Media & Children

"The increasing violence in the media is a cause for concern, but we cannot blame the media alone for polluting the young minds, with violence.

Given the nature of children, they tend to playback whatever they experience in this world. Based on these experiences they build their belief and value systems. This collective belief and value system constitutes the ""society"". This means whatever they see at these tender ages have an everlasting impact on them. The interaction between the individual and the society is very high, which implies that children reflect upon the environment in which they are brought up. Let us take sports for example, Cricket is a religion in India, Baseball is a religion in U.S.A , even after decades why is that ? It is because the beliefs of the elder people are being imparted into the tender minds, and they also tend to think in the same direction. The belief in the game has been passed on to future generations unconsciously, and this chain continues. Similarly we tend to pass on our beliefs and values from one generation to the other, so the future generations are nothing but the reflection of whatever we are today, but a little bit advanced than us. So whatever violence we see among children are nothing but an advanced version of whatever we were yesterday!

Does that mean media as not impact? Nope! Media also plays its role well! It also reflects on whatever is happenning around us. It provides a global picture of what is happenning around us. It helps us understand the unknown's and so on. So how come it can pollute the children? Well it just shows you what happened across the world, and the interpretation is left to us. So based on the individuals value system, the child can empathize/ignore/react to an atrocious act described by the media.

Moreover, the children, lookup at the elders as role models. Starting from the kind of food they eat, and habits they reflect upon the elders in the society. This means that they tend to eat whatever you eat, and watch whatever you watch etc,. So the choice of the children normally tend to be based on the people in the society they come in touch with. Take ourselves for example: We still have a couple of mannerisms or habits, which we cannot explain. Like playing with the key chains, watching T.V while lying on the sofa etc. Where did all those behaviours come to us? These behaviours were those of the elders around us, like our uncle/aunt etc., and we subconsciously modelled those behaviours. And we still display it!

Any act by itself is neither good or bad, it is the perceptions that make them so. Let us take a recent example: A couple of hostages were beheaded in Iraq. We as the socity emphathize and feel bad for the people who were killed. But the kidnappers did not think so,they thought that they were destined to do it. And think that what they did was right. Why this difference? It is because those people were brought up in a poverty stricken condition and literally grew up in the war stricken zone. These happennings around the kidnapper made an everlastingh mark on him, which changed his value system and beliefs. This caused him to perform the atrocious activity.

So what do we do to reduce this impending problem? The change has to happen from within from each one of us. We will have to shed our violence,and seek a harmonious world. We need to take responsibility for our actions and be conscious about what we do, because it can make an everlasting impact on the society we live in.

Now the burden of creating a peaceful society (world) rests on us. Let us join hands to make this world a better place!"

Is there something called free will

"The statement ""The concept of free will is a fallacy"" is actually fallacious! How do you live your life? of course you live with free will. You decide what to eat for breakfast, what to wear today and so on. don't you? So how can you not be responsible for your actions?

Let us take a simple scenario to understand the fallacy behind this kind of reasoning. Assume you decide to wear a formal attire to office. And suddenly it starts raining, what do you do? You decide whether to go ahead with your formal wear or to wear casual attire better still call it a day, and end up sleeping in bed! Unfortunatelty, there was a surprise visit from your head office, and you were not available.Which leaves you with a black mark in your office. Normally you tend to blame ""the rain"" as the factor that caused all the problems.A careful dissection of the happennings will, help you understand the situation better, the intial choice you made was to wear a formal attire. And then ""the rain"", the external factor influenced your choice. Remember you still had number of choices, but you chose to call it a day! Even when there were external factors affecting you had the choice to act in ""n"" different ways, and you chose what should happen. So how can you not take responsiblity for something that you have chosen?

Normally, people tend to blame ""the rain"" or rather the external factor for their wrong choices.It is actually a means by which people tend to escape from the guilty feeling of taking a wrong choice. This approach is ok, to the extent of soothing oneself, for having taken a choice that backfired. This approach is normally taken by people who hide behind a false reasoning, and fear to face the consequences of their actions. But this approach will not work in the long run, you just have to face reality, and take responsibilities of your actions.

