CHAPTER V

Analysis and Interpretations

Man has got a very complex personality integrating in itself a number of dimensions such a s physical, psychological, intellectual, social, moral and spiritual. None of these aspects of human personality remains unaffected by TV. The focus of this research study is on four major dimensions of human personality: social, moral, cognitive and emotional. The findings are presented under the said four headings. But it is preceded by a section on the T viewing habits and programme preferences of children V which, the researcher thinks, would serve a s a background to the analysis that follows.

1. TV viewing Habits and Programme Preferences of Children

Chlldren getting influenced by TV,to some extent, depends on their viewing habits. Therefore, some preliminary information on the viewing habits was collected. The intention was to know how much time children spent for watching TV and what type of programmes they regularly watched and which programmes they liked the most. A brief presentation of their viewing habits and programme preferences are presented in the following two sub-sechons.

A. TV Viewing habits
The research data show that children spend considerable time watching TV but it also indicates that there is no excessive watching. Almost 80% children watch TV for one to two hours a day on working days.

On holidays they watch for two to four hours. Some 15% watch TV only for half an hour on working days as seen in chart 1. Chart 1: Children's viewing time on working days and holidays
i l

TV Watching on
working days
watckg holidays
On

3. 06

a TV

'I2k.

'/,-I hT.

1-11/2 h

11/2-2h 2 3 h

There are about 10 (3.3%) families where children do not watch TV on working days. In some cases, children may not care to watch TV and in other cases parents may not allow them to watch. What is the role of socialisation in the family in the TV viewing habits of children? Do better socialised children watch TV less or more? There are a number of possibilities. Poorly socialised children might not be properly integrated into the family. Hence they may be glued to the TV. Another possibility is that they do not want to remain a t home and therefore, go out to play, resulting in less time before TV. On the other hand better socialised children may watch TV less because they may have other interesting occupations a t home. But if their parents themselves spend much time viewing TV,children may also do the same. The research data do not give a definite picture of the impact of socialisation on the TV viewing habits of children. But certain trends are observable. Less socialised children do not spend more time before TV.

It may be an indication that they spend more time playing outside. Better socialised children do not seem to watch TV less. Reading the data along with the responses given to another question on the reasons for poor score in the examination one can conclude that watching T is V predominantly a family affair and that better socialised children are likely to watch TV for longer time as can be seen in tables 2 and 3. Table 2: T Viewing on working days V

V Table 3: T Viewing on holidays

The tables show that the influence of family score on viewing is not very definitive. Now we turn our attention to the variables of sex, age,

r religion, region, education of parents and income of family and t y to see

whether they influence the TV viewing habits of children. On working days it is boys who watch more. On holidays it is the V other way: girls spend more.time watching T a s can be seen in tables 4and 5.

70

Table 4: Boys and girls watching TV on working days

Table 5: Boys and girls watching TV on holidays

Age does not seem to have a telling influence on the viewing habits. Nevertheless it can be said that juniors spend a little more time watching

TV than seniors a s seen in tables 6 and 7.

Table 6: Juniors and seniors watching TV on working days

Table 7: Juniors and seniors watching TV on holidays

Religion and region do not much influence the viewing habits of children. Education of parents and income of the family also play no si@icant role in the viewing habits.

It would be informative to compare the time children watch TV and the time they take for study. Children definitely take more time for study than the time they spend before TV on working days. Chart: 2 Comparison of time spent for TV 86 study on working days
36
~(TV time

I/,

hr.

l 2 -1 hr. 1-l1I2 hrs. il/, -2 hrs.

2-3hrs.

3-4hrs.

4+hrs.

Chart 3: Companson of time spent for TV & study on holidays

~ T time V

Chart 2 shows that while the majority of children watch TV for one to two hours, they study for one and half hours to three hours on working days. On holidays, the average TV time is two to four hours; study time is one to two hours. On a weekly basis, the time taken for TV watching and time for study are, roughly speaking, equal, study having an edge over TV.
a

Coming to the impact of socialisation on study habits of children, it seems that better socialised children spend a little more time on study on
week days. But on holidays it is the other way around. Here are the

responses on the basis of family score. Table 8: Study time on weekdays on the basis of family score

Table 9: Study time on holidays on the basis of family score

It is well known that in Kerala girls are more studious than boys and girls perform better in examinations. The research findings also show that the study time of girls are more than that of boys. On holidays the difference is less sharp. Table 10:Time spent for study by boys and girls on working days

Table 11: Time spent for study by boys and girls on holidays

Education of parents is another factor that has some influence in the study hours of children. With some minor variations the trend is that a s the education of parents goes up study hours of children also rise up a s can be seen in table 12: Table 12: Study time of children on the basis of the education of their parents

So It can be concluded that TV viewing is mainly a family affair and children mostly watch along with their parents. Hence better socialised children are likely to spend a little more time watching W than poorly socialised ones. But one cannot say that there is excessive watching. Nor does TV viewing seriously affect their studies. On working days the emphasis is on study. But on holidays children entertain themselves watching TV in which their parents may also join.

B. Programme Preferences of Children

In order to check their programme preferences, children were asked which programmes they regularly or occasionally watched and which programmes they liked the most. They were to indicate the order of their liking. Cinema emerges a s the most favourite TV programme of children. Almost 70 per cent watch it regularly, another 24 per cent watch it occasionally. It also happens to be the programme they like the most. For 30 per cent, it is the most favoured programme, for another 25 per cent it is the second most favoured programme, for 19 per cent the third most favoured one. The second favoured programme is serials; 67 per cent watch it regularly and another 25 per cent occasionally. For 10 per cent, it is the programme they like the most. 27 per cent give it the second preference, 22 per cent the third preference. The next programme viewed and liked most by children is music and dance. 55 per cent view it regularly and another 27 per cent occasionally. News and news programmes have also got good viewership; 53 per cent regularly watch news, another 30 per cent occasionally. But news ranks only seventh in the order of children's liking, music and dance getting the third rank. Cartoons and sports are two items of the TV menu in which children show considerable interest. 38 per cent of children watch cartoon shows regularly, another 40 per cent watch occasionally. Sports shows are viewed regularly by 29%, occasionally by 40 per cent. Cartoon shows are more favoured than sports programmes. 14 per cent of children consider cartoon

as their most favoured programme; 12 per cent the second most liked
programme, 16 per cent, the third most liked programmes. The percentage for sports is 13, 8, 7 respectively. Though children generally seek entertainment from TV,a fair number of them watch educational programmes. 19 per cent of children watch them regularly, whereas 47 per cent watch them occasionally. It is the most favoured programme of about 5 per cent of children, the second most favoured of 6 per cent and the third most liked one of another 6 per cent. Table 13 shows the order of children's liking for various programmes. Table 13: Liking of children for various programmes

The least watched programme is one on folklore. Only 2 per cent watch it regularly, 13.66 per cent occasionally. The second from the bottom is literature: those who watch it regularly are 5 per cent and watch occasionally are 11.6%. Only a few are interested in programmes on farming and in documentaries which occupy the third and fourth place from the bottom. Only a very few consider these as their favourite programmes.
I t may be concluded that children in general, approach TV primarily

a s an entertainment medium. They spend more time watching cinema, serials, music and dance, cartoon and sports. But they do not shy away

from educational programmes. It is possible that viewership is dependent on the quality of the programme. But still, it seems, children would rather relax with TV than strain to get knowledge from TV.

2.

TV and the Sociality of Children

TV is sometimes accorded the status of a socialising agent along

with the family, the school and the religious community. People believe V that TV shapes children's attitudes, values and ideals. That T makes children asocial, makes them value things more than persons, changes their life styles, refashions their social roles and expectations are some of the fears commonly expressed by people. In this section the question of

TV's influence on the sociality of children is taken up. According to our

hypothesis, children, whose family environment quality is higher, would be less influenced by TV.

