watching and listening to the foreign concepts and they start accepting them as better and superior concepts. The desire to live the glamorized life makes the youth unsatisfied with what they possess the restlessness has become the reason of several mental disorders.

Media’s portrayal of the life where there is nothing more important than so called romantic compassions has left the youth distracted from their goals of life. The romantic traps have left many talented and gifted students behind dealing with failures. This issue needs to be addressed seriously as this mental trap has become the reason for suicides, murders and other tragic endings. In 2011 a boy committed suicide after killing a girl on the bridge on Kinnard College Lahore. The girl was killed because she refused to the proposal of that boy. Following this news a girl was also killed in a university in Hyderabad. This news sounds like a tragic ending of a movie.  The entertainment industry has brought many important issues on surface, it has made us laugh, it has made us cry but it has also left many as sick.

There is a need of proper counseling of the youth so that they can understand difference between reel and real life. The perfect looks of media personalities has given birth to body shaming and mental disorders such as bulimia nervosa and body dysmorphic disorder. The approach of youth towards life has become very complex. The simple phenomenon is presented in an exaggerated picture. Youth needs to learn focus on life and be thankful to the precious gift of life that we are blessed with. Youth needs to be taught the importance of time management and education.

We see thousands of young people contributing in the prosperity and development of our state. There are thousands of other young ones that are trapped in negativity, carelessness and romantic fantasies. Our lives are beautiful combination of every emotion but we need to learn to create a balance among them, by not allowing one emotion to take over our life. Everything we hear and watch is not our story. Don’t let others script tell the story of your life. Write your own story because it is unique and beautiful. We must cherish what we are blessed with. Media is only a passive agent it depends on us how we are absorbing what we take.  

Electro media is playing a very influential role in shaping our lives. It depends on us how we shape it. We can focus on positive programs where we can also damage ourselves with negativity. Watch entertainment problems for the sake of being entertained. Live your life free of any negativity. The youth once gone will never come back. Cherish every day and every minute of it. Use your energy for bringing positive changes.