In our day to day lives we encounter many such instances that tend to point that the root cause lies somewhere else. But on carefull analysis, the truth will evince that YOU are the reason behind your success or your failure. The ""thoughts"" you make today transform itself into the ""actions"" of tomorrow. Let us take another example, the Iraq war, why was it taken up? It was decided to strip of the terrorists. This issue has been the most highly debated topic in recent years. No matter whatever the consequences, the president took responsiblity for his actions and publically acknowledged the wrong assumption of the availability of the WMD( Weapons of Mass Destruction).

The normal human tendency is to blame others, they tend to make reasons, to escape from the bitterness of their wrong choices. As an unsophisticated human being it is acceptable, but in this modern world it is high time we start taking responsibilites for our actions. Let us face the world, without fear!"

Technology does it Isolate u?

The technological advancements and their uses, seems to have created a secluded society. A careful analysis will prove the fact that, technology has brought people together and has also offered solutions to remove loneliness. It is up to us to do a balancing act.

The normal populace, think that people have become lonelier, by the arrival of the television, computer, and most of all internet etc. It is because they see only one side of the coin. Let us take a typical scenario, where somebody visits a hospital. And while strolling around hospital, he sees a doctor engrossed in thought over a computer screen. The normal thought wave, would be to doubt the doctor as a malingerer. But actually the doctor is guiding another doctor, say in Timbuktu, to operate on a very difficult case. This misunderstanding is the normal shortcoming of human beings, we tend to take things for granted. This kind of wrong assumptions is very much synonymous to blaming the technological tools for creating a secular society.

Technology offers you a variety of means to communicate with people across the world. Using which we are currently able to give demo's, hold conferences, advice students, provide counselling etc over the web. From a companies perspective it reduces the cost of holding a demo etc. It also enables quicker decision cycles and best of all reduces the overhead for a company.

On the other hand, a obsession over the technological tools, is bound to make this world a seclusive society. Because nowadays, the technological tools, tend to remove direct human contact as much as possible. Let us suppose, you want to buy a Digital camcorder, all you have to do is log on to the net and choose the product you want. Wherein you could also compare features, prices and so on. And once you have decided on the product, you can pick the product and enter your credit card details, and voila, the product will reach you! Is'nt it amazing, to buy a product, without any human intervention. Yes it is! It is ok for some occasions, but not for all, because we loose that sense of personal touch.

There could be some instances, where we need to have the human intervention, to guide us through. Suppose you want to buy a couch, and you enter into a furniture shop. The shopkeeper walks you through the features of the couch, and recommends that a particular one is fast moving, and so on. But you are not comfortable with the couches in display, so you explain that you need something that is cosy and comfortable. The shopkeeper immediately points that you might need a foldable couch cum bed, which will be more appropriate for your need. And finally you end up buying that. This is one of the scenarios where we would appreciate a human intervention rather than logging into the net and buying one.

Technology as such offers you various means to achive whatever you want. The concept of "Six degrees of separation" * could be reduced to "One degree of separation". So it is upto us to perform a balancing act of lead a life in seclusion or not.

*Six Degrees of Separation - To get to or contact anyone in this world, the maximum number of people you need to pass through is five.

Media & Society

We are what we repeatedly do or see,so media plays a major role in shaping the values of a society. The irony is that the media does not seem to realize that it is playing a major role in shaping the future of the society.

Media revolves around the worldly happennings. It actually replays or analyzes an event with its undertstanding of the event. Whenever media, tries to enforce a value/belief, people tend to identify it quickly. The society is becoming shrewd day by day and often keeps the tab on, the media. Still, there has been various instances where the media has been biased and tend to cultivate a belief or value into the society,and has escaped unscathed.

A successfull impact of the media on society, can be seen very much in children, the future generations, of our society. The media has very much influenced the thinking and value system of the next generation. There was an instance, a couple of years ago, where a school kid jumped off the second floor, believing that "Shaktiman", a kids show similar to "Superman", will save him. On the outset we tend to blame the media. But is this really the cause? Actually the media alone cannot be blamed, the society is also responsible for failing to educate the kid, to distininguish the real world and the fictious world. This is the extent to which the media can drive people into an illusive world, very far from reality.

In a sense the illusive world, is ok for someone in depressed state. This temporary departure from reality can reduce the gravity of the situation, and help him recuperate soon. But a prolonged exposure will lead to depression and chaos.