A. TV and Social Orientation

Does TV negatively influence the social orientation of children and make them social misfits? The people of Kerala are said to be highly individualistic and lacking a sense of community. The topography and the pattern of habitats may be factors that contribute to such individualism. The terrain, the layout of agricultural land and the availability of water for most part of the year allow defused patterns of habitat. These dispersed homesteads, each with its wall, garden land and boundary walls make Keralites to some extent self-contained and individualistic. On the other hand, the cluster village system in other parts of India may foster social cohesion, solidarity and cooperation among the villagers. Does that mean the people of Kerala are asocial? The innumerable associations and movements in Kerala indicate that they are capable of

coming together for common causes. In the face of calamities and human misery they rise above partisan considerations, group rivalries and sectarian thinking. In a research conducted recently in Kerala on T V and Culture', the researcher presented the respondents with a list of eight positive traits of Kerala Culture and asked them to rate them. The traits listed were simplicity, self-dependence, frugality, cleanliness, hard work, friendliness, love of family and kin, and hospitality. Along with simplicity and hard work, love of family got high rates.' The family ties in Kerala are still strong and members are bound by certain rights and obligations. Though the nuclear family is the predominant family form, each nuclear family considers itself as a unit of a large extended family. Keralites are clannish though in a subtle and sophisticated way. They value human relationships and try to maintain warmth in human dealings. Now, many fear that TV negatively influences the social orientation of children and make them inward looking. Long hours of TV watching cut them off from the real world and make them incapable or ill-equipped to deal with real persons. This, in turn, will have a long term impact on social cohesion. It will further strengthen the individualistic tendencies of the people of Kerala. Viewed from our theoretical position this fear must be without foundation. Children receive message from TV through the cognitive structure that is already formed. They perceive only those messages that make sense to them i.e, they assimilate the information from TV that fit in
1.

Joseph Velacherry, Television a n d Kerala Culture, Research Report, 2000. (unpublished)

with the cognitive structure. It is already pointed out that a cognitive structure is a function of a social structure and that a child appropriates the social structure into himself through the process of socialisation. Thus a better socialized child is less influenced by TV and would score high on social orientation. Our research data support this. There were three questions to ascertain children's social orientation. The first question was intended to get their reaction to the visit of a close relative to their homes when they were engrossed in watching TV. The reactions listed were 1)their coming is a nuisance, 2) indifferent to their V coming, 3) let me watch now and after that I will talk to them, 4) T programme becomes secondary. The results show that a higher percentage of children from low score families consider the visit of relatives a nuisance or remain indifferent to their coming. On the other hand, as the family score goes up children consider TV programmes a s secondary and are more welcoming. Tablel4: Children's reaction to the visit of close relatives

It is said that with the coming of TV, children's interaction with others has decreased and that they prefer to be in the company of the imaginary TV characters. Sunday after-noon cinema is one item that is avidly watched by people all over Kerala. So, children were asked whether

they would accompany their parents to a friend's house on a Sunday afternoon foregoing the cinema on TV. Nearly half of the children said that they would gladly go with their parents. Another 26% said they would go with them with reluctance. 23% of them preferred to remain a t home. It is interesting to note that half of the children from families with the lowest score want to remain at home. The percentage of such children from the second lowest group is 32. Only 17% of the children with the highest family score would do so. This order is reversed in the case of children who gladly accompany their parents a s seen in tablel5. Tablel5: Children's willingness to visit friends forgoing cinema on

The P. Chi-Square Test shows that there is association between the family score and responses of the children as shown below :

Likelihood Raho

N of Valid Cases

The P value is less than .05 and hence the association is established.

The third question went a step further and sought to test the social commitment of the children. The question was: You have promised to meet a friend a t a particular time. Later you come to know that there is a very interesting programme on TV a t that time. Then a) you just don't go to meet himfher, b) you inform him/her you would not be able to come, c) you forgo the programme to keep your word. The answers show that TV has not made children asocial. 66.7% are willing to forgo a T programme to keep the word with their friends. V

26.3%would at least inform of their inability to keep the promise. Only 7%

would disregard their social obligation. Family score has an influence on children's behaviour in this regard, but it may not be very pronounced. Table 16: Children's social commitment

A small percentage of children from every group ignore their social

commitment and watch TV. The large majority would either inform their V friends of their inability to meet them or would give up the T programme.
A s the family score goes up, social commitment also goes up to some degree.

The variables of sex, age, religion, region, education of parents and income do not have any signficant influence on the social orientation of children. However, religion seems to have a minor influence. Muslim children tend to be more socially oriented than Hindus and Christians.

The reason is perhaps that religion has a greater hold among Muslim children, while Christians and Hindus are more secularised. Compared to urban children, rural children have got more social orientation. But the Thrissur region seems to be an exception. It is to be noted that the Thrissur village is more urbanised than the other two villages.

B.

TV and Consumerism
Whether TV fosters consumerism among children, whether

consumerist values affect them is the next area of enquiry. One of the chief complaints about TV is that through advertisements, it promotes consumerism. By the early years of the twentieth century industrial capitalism had perfected techniques of mass production. New mass consumer goods began to arrive in the market one after another. For the purchase of these new commodities mass consumption was necessary and this led to new modes of advertising and marketing. Corporate bodies and advertising agencies began planning ways to produce consumers to promote consumption a s a way of life. Advertisements also attempted to create fears in the minds of the people and told them certain commodities would solve their problems. They asked individuals to buy products to combat their bad breath or body odours. If they did not do this they would not be socially acceptab1e.l Advertisements presented certain products as according social status to people. Soft drinks and fast food which were of doubtful nutritional value were promoted using this technique.

2 JohnLhmg, AtiA!ohmrunadiA&lle .

%hryMohanvrud(&),

QuesiioningtheMedia,

SAGEPltbh'mhons,N e w L k l 1995;~. ~ 331.

They also played on the guilt syndrome felt by parents. They suggested that if parents did not give certain things to their children they failed in their duty as parents. Maggi noodles, for instance tried to evoke this guilt feeling.3 Advertisements are increasingly targeted to the children. The principle is that it is better to catch them young. It is generally felt that children are more vulnerable to the persuasive messages of advertisements. Children watching more TV are to be more exposed to these messages.

An attempt was made to know whether children were persuaded by

the advertisement messages and how far they were affected by a consumerist way of life. There were six questions on TV advertisements and related issues. Soft drinks especially Pepsi cola is one of the most advertised products on TV. Another is Frootie, a cool drink, a favourite of children. Three questions were asked on this. The f i s t question was: Do you insist to get Frootie or Pepsi cola when you go out with your parents?

A good number of children (37.5%)would occasionally ask for frootie

or pepsi cola when they go out with their parents. Only 32.1% said they would never ask for it. But only 4.3% said they would demand it every time they go out. The influence of socialisation in the family is discernible. While 2 1.4% of the low score group would ask for the drinks every time they go out, only 1.2% of the high score group would do so.

Chart 4: Children's liking for Pepsi Cola and Frootie

Though better socialisation would lessen the influence of ad messages, T advertising does have some influence on all categories of V children More than half of the children (53.1%) took a liking for frootie or pepsi seeing the ads on TV.The inspiration for 38.4% children for developing a lilung for them was their friends. The next question was on noodles which was also advertised, on a large scale, on TV. The question read like this: Will you compel your mummy to prepare noodles and other items seen on TV? The answers confum what has already been stated, Yiz., TV ads have some influence on children. Forty per cent children said that they would never compel their mummies to prepare noodles for them. But 32.7% would occasionally do so. Only 6.7% would always ask their mothers to prepare noodles. Here again the family score has a bearing on the response of children a s chart 3 shows. Chart 5: Children's demand for noodles

Sc.1

Sc.

sc. 3

Sc. 4

After food items it is toiletries that take away much of the advertising

d time on TV.Among toiletries different brands of toilet soaps f the ad time

during prime hours. Do these advertisements succeed in developing brand fidelity among children? The answer is 'no' for all practical purposes. 77% children said they would never ask for a particular brand of toilet soap. Only 2.7% said they were particular about a certain brand, the advertisement of which they watched on TV. Here again the family score does play a role as seen in chart 4. Chart 6: Brand fidility to advertised toilet soaps

It is clear that children from low score families are more influenced

by TV advertisements than others. There was a similar question on cosmetic items of which the advertisements are quite frequent on TV. The number of children who always ask for cosmetic items advertised on TV is not very siWcant
(2.7%). But a considerable number of persons (13.7%)do occasionally ask

tU for them. The impact of socialisation in the family is si more pronounced in this case, a s can 'be seen in table 17.