Media influences the children very much, in that sense it controls the society holistically. The important fact is that, the media does not realize that it is having an impact on the society. It is high time they realize the fact that they play a active role in shaping the society. Once they realize that, and streamline what they offer to the society, we could have a better society to live in.

Business and Academia!

The driving factor of any university is to make the students understand the business needs of today and equip them for a better tomorrow. This means there has to be a constant inflow of feedbacks on "what" the business needs today and what it might need tomorrow. This philosophy works best when the time taken, to constantly educate the student of the business needs is very low.

Business needs are changing at a very high pace, so they expect the recruits to be up to date of the recent happennings. For this to happen the instructors at the college have to be on their toes, to understand the new activities. Once they get a complete understanding of the business needs they can very well mould and motivate the students to move in that direction.

A conventional thought could be one of, "why can't we achieve this by means of contact sessions between the students and professionals?" It is very much possible but, for all practical reasons its negatives outweigh the positives. We can schedule contact sessions every week or so. But for all practical reasons, all we could have is a couple of contact sessions over a span of 6 months. And we also expect the visiting professional to list out the business needs, which will be very much misunderstood by the students. Because the professional, presents from a businessman's perspective and transalting it, in terms of educating the students is completely a different task.

Let us take a typical example of a post graduate school: Iin the fast pace of technological advancements, whatever that is vogue today becomes outmoded tomorrow. So any education that teaches something that is outmoded is of lesser value. This pushes the schools to be agile, and flexible. This nimbleness will directly mould the students to adapt to the latest technology. So once the students are out of the schools, they are very much on their toes, with respect to latest technological shifts and conceptual business changes.

Let us take a classical example of Jack Welsh ex CEO of GE , he formulated a unconventional management philosophy that "When something is working, it has to be fixed". That is , when something is working, it is bound to die and it has to be fixed soon, before it falls apart. This was very much contradictory to the traditional adage " When something is working, do not touch it". This is a very valuable lesson in terms of management students. Because they are the people who are going to rule the world tomorrow, that means this shift in business has to be imparted to the students. And more than that, they need to be informed whether that principle holds good for any field.

We can also attribute pessimistice notions to this approach, such as, the instructors will not be able to do justice in handling both the streams ( teaching and professional work) . But there are many other options, such being a consultant etc,are available for the instructors to be in constant touch with the industry. It is just that they need to run that extra mile to do justice to the students.

Solitude Vs Team work !

Irrespective of any given situation, "Team Work Works!" . It is not that students are incapable of studying in solitude, it is just that when they study in collaboration the synergy drives the students, one step further. During the learning period people tend to be skeptical and filled with fraught of underachieving, so they stick with the habit of solitary learning. They often underestimate the power of a "group".

The synergy between the groups is the major impetus that has the power to take them to new heights. Hypothetically, let us assume the research students are challenged to disprove "The theory of relativity" it is near impossible for an solitary individual to disprove the theory, as it is going to take ages. When they form a group they have a better chance to conclude, leave alone disproving it.

The individual complacent attitude often limits the levels of the individual, this never happens in a group activity. The students of the group tend to push the other members to the extreme, thus getting the best out of everyone. Assume a group of students are asked to design a roman amphitheater, with a touch of modernity. Each individual perceives the structure in his own thoughts, this leads to a healthy discussion of the design. Where the design thoughts of each individual is validated against the other students, which helps in bringing out the best of every student and never lets the air of complacency settle in.

In solitude the individual tends to focus on minor aspects and eventually loses the sense of direction. This seldom happens in a group activity, there is always someone to keep tabs on where they are heading. It also helps in playing a balancing act, i.e. the shortcoming of an individual is supplemented by somebody else in the group. This is the power of indulging in group activity. Eventually leads to better results, increase in productivity and agility. The winning ingredients of the group acitivity are the individual members, they can make or break the activity.

There are situations where solitary activity is more effective, incase of a activity which lacks breadth. Whereas Group activity is highly effective when the activity shows breadth that is overwhelming for an individual. Irrespective of all these, group activity works most of the time.

Technology - does it really help us?

Imagine a world devoid of technology, where will we be? living in caves or better still in tree houses. Looking around we can hardly make a list of items not influenced by technology. Technology has become an innate part of our day to-day life.