85

Table : 17 Children's demand for cosmetic items:

The Chi-Square Test indicates that P value is less than .05 and so there is association between the family score and the responses of the children a s shown below.

Value Pearson Chi-Square Likelihood Ratio Linear-by-Linear

N of Valid Cases

d f
3 3

Asymp. Sig. (2 sided)

7.969 7.153 6.792 298

.047 ,067

.m O

A s can be expected, cosmetic advertisements have more influence

on girls. With regard to cosmetic items the influence of TV advertisements on girls is noteworthy. Advertisements are deliberate attempts to influence the behaviour of people. But children unwittingly pick up behaviour patterns from other programmes. There were two questions to assess this non-deliberate

r learning. The first question was : Do you t y to dress up and do hair a s the
heroes or heroines of T shows do? V

Only a very small percentage of children always try to imitate heroes But 17.6% of them do occasionally try to do or heroines of TV shows (3%). that. N such attempt is made by 63.9%. What is of interest to u s is the o influence of socialisation in the family. The better socialised the child is, the less is such non-deliberate learning from TV. This finding could be taken a s validating the hypothesis. That the better socialised do not pick up certain behaviour patterns from TV, means that their mind, structured according to the norms and values of their family (and society) rejects those aspects of what they see. Chart 7: Children's imitation of TV Characters: occasionally try to imititate the behaviour of TV characters Never imitate the behaviour of TV characters
70.9%

Chewing gum was never a practice in Kerala. But it is common in North India. Characters of Hindi programmes and cinema are often seen chewing gums. And now this practice is slowly spreading in Kerala especially among children and young people. So children were asked whether they chewed gum or bubble gum.

Only 4.4% regularly use chewing gum. But 45.3% use it occasionally. Only 20.9% say they never use it. The influence of family is discernible. Chart 8: Children regularly using chewing gum

Sc.1

Sc.2

Sc.3

Sc.4

But the reverse trend is absent in the case of children who never use it. Nearly half of the children with high family score use it occasionally. The reason perhaps is that the practice is considered a s a fashion and not a s a socially significant custom. Fashion is something personal; it pertains to certain peripheral aspects of social life that do not affect the stability or well-being of the society.+ There was a specific question a s to how the children formed this habit. One fourth of them learned it from their elder brothers or sisters
and one third of them from their friends. Only 20% picked it from TV. TV's

influence only slightly declines as the family score goes up. Chart 9: TV's influence on children's habit of chewing mediated by family environment

4.

R.M. Maclver & C.H. Page, Society, An Introductory Analysis, Macmillan, NewDelhi 1 9 7 4 ; ~1181fl .

C. Traditionalism V s Modernism
There are certain customs and modes of behaviour that have their roots in culture. Since they are culture-specific, it is not easy to change them. Eating habits, dressing habits, music and dance, and relationship between sexes come under this category. An attempt was made to find out whether Western influences through TV lead to changes in the traditional attitudes and modes of behaviour. It is not very long since soft drinks such a s Pepsi cola and Coca cola were introduced into the Kerala market. They are mainly promoted by advertisements on TV. Tender coconut water is a locally available health drink which is never advertised in the media. Tender coconut is a traditional product. On the other hand, drinking Pepsi cola is presented a s fashionable. So the question was asked : You are thirsty and you can choose a bottle of Pepsi cola or a tender coconut; which will you choose? Thuty-eight percent of children said they would choose Pepsi, 32% opted for tender coconut. One can observe here a trend in favour of modern/ Western products but it is not very strong. What is strange is that socialisation does not have a bearing on this trend. Children from low family score do show a mild preference for tender coconut. The responses force us to conclude that the parents themselves to some extent may have seen taken u p by these products. Dressing habits are also being influenced by the modern trends propagated by TV and other media. But it is not an all out option for Western styles. Traditional dressing habits are simply modified by them a s can be seen in table 18.

89

Table 18: Children's preference for various types of dress

The influence of socialisation is much less except in the case of children with the lowest family score who show a slight preference for modem styles.

D. Music and Dance

India has got a rich music and dance tradition which is deeply rooted

in the culture of the land. The f h music of Kerala is a lighter version of

classical Carnatic music. There may be also some influence of Hindustani music. Classical forms of dance such a s Bharata Natyarn and Mohmiyattam are alive and kiclung. Various TV Channels telecast a number of music and dance programmes every week which range from popular f h music to classical music from folk dance to highly specialised classical forms of dance. On the other hand, Western music, especially its popular version, finds also a place in the programme schedule of TV channels. Western dance in its popular forms is becoming a hit with young ones. Channels like MTV, V-Channel and Asia Music telecast music and dance programmes which are predominantly Western. Do Western music and dance programmes on TV change tastes of children of Kerala? Are they crazy about Western music and dance?

'Not much' is the answer in general. Only 12.7% prefer Western Pop music to other forms. Almost 70% like the light version of Carnatic music. Coming to dance, more children have a l k n for Western pop (28.3%)But iig
40% are for Indian classical dance and about 26% like folk dance.

Socialisation in the family h a s got a bearing on children's preferences. The better socialised the child is, the less his liking for Western music. A better socialised child is likely to be more rooted in the indigenous cultural tradtions: Chart 10: Children's liking for Western Pop music

This is also true of dance. The charts below are a comparison of children's liking for Indian classical dance and for Western Pop dance. Chart 11: Children's liking for various dance forms:
Liking for Indian Classical dance
53.5

Liking for Western Pop dance

Children from low score families are equally divided in their l k n iig for Indian classical and Western pop dances. But while 53.5% of top score families prefer Indian classical dance, only 12.8% have a liking for western dance. Girls tend to be more traditional than boys. While 62.2% of the boys like Indian light music, 72% of the girls like it. 17.9% of the boys have a liking for Western pop music. Only 7% of the girls like it. This trend is reflected also in their preferences for dance as can be seen in tables 19 and 20. Table 19: Relative lilung of boys and girls for various types of music

Sex

Ljght music
97

Indian classical
17

Western classical
14

Western Pop
28

Total
156

Boys 62.2% Girls 72.2% Total 66.9%

10:
20C

10.9Y0 14.7% 12.7%

21
38

9.0043
6.3%
9

17.9% 7.0% 12.7%

10

100043 1000h 100043

143 299 38

7.7%

23

iig Table 20: Relative l k n of boys and girls for various dance forms

The other variable that influences children's likes and dislikes with regard to music and dance is the income of the parents. The influence is too strong to be ignored a s seen in charts 10 and 11.

Chart 12: Music: preference of various classes

78.1
72.7

.~ . ~ u s i c I
I W . ~ P Music

Poor

Low
m i d .cl

middle class

Upper mid .cl

Upper class

Chart 13: Dance: Preference of various classess .q~olk Dance

Poor

LOW

middle class

Upper mid.cl.

upper

class

A s the income level goes up, children prefer Western pop music and dance to Indian music and dance forms. With regard to dance there is a n anomaly in the case of poorer children. It can be assumed that the affluent class are more exposed to Western dance and music and open to Western influences. TV need not be the chief cause of such influences.

Coming to religion, Christians are more open to Western music and dance. While 9.1% of the Hindus and 5.1% of the Muslims enjoy Western Pop music 16.8% of the Christians enjoy it. In the case of dance, the figures are 18%and 12.8% for Hindus and Muslims respectively and 38.6% for Christians. This is to be expected in the background of the opportunity Christians have got for close interaction with the West. To conclude, TV seems not to be a great modemising or Westernising agent. Children come into contact with Western fashion, music and dance through TV and their attitude towards indigenous music and dance is affected by them. That may not radically change their attitude especially to music and dance which are more bound to the home culture. Apart from
TV there may be other influences a t work.

E. TV and Independent Thinking

One of the characteristics of modernism is the stress on the individual. The Indian society is traditionally hierarchical and the Indian family patriarchal. The family a s a group gets precedence over individual members. Members are bound by family norms and values. Does TV impart children a modem outlook and make them more independent in their thinking and judgement? To assess this, two questions were put to children: 1. In selecting your dress, shoes and other wears who does take the decision? 2. In choosing a course of study or selecting a career who does take the decision? In selecting one's dress etc. only 20.4% take an independent decision. 29.9% take the decision in consultation with their parents. In choosing a career, more children like an independent decision (34.7%). 34.0% consult their parents before taking such a decision.

94

Table 2 1 : Selection of personal goods

Table 22: Choice of Future Career

Total

16.Ph

15.3%

34.7%

108/0

The influence of parents on better socialised children can be observed.

It may be because children from such families have closer relations with
their parents which may make them more dependent. In the selection of personal goods and future career children from low score families tend to be more independent (42.9%). Only 10.6% children of top score families independently choose their personal goods. In career selection, 22.1% do so. The data show that in shaping their future children take a little more freedom. It is safe to assume that despite TV,the family's hold on children has not been considerably reduced.

It is interesting to note that boys and girls do not show any difference
in asserting their independence. But older children are a s can be expected

more independent: Table 23: Selection of Personal Goods by Juniors and Seniors

Table 24: Choice of Future Career by Juniors and Seniors

Education of 1.he parents and income of the family are not very significant factors and therefore are not taken up for discussion.

F. Sex mores
Though the people of Kerala are educationally advanced and exposed to foreign life styles, they tend to be conservative in certain areas of social life, especially in sex mores. There is still some segregation between boys and girls. Separate schools and colleges for boys and girls are not uncommon
in Kerala. But children watch on T girls and boys mingling freely. Bold V

expressions of romantic love or even sexual intimacy can be seen on the small screen.

To the question whether children think that boys and girls should

ak have the opportunity to meet, t l and mingle freely among themselves,

the responses are evenly divided. 44.3% say that they should have more opportunity to do so, but 55.7% do not feel such a need. The impact of socialisation is quite evident a s seen in chart 12.

Chart 14: Whether boys and girls should have more opportunity to mingle
freely

SC.1

sc.2

sc.3

sc.4

It seems clear that better socialised children assimilate the nonns

and values of society and feel quite comfortable with the existing social mores. T may not disturb the existing social mores especially in the area V of relations between sexes. The education of parents h a s some bearing on the responses. Children of highly educated parents are for more freedom in the dealings of boys and girls. With both parents having postgraduate degrees, 75% of children favour change. When one of the parents has got a PG degree, only
50% favour change. For other groups the percentage of those who want

change is below 50%

There are wide regional differences. Whereas 78.3% of the Trivandmm children want more freedom only 10.7% of children from Kozhikode do so. 80% of the Kottayam children are satisfied with the existing order. There is some sort of Muslim influence in Kozhikode and perhaps it is reflected in the statistics. Kottayam village is also to some extent conservative in this regard. Among religious groups, it is the Hindus who ask for change (47.5'74, whereas the Muslims seem to be more resistant to change (63.2%). A s indicated earlier, the Muslims as a community may not accord more freedom to their women. Age is also a significant factor. While 35.1% of younger ones ask for change, 52.l0/0 of the older group feel the need for it. Children as they get older seem to feel that there should be more freedom in dealings between sexes. More girls ask for freedom than boys. This may be because girls consider themselves to be a t the receiving end in the existing social situation: Table 25: Attitude of boys and girls towards girls having more freedom
-

want more freedom

BOB

no change
47 9%
521 % 55.7%

Total
9 2

41 0%.

61
8

13 0% 13 0% 13 0%

156
142

G&

478%
44 3

7 4

T a

12 3

16

23

However, it is to be noted that more than half of the girls are satisfied with the existing social system which allows less freedom to them. This shows that by socialisation they assimilate the values prevalent in the society.

The next issue is gender justice. Children watch on

TV women

playing social roles equal to that of men. The question is whether TV provides children with a sense of gender justice. There were four questions to ascertain the views on gender justice. Two pertained to the relationship between husband and wife and the other two to that of brothers and sisters. Indian tradition prescribes that the wife should walk behind her husband. But this tradition is slowly changing and the young couples who are projected more on TV walk side by side. And the large majority of children have a modem outlook in this regard. 84.3% of children say that wives need not walk behind their husbands. Only 15.7% think otherwise. Again 'an ideal' wife according to the Indian tradition eats only after serving food to her husband. In some of the T programmes this practice is V depicted. Husbands and wives sitting together a t a dining table is also shown on TV. Nearly half of the children (44.8%)do not find any incongruity in this custom. Socialisation in the family, to some extent, affects the thinking of children. Table 26: Children's attitude towards wives walking side by side or behind husbands

99

Children from low score families are less inclined to question the custom while those from top score families show that inclination. With regard to the second custom, the same pattern is seen but with some variations in the opinion of children from the middle score families. Table 27: Children's attitude towards wives eating together with husbands

Girls are more conservative than boys. While 14.5% of the boys stand for status quo, 22.9% girls are for it. In case of the second custom, while 37.4% of the boys favour the tradition, 52.8% girls favour it. Christians (86.1%) and Muslims (84.2%) seem to be more liberal' than Hindus (72.9%) with regard to the wife walking behind her husband. The trend is the same with the second custom also. On treating sons and daughters on par, the first question is on an issue which is generally accepted in society today but the second pertains to sex mores which are slow to change. The first question is whether brother and sister should be given equal treatment in matters of dress, education, etc. 85.3% responded positively. Only 14.3%)said that it was not necessary. The influence of socialisation is clearly discernible. A s the child gets more socialised, he tends to conform to the traditional standards:

Chart 15: Whether brother and sister should be given equal treatment

aNO Equal Treatment

a~ ~ uTreatment a l

SC. 1

SF.

Sc. 3

Sc. 4

To the question whether girls should be allowed to go out freely, just a s boys do, 63.2% responded negatively. Only 34.5% favoured freedom for girls which equals that of boys. This seems to be a debatable question and socialisation does not have any perceptible impact on children's attitude.
Girls (88.5%)demanded equality more than the boys (82.8%).They

also asked for more freedom to go out. Only 26.6% boys think that girls should have equal freedom, but 43.0% girls think so. Older children (88.3%) favour equal treatment of brother and sister. But a s they grow up, they think that girls' freedom should be restricted (younger group: 36.6% older group: 32.9%). Hindus seem to be the most liberal, while Muslims are the least liberal in the matter of giving equal treatment to brother and sister.

On giving more freedom to girls, Christians are more cautious than Muslims and Hindus. While 40% Hindus and 35.9% Muslims favour it, only 30.6% of the Christians favour it. May be Christians are more concerned with the virtue of chastity. Chart 16: Equal treatment to brother and sister: approaches by various religious groups

Hindus

Xtians

Muslims

The rich do not seem to be very enthusiastic about equal opportunity to brothers and sisters. But the poor are for equal opportunity. This may be due to the circumstances of the latter which demand hard work from both men and women.

Chart 17: Equal treatment to brother and sister: approaches by various classes

87.5

L.M.