Assume a natural disaster is going to happen. Technology helps us to forecast such occurrences and warns us ahead of the disaster. The forecasting helps us to take preventive measures. If necessary, we can also transport people to safer places. Technology helps us to survive and reduce the impact of such disasters. Looking at a much more realistic example, like the SARS virus. If it had not been for the medical advancements and communication mechanism the virus could have been - a silent killer spreading its tentacles across the globe - epidemic. Hypothetically speaking mankind could have been made extinct.

On the education front it has opened wide doors, by the arrival of the Internet. It makes it possible for people to share knowledge. On the medical front the average life span of a human being has increased from 40-60 years. This is the direct result of the medical advancements we have made and it has been acknowledged and published by the International medical council. On the entertainment front it helps us to be part of

A.R.Rahman's live musical concert - Bombay Dream's- at London by bringing them to our living room. On the scientific front it helps us to understand, from the creation of the planet (called "Earth"), to the evolution (transformation of a single cell into a homo sapien) of life.

On the other hand we can attribute Hiroshima & Nagasaki, Gulf war, Global warming and many other, as the downside of technology. But the positives outweigh the negative effects of Technology, so Technology solves more problems than it causes and improves the quality of life.

Schools and peace - r they related

"Today's students are tomorrow's leaders" , so it is best to inculcate the need for peace in schools. This is a welcome change, which will make the world a better place to live. In those tender ages, the ability to absorb concepts is very high, so it is the right age to start building a new society.

At the tender ages, they find it difficult to distinguish right from wrong. So it is the responsiblity of the schools to impart those moral convictions in early childhood. Once these students are imparted with the positive ideals, they unconsciously tend to prefer peace rather than war. Because whatever is learnt at an early age has an everlasting impact on their life. So we must be careful in what we impart to those kids.

Let us take India for example, where people tend to find unity in diversity. How did this happen? The current generation never even thinks about communal or cultural clashes? It was not a overnight success? It was not a overnight success? Why? Because, a conscious decision was taken to impart unity among diversity to the students of yesterday. The end result, we harldy find cultural clashes and communal riots. (Leave alone the Gujarat clashes, it seems to be politically motivated)

Let us see the impact on a child, which grows in a war zone. He sees the bloodshed and the atrocities during the wartime. What will be the impact on the child? Obviously the child starts to think that it is OK! to kill someone, and it is fair to kill someone to gain control. The child starts to develop with these moral convictions, after a decade the child could be someone like "Bin Laden", fighting for a fictious cause.

As you can see the impact of early adoption of morals has a everlasting mark. Though this approach of teaching moral convictions about peace is excellent, it takes over a decade. It really cannot not give you an immediate solution. We need to have a portfolio of solutions to tame the atrocious beasts which disrupt "peace" in this world.

Are Observations objective?

On the outset all observations may seem to be objective, but in reality subjectivity tends to shape the objective observations. The observations can be categorized into three for better understanding Objective, Subjective, medley of subjective/objective observations.

Any observation that requires objective proof falls under the objective category. Ex: the observations of scientific laws. Majority of the scientific observations such as the "Brownian Motion" etc. are Objective in nature. But it is very much possible for the observer to incorporate his expectations and desires unconsciously. Given the nature of human being, it will be unfair to blame those observers. In the field of science, Objective observations are very much dominant. There is nothing called subjective observations, it is actually baseless to be purely subjective.

A medley of subjectivity over objectivity is the norm of the world. This is something that happens in our day to day life. Most part of our day we observe and make choices. Our observations differ with someone elses. Why? It is because 'People see the world with their beliefs and values', each ones perception of the world differs,adding subjectivity to the observation.Let us see an anecdote to emphasize that subjectivity prevails. " Two marketing guys from two different shoe sales company were asked to visit a under developed country. To study the market scenario and plan whether it makes sense for the company to open a branch there. The two guys visited the country and came back with their findings. The first guy said ' These people do not even wear slippers, there is no market here. It is not advisable to branch out here'. The second guy was with full vigor his report stated ' These people do not wear slippers, there is a huge market' " This explains the power of Subjectivity.

The worldly trend is to be objective but unconsciouly we tend to be subjective, it is high time we recognize that!