It can be said that TV is, to some extent, instrumental in modemising the outlook of children in matters of relations between sexes and gender justice. But TV does not seem to have brought about radical changes in this regard. Better socialised children tend to conform the traditional standards. The fmdings with regard to TV's influence on the sociality of children generally support the hypothesis that family environment is a mediating factor between TV and children.

3. TV and the Moral Sensibility of Children

It was mentioned earlier that one of the chief complaints against TV

was that it promoted consumerism. The principle of consumerism is that

'the more you consume, the happier you are'. It has got moral implications.

Consumerism is based on hedonist principles. It makes individuals selfcentred and makes it difficult for them to submit themselves to a higher moral order. So it is feared that consumerism would make children little narcissuses who are too self-indulgent. The self-indulgent will not care for other persons. They may value things more than human persons. They tend to value a person on the basis of what he possesses. They go by external appearances and packaging becomes more important than content. In such an environment truth and honesty may take a back seat. People tend to believe that one can adopt any means to achieve one's ends. Agression becomes acceptable. People are likely to become insensitive to human suffering and misery. Thls is the scenario people have before their eyes when they say that TV undermines the moral values on which the society is f m l y grounded. Depiction of mindless violence and erotic sex on TV aggravates their fears with regard to chidlren. According to the thesis proposed, TV wiU not seriously affect the value system of children from well-socialised families. It may have some influence on the moral sensibility of children from low score families.

A. Children's Sensitivity to Others' Needs

Two questions were asked to test whether children were sensitive to the needs o others or too self-indulgent. The fust question was: Your f grandparents are sick and need your help. You are watching TV.You will
1)never care for them, 2) help without sacrificing TV programme, 3) try to

find some time to help in between, 4) be always willing to help foregoing TV. The second question was: Your mummy wants your help in the household

chores a s you watch TV. Your response: 1)you remain motionless, 2) you offer to help after watching the particular programme, 3) you help her reluctantly but without switching off the TV, 4) you switch off the TV and help her. The data show that the percentage of children who are completely indifferent to the needs of others is very small, 2.7% would never care for their grandparents; 5.7% would not respond to mothers' request for help. But children from the lowest score families behave dinerently. 14.3% would not care for their grandparents, 2 1.4% would not respond to their mothers. Socialisation in the family has a definite impact on children's sensitivity to others' needs. 21.4% of score 1 families will help their grandparents only without sacrificing TV programme. Only 42.9% will forgo T programmes to help their grandparents. While 10.5% of score 4 children V are not willing to make such sacrifice. 62.8% of the group will be doing so. Chart 18: Whether Children are willing to makde sacrifice for helping their grandparents j ~ o sacrificing t Willing to sacrifice

a
53.1

Sc. 2

Children can be more free with their mothers. So, though the pattern is repeated in the second case, the percentages are lower a s seen in chart 28: Table 28: Children's willingnes to help mothers :

There is association between the family score and the responses of the children a s indicated by the Chi-Square Test.

Likelihood Ratio

The P value is less than .05 and hence the association is established. Sex difference does not count much but girls are a shade more sensitive to the needs of others. While 56.1% boys will forgo TV programmes to help their grandparents, 60.8% girls would do so. The corresponding figures for the second question are 47.1% and 48.3%. Likewise, younger ones tend to be more sensitive than the older ones. 61% of the younger

group would sacrifice TV programmes for helping grandparents, 56.4% of the elder group would do so. The corresponding figures for the next question are 51.5% and 44.8%. It seems that the elder ones tend to be more assertive and independent minded which are the traits of teenagers. Religion seems to have a moderate influence on children's attitude. Muslim children appear to be less sensitive to the needs of others. Between Hindus and Christians the former have an edge over the latter a s seen in table 29 and 30. Table 29: Wlilingness to help their grandparents: approches by vaious religious groups

Table 30:Willingness to help their mothers: approaches by various religious groups

The poor are more sensitive to the needs of others than the rich. The question of helping their grandparents brings it out forcefully a s documented in charts 17 and 18.

Chart 19: Chidlren who forgo a TV programme to help their grandparents: approaches by various classes

Poor

Low.Middle

Middle

U.Middle

U.class

Chart 20: Chidlren who forgo a TV programme to help their moth approaches
by various classes

Poor

Low.Middle

Middle

U .Middle

U.Class

The data show that family environment has got an influence on children's sensitivity to the needs of others. The religious faith and to a greater degree their family income also play a role.

B. Children and human relationships

Consumerism fosters love of things. People are supposed to use things and love persons. It is said that consumerism reverses this order. In Martin

Buber's words it promotes the ?-It' relationship, not the ?-Thou' relati~nship.~ Has TV engendered this consumerist thiiking? Do children value things more than persons? To know children's attitude a rather straight question was put to them: Your friend has got a set of high quality sketch pens. You can coerce him to hand it over to you. He will not complain, but that will seriously affect your friendship. What will you do?' Those who want to have the set without caring for friendship are an insignificant minority. But 8% will t y to get it without completely breaking r off the relationship. 26.3% would like to keep the friendship intact but, nevertheless, would like to get the set. But 64.3%will never think of doing ang that will affect the friendship. We may safely assume that chidlren
,

still value human relationships and their desire for things has not become detrimental to keeping friendships. Chart 19: Comparison of children vlueing things and children valueing things and children valueing friendship 1Desire to have set m ~ e s i r e keep friendship to

5.

According to Martin Buber, two primary words are the combinations o f 'I-Thou' and ''t. He writes: "Every 'It' is bounded by others. It exists Il' only through being bounded by others. But when Thouis spoken, there is nothing. Thou has no bounds". He continues: *But this is the exalted melancholy o ourfate, that every Thou in our world must become an ItQ; f Martin Buber, I and Thou, T. 86 T.,Clark, Edinburgh, 1958; pp.
15-17,31.

Sociahation in the family has a bearing on children's attitude. Chart

19 shows a comparison of the percentage of children wanting to get the

set of sketch pens without breaking of the relationship and that of children who will never think of doing anything that affects the friendship. The education of parents is a factor to be reckoned with. As the education of the parents go up children better appreciate friendship as seen in table 3 1. Table 3 1: education Children valueing things on friendship: influence of parents'

This reinforces the thesis that family, especially parents, play a major role in forming the attitudes and values of children. Children who assimilate moral values through the process of socialisation value human relationship and friendships more than material things. 'Being' is more important than 'having5. There was one more question on the issue, the answers of which corroborate the finding. The question
6.

CJ Erich Fromm, T Have Or T Be, Bantam Books, Toronto, 1981pp. o o

3ff.; also George Nellissery, Madhyamangal Avatharippikkenda

Manavikamoolyangal, Madavum Chimkuum, vol. 78, no. 5, Sept-Oct1998; p. 67.

was put hke this: 'A rich and influential person gets down from his car in front o your house. J u s t then your teacher who taught you in primary f school comes in. Who does deserve more respect from you?' Only 1.7% of children thought that the rich man deserved more respect, for about 40% both deserved equal respect. 58.1% thought the teacher deserved more respect. In this case, socialisation does not seem to have much impact on children's attitude. The percentage is also contrary to the expectation of the researcher. The expectation was that children would overwhelmingly opt for the teacher as deserving more respect. Perhaps, another value, equality, was unwittingly, brought to the consideration of children and a good number of them stood by it.

C. Dishonesty - the Right Policy?

Love of things may induce children to get them by any means, fair or foul. Expediency would replace a sense of values. Children may behave in a dishonest way. There are occasionally programmes on TV which depict expediency a s worthy of imitation. Two questions were asked to fmd out whether children would sacrifice honesty a t the altar of expediency. The fust question was formulated: You lend a pen from your friend and after some time he forgets it and does not ask for it. What will you do?' The suggested responses were '1) feel very happy that he has forgotten it 2)

take it easy and keep it with yourself 3) feel a little bad about it but will not
return 4) will return it.' The large majority (86%)responded that they would return the pen. That means they consider honesty to be a greater value than possessing a material object. It may be an indication to the fact that TV has not changed society's value system which the children internalises through socialisation.

But the family score does not have a uniform influence on children's attitude. True, children from lowest score families are found to be less

l honest (78.6%).But children from the next group fare above those from al
other groups (93.8%). The next two groups come nearer to the average (84.6% & 83.7%). Girls (88.8%) are more honest than boys (83.4%). Muslim children appear to be less honest (69.2%)compared to Hindus (88%)and Christians (88.8%). The ambiguity regarding the impact of socialisation on children's concern for honesty is cleared when the second question is taken up. The question raises an issue which children are likely to confront in their student life. It is about copying from another's answer book in examination. This is an area where the question of expediency vs adherence to values is sharply defined for the child and presents itself a s a difficult choice. Only 63% thought copying in examination was absolutely wrong. 22% said it was wrong but could be tolerated. Another 10.3% thought it was right when it was necessary. 3% said that it would be right if not caught by teachers. It was considered right by only 1.7%. Now the impact of socialisation is much in evidence a s can be seen in table 32: Table 32: Whether copying in examination is right or wrong

One is forced to conclude that there are forces which induce children to deviate from the path of truth and honesty. T may be one among these V forces. But better socialised children are, to a greater extent, immune to those influences. Girls are more honest than boys. This is to be expected because in the Kerala society girls better internalise the traditional values. This can be seen in table 33: Table 33: Copying in examination : attitudes of boys and girls

Religious faith has got considerable influence on the moral development of children. It is interesting to note that Christians hold honesty as a great value. 71.4% of the the Christian children consider copying from another's answer book absolutely wrong. Only 56.4% of Muslims and

52% of Hindus think so. Muslim children seem to be practical, for 38.5%
of them think that though it is wrong it can be tolerated. Hindu children seem to be a little lax' in this matter. Children from high-iacome families are found to be less honest than others. This may be because the family environment of these children was such that great value was not attached to honesty.

113

Chart 22: Copying in examination: attitude of children belonging to various clases

8oL

70 60 50 40

71.9

Poor

30
20

10

. Middle d U.Middle ~ ~ d l ~

U.clasS

D. Children and Aggression

Does TV make children aggressive? Does it make them insensitive to pain and suffering? When a person values material things above human beings he is likely to employ force to obtain things of his desire or to achieve what he wants. The serials and cinema shown on TV often depict scenes where the heroes aggressively pursue their objectives. Agression is condoned or even justified. Parents all over the world are concerned about violence on TV programmes. The majority of media effect studies in the US and other Western countries are on this topic. Parents in Kerala are also worried about the effect of TV-violence. Here one has to be on one's guard. There is a lot of violence in society and it is reflected in T and other media. I t is difiicult for children V to make a distinction between actual violence and televised violence. Whatever be the type of violence children are exposed to, a wellsocialised child, according to our thesis would be less influenced by it.

The data show that children do not believe in employing force to obtain things of their desire. The question was this: Your teacher distributed sweets in the class. Each one was supposed to take one. But one took two and you did not get it. You would 1)get it from one who got two by force, 2) complain to the teacher and get it, 3) persuade him to hand over the extra sweet, d) do without it. Only a small minority would employ force (4.0%). 19.3% would approach the teacher to get justice. 23.0% would negotiate with his fellow student. 53.7% would do without the sweet.
An analysis on the basis of the family score reveals certain interesting

facts. Children of low score families are shghtly ahead of others in employing force (7.1%). But a good majority (71.4%)will be resigned to the situation. Children from top score families are the least aggressive (2.3%), but they are good a t negotiation (31.4%) as seen in table 34: Table 34: Children's aggressiveness on the basis of family score

Possibly low-score-family-children are less self-confident and they fmd it difficult to approach the teacher or their fellow students to get justice done. Children of higher score families show that confidence and a lesser number of them are resigned to the situation. Boys are clearly more aggressive than girls. While only 42.7% of boys do without sweets, 65.7% of girls are willing to forgo sweets.

115

Table 35: Aggressiveness of boys and girls

The upper classes also tend to be more aggressive. 8.1% of upper middle class children and 11.1% rich children seem to employ force, the average being 4.0%. On the other hand, the poor sections seem to employ other means and are less willing to forgo the sweets. The aggessiveness of boys and higher class children can be explained

il by the type of socialisation they go through. Society prescribes that g r s be

more submissive. The upper class children perhaps learn the aggressive behaviour pattern from the family; the role of TV may be negligible. The conclusion is that children in general do not seem to be aggressive in their behaviour. But what about their attitude towards aggression? Do they consider aggressive behaviour a s right or justifiable? The question was therefore formulated: 'A boy while cycling h o c k s down another boy and the latter sustains a minor injury. The injured boy and

i his friend mercilessly beat h m up for careless cycling. Do you think that
their behaviour is justified?' Though only 6.7%justified the aggressive behaviour, the percentage of children who said it was in no way justified was only 43.3%. 26.8% partially justified it and another 22.8% understood it while not endorsing it.

116

Table 36: Whether aggression is justified or not

A s seen in table 36, compared to children from top score families,

children from low score families tend to just.$ aggressive behaviour. 7.1% score I children fully just.$ it and another 42.9% partially just.$ it. Only

28.6% think that it is in no way justified. On the other hand, only 3.5% of children from top score families justify aggression. 30.2% think that it is wrong but understandable and 4 1.86% think that it is no way justified. It appears that televised aggression has got some influence on children's attitude towards aggression. But here again socialisation in the family may be an intervening factor. Boys and upper class children tend to jus* aggression more than

girls and lower class children. The explanation given above holds good in these cases too. The next issue is whether watching aggression makes children insensitive to it. Here is the question put to the children: 'A person hit by a motor vehicle is lying on the road bleeding. What will you do?' The p mve observers to this scene are a mere 3.3% of children. Another 4.79 3 will go away from the scene. 60% children will alert others so that the F son. may be taken care of. But 32% would be fully involved

in extending help to the person. Thus 92% of children will not remain passive spectators before pain and suffering. The impact of socialisation is observable. The data show that better
socialised children get involved more in extending help to the injured person

a s seen in chart 2 1: Chart 23: Whether watching aggression on TVwould make children insensitive to pain

.q ~
53.5

aInvovle themselves in
helping

ethe help of others t

sc.

Sc.

Sc.

sc.

Interestingly girls would more involve themselves in helping the injured person than boys: Chart 24: Sensitivity to pain: comparison of boys and girls
67.2

Muslim chidlren (41%) will be more active in such situations than and Christians (28%).On the whole, Christian children seem Hindus (35%) to be a little less sensitive to other's pain. Rich children are the least sensitive group. 22.2% of them will go away from the scene, while 66.7% would alert others. Only 11.1% would involve themselves in extending help to the injured. Middle class chidlren turn out to be the most sensitive group.

E. Sexual Morality
Despite the progress made in various fields, Kerala society is still conservative in sexual matters. There is segregation of males and females

in schools, offices and even in transport vehicles. On the other hand,

reports of harassment of women are a legion. Media, especially TV, project

a sensuous culture. There are a lot of romance, love and even sexually
explicit scenes on TV. Conservative sex mores compel people to seek vicarious pleasure from TV and other visual media. But the media may still leave them dissatisfied and frustrated. The demand for 'blue films' should be seen in this context. That they sometimes reach children is a concern of parents. Does sex on TV affect children? Does exposure to sex on TV from early childhood change their attitude to sex? There were two questions in order to check the attitude of children. The fust question wanted to ascertain their behaviour pattern and the second their attitude. The first question: Your parents are out, you are alone at home, you switch on the TV. You see a programme depicting semi-nude men and women. What will you do? Only 5% children watched such a programme. 17.3% children were curious and
off the TV.

watched for some time. 77.6%

immediately switched

Less socialised children; of course, show some laxity in this matter.

2 1.4% children of score 1 families watched the programme. Only 3%

children of score 3 families and 4.7% of score 4 families watched it, a s shown in chart 23:. Chart 25: Whether children would watch a 'sexy' programme or not
8.8 -

interested in watching a 'sexy' programme

swill not watch it

Sc.

Sc.

Sc.

sc. 4

Boys showed more interest in such %lue stuff. While 22.6% boys watched the programme for some time, only 11.4% girls did so.7 1.6% boys immediately switched off the TV, 84.3% girls did so. The older chidlren also showed more interest in the programme than the younger. Their age itself explains that interest. While rural chidlren shied away from such programmes, urban children were more bold. Kochi is a n exception. It may be because of the middle class background of the sample.

Chart 26: Interest in 'seq' programmes: attitude of rural and urban children interested in watching a 'sexy'programme will not watch it

91.4

92.0

TVM

Kannur

Since Christianity puts much emphasis on sexual morality, Christian children kept themselves away from such programmes. Muslim and Hindu children were not that prompt. These communities do not, perhaps, view sex a s something 'bad'as Christians do. Chart 27: Interest in 'sexy' programmes: attitude of various religious groups 88.0 3 interested in watching a 'sexy' programme

a will not watch it

Hindus

Christians

The second question was a s follows: You see a boy and girl of your age act out a love scene that was in 'Chitrageetham' on the previous day. What do you think of their action?' The large majority (86.1%)do not approve of their action. For 46.6% it is very bad, for 39.5% it is bad. 12.2% say it is neither good nor bad. Only
14% say that it is good.

The impact of socialisation in the family is observable a s seen in table 37: Table 37: Children's attitude towards sex

It may be noted that children from score 1families are less categorical about the action. Only 35.7% say that it is very bad. 2 1.4% think that it is neither good nor bad. A s the score goes up children are more and more disapproving of the action. More girls disapprove of the action. While only 39% of boys say it is very bad, 55% of the girls say so. For 15.6% of the boys it is neither good nor bad but only for 8.6% of the girls it is so. A s in the first case, Christians are more disapproving of the action (56.3% -very bad; 36.1% - bad). Hindus may be described a s moderate and Muslims less concerned. Only 2 1.1% of Muslim children say it is very bad. But 3 1.6% consider it neither good nor

bad.

The better-off sections appear to be less wonied about sexual morality a s seen in table 38: Table 38: Attitude towards sex of children belonging to various classes

It may be concluded that exposure to sex on TV does not considerably influence children's attitude to sex. It seems that they, in their early childhood, intemalise the moral standards concerning sex that are prevalent
in this society and thereby in their family.

F. TV and Religious Observances

A fear widely expressed is that T undermines the spirit of religion V

and keep children away from religious observances. The Indian culture is said to be basically spiritual, but it is being invaded by the Western materialistic culture through the medium of TV. Does this fear have any foundation? Two religious observances, viz. prayer and fasting, were taken u p for enquiry. The question on prayer was: 'Family prayer is on, but, a t the same time, there is an interesting TV programme. What will you do?' More than two third (68.3%) would forget the T programme and V join the prayer. 25.7% would join the prayer half-heartedly. Only 4.7% would watch TV. The family score has got marked influence on children. with lowest family score. In this group only 35.7% would wholeheartedlyjoin the prayer,
57.1% would join it half-heartedly.

Of the religious groups Muslims were the least affected by TV.None

of them would watch TV during prayer. 71.8% of them would wiUingly join the prayer. The corresponding figures for Hindus and Christians were 68% and 67.7% respectively. Girls were more religious-minded than boys. 72% girls would forgo a T programme for prayer. The percentage of boys who did that is 65%. V
As children get older, there seems to be a slight decline in interest in

spiritual matters. The question on fasting was: It is a day of religious fasting and certain food items are not prepared a t home. On that day will you 1)insist to get of those items a t all costs, 2) persuade your mummy to prepare it for you, 3) try to get it without others taking note of it, 4) will not ask for it? Here chidlren are resoundingly on the side of religion. Almost 80%
will not ask for the food item. 11% will persuade their mothers to prepare

it for them. 7% wdl stealthily get hold of it. 2.3% will insist on getting it. The impact of socialisation becomes explicit when an analysis is done on the basis of family score a s seen in chart 26: Chart 28: Whether children will ask for the prohibited food item or not
will renounce the food item

sc.

SC.

sc.

sc.

Girls are, a s to be expected, more strict about the religious observance a s shown below.
i

Chart 29: Asking for the prohibited food item: attitude of boys and girls

,./

will renounce the food item

13.5

10

\
Girls

will ask for the food item

Boys

Seniors are capable of restraining themselves. Against the 75.6% of juniors who wdl renounce the food item, 82.8% of the seniors will do so. Hindus are the strictest about fasting. Muslim children are not that strict, may be they are not expected to keep the observance. 84.8% of the Hindus,

78.9% of the Christians and 69.2% of the Muslims will renounce the
prohibited food item on a fasting day. Poverty and wealth have got something to do with religious observance like fasting. Children from high income families may frnd it more dacult to fast as can be seen in chart 30.

Chart 30: Aslung for the prohibited food item: attitude of various classes

60
50

22.2

40
30

20 -

10

11.4

will ask for the food item

middle class Upper mid.cl. Upper class

Poor

LOW

mid.cl.

To conclude, TV may not undermine religion or discourage religious

practices a s long a s the family wants to maintain the religious spirit.

4. TV and the Cognitive Development of Children

In popular perception, TV is a n entertaining medium and adversely affects children's intellectual development. Parents often express the fear that TV takes away children's study hours leading to poor academic performance. The intelligentsia complain of a lack of interest in reading books. TV would not foster serious thinking on issues of vital concern to human beings and make children live in a n imaginary world. That is why, TV's influence in children's study and intellectual development is a n area of our enquiry.
According to Piaget, children do not distinguish between self and

the world a t the earlier stages of intellectual development. At the operational stage of development they become aware of the world outside distinct from

themselves. During the concrete operational stage which is from about 7 to 11 or 12 years, their thought processes are directed to real events observed by themselves. At the formal operational stage which is from about 11 or 12 to 14 or 15 years, children can deal with abstract or hypothetical situations and their thinking becomes logicaL7 As the cognitive apparatus of a child develops and thought processes get matured, the child comes into contact with TV reality. Here then there

is a possibility for confusion between the real world and the virtual world.
Does TV affect child's perception of reality? This is the question also dealt
with in this section.

A. TV and the Academic Performance of Children

Parents are often womed about the adverse influence of TV on the academic performance of their wards. They think that TV takes away much of their study hours. But it has earlier been indicated that there is no excessive TV watching on working days.8 Children spend more time on study than on TV. Now the question of TV's influence on the performance of children in examinations is taken up. More than 60% children of those investigated score very good or good marks in the examination. Another 25% get pass marks. Considering the time they watch TV one must conclude that TV does not seriously affect their studies. The data suggest that socialisation may be a factor in this regard.
As indicated in Section 1 children from low score families are behind

children from top score families in TV watching. Top score children tend to spend more time watching TV.
7.
8.

B.R. Hergenhahn and Mathew H. Olson, op.cit., pp.283-284

The U.S. Department ofEducation, Chilling Television S a i t c ,Dec. ttsis 1994,MicrosoftInternet E.

It may be that because children from low score families do not waste much of their time before TV,that they fare better in examinations. 85% of them are either very good or good in studies. But children of score 4 families are not far behind them either. 65% of them are very good or good a t studies a s seen in table 39: Table 39: Children's performance in examinations on the basis of family score

The conclusion is that children from top score families who spend a little more time before T may not perform excellently in examinations. V But it must be pointed out that though the family score is a factor in children's performance in examinations there are two other significant factors, viz., education and income of the parents. Children's score in examinations is lmked to parent's education. Children of better educated parents score high in examinations a s seen in table 40: Table 40: Children's performance in examinatipns on the basis of the education of parents

Parents' income also seems to play a role in children's performance in examinations. A s the income level of family goes up, children's score also goes up. The upper class children are perhaps an exception as theymay be leading a cosy life and are not used to hard work. Table 4 1: Children's performance in examinations on the basis of income of parents

That girls perform better in examinations than boys is a truism in Kerala and the research data vouch for it a s can be seen in chart 29: Chart 3 1: Performance in examinations of boys and girls

50
40

49.7%

30
20

-21.0% 5.8%

10

0.7%

v e r y good marks

good marks

pass marks

poor marks

very poor marks

All these figures suggest that TV is only one, perhaps a minor one, of the factors that influence the academic performance of children. So also, the role of socialisation a s a mediating factor is limited.

When children were asked to indicate the cause for poor scores in examinations they could not give a definite answer. Nearly one third of the children did not answer this question. Of those who answered, only 25.1% indicated T a s a cause for poor marks in examinations. But 34.5% said V that it was because they spent a lot of time playing. Other factors mentioned were poor intelligence (15.3%), unfavourable circumstances (14.3%),and non-availability of help from parents or tuition masters (9.9%).It is to be noted that play still remains the chief leisure time activity for a good number of children. In conclusion, T does not seem to have a major harmful influence V on the academic performance of children. Along with play and other factors T may have some negative influence on the academic activity of children V but it may not be very significant.

B. TV and Reading Habit

The comment is often made that TV is detrimental to reading and that books are fast disappearing from the scene. It was in this context that the enquiry on children's extra reading was made. The time devoted by children to extra reading is not very long. Nevertheless, reading among children has not died out. 24.7% spend half an hour a week for reading; 28% spend one to two hours for reading. Table 42: Time taken by children for extra reading

Another 18.9% take 2 to 3 hors a week for reading. As the family score goes up reading habits slightly improve as seen in chart 42. The data show that children of better educated parents spend more time on reading. It also indicates that middle class children set apart more time for reading than others.

C. What do Children Learn from TV?

TV is often caned the 'idiot box' and is considered as an entertainment

medium. When TV was introduced in India the proponents were very eloquent on its educational potential. Gradually TV in India was commercialised a s in any other country. But that does not mean that TV is not a proper medium for education. Do children gather knowledge from TV? If so, what do they learn from it? Children were asked to explain nine terms taken from various branches of knowledge presenting them with multiple choice. The areas of knowledge were: economics, commerce, consumer affairs, sports, political science, cinema, science, international events, current affairs. Children have been found strong in three areas: economics, current affairs and sports. The question on sports was on cricket, a national 'craze' of both elders and children, and almost 90% of the respondents gave the correct answer. 62.6% of the children could explain the meaning of inflation (economics),and 76.3% knew the state where Jayalalitha, a popular political leader, was active (current affairs).
A moderate number (35.3%)of children could say what Bombay

sensex meant. It is to be noted that the term is repeated in almost all news bulletins. The next area of strength is science. The question was on

131

transponder which was mentioned often in news programmes and other special programmes during the time of satellite launches. The correct answer was given by 2 1.3% of the children. In other areas children were found to be weak: consumer affairs (16.3%), political science (13.6%), cinema (14.3%), international events (14%). It must be pointed out that the question on cinema was not on Malayalam films but on the Oscar award winning film 'Shakespeare in Love'. Below is the graphical presentation of children's knowledge of various disciplines. Chart 32: Children's knowledge of various disciplines

political cinema science inter. current sclence national atfaus events This graph c o n f m s the general understanding that TV is chiefly an entertainment medium and that whatever children learn from TV is more incidental than deliberate.
a m . cnnsum. sports afis far Children may not be watching programmes on consumers' affairs, political issues, science, international events, and on serious cinema. Thus T perhaps fails to impart education to children in serious subjects. V

econo

Coming to the role socialisation in the family plays in this learning process, one striking feature is that children of score 1 families fare better in the majority of areas like economics, commerce, consumer affairs, political science, international affairs and current affairs. In sports and science they are behind other children. Table 43: Children's knowledge of various disciplines; impact of familyimpact of familyenvironment
Score

Eccolo nics

Senior children a s being expected have better knowledge thanjuniors

in a l areas as shown in table 44: l

Table 44: Children's knowledge of various disciplines; the factor of age

,

The difference between the two groups is sharper in the fields of economics, consumer affairs and current affairs. Generally speaking, as the education of parents go up children are more knowledgable, especially in serious subjects like economics, commerce, political science and science. Two questions were also asked to test children's knowledge about the various genres of dance and media programmes. Children watch different dance genres and various types of programmes. They were asked to mention two features that distinguished between Bharatanatyarn and Mohiniyattam. They were also asked to point out two differences between a documentary and a fictional serial. Bharatanatyam and Mohiniyattam are classical forms of dance and only some familiarity with these forms would enable one to differentiate between the two. Only 10.3% could mention two distinguishing features of these dance forms. 12.6% could mention one feature. The conclusion is that children may not spare much time for these types of dance on TV. Even if they watch they are not interested in their details. The majority of children watch serials. They also occasionally watch documentaries. How far are they aware of the differences between the two? 23.3% could point out two differences between the two. 25.6% could mention one. Children perhaps know that serials are fictional but more than half of them could not clearly differentiate between the two. Socialisation in the family does not have any significant influence on children's knowledge about various dance forms and TV genres.

D. Children's Perception of Reality

Children watch the depiction of real events and persons on TV. They also watch fictional material which claim to reflect reality. Are children

capable of distinguishing between reality, persons and events depicted on

TV from reality, persons and events they meet with in real life? Do they
confuse one for the other? How much faith do they have in the claims advertisements make? Do they accept the statements made in the advertisements a s true? In order to ascertain this, two questions were asked on two advertisements and another question on a popular serial. One of the regularly advertised washing soaps on TV is a brand called 'nebula'. The advertisement makes the claim that it removes not only dirt but germs a s well. The question put to the children was: Do you

think that by using a particular brand of soap, for example 'nebula', you
can eliminate all the germs from your clothes. Only 4% of the children take the statement as completely true. But

66.6% accept it with some reservation: they think that it can eliminate
the germs from clothes to some extent. 17.1% consider it as a tall claim and 12.4% a s a bogus claim. Considering the social situation available in Kerala not many children may be washing their clothes. So they may not use the soap personally. Even if they use it they would not be able to make sure whether it removes germs from the clothes. Hence it is simply a question of perception. One can conclude that two thirds of the children tend to believe the advertisement messages with reservations. Only 30 percent reject them a s either exaggerated or bogus. The responses of children do not vary much according to their family score as can be seen in table 45:

135

Table 45: Whether children accept ad message on TV about a washing-saap

There may be a n indication here that a s the family score goes up children are a little more cautious about swallowing ad messages. The second question was on a tablet used for common cold. Brandnamed a s Vicks Action', it is a much advertised product. Children were asked whether Vicks Action' would cure them of cold and immediately clear their throats. It is to be noted that Yicks Action' is a tablet in common use and that children are likely to use it when they catch a cold. May be because of this 15.1% of cMdren believe that the drug will have immediate effect and cure a cold. But 67.6% believe that it wiU have only some effect. For
8.4% it has not much effect; for 4.3% the effect is psychological, and for
4.7% it has no effect at a l l.

Here also soclalisation does not seem to have much impact. Children from score 3 and score 4 families seem to have more faith in the tablet than those from the low score families. It is likely that the tablet is widely used in families and children consider it a s a medicine for cold. The table showing the responses on the basis of family score is given below.

136

Table 46: Whether children accept ad message on TV about a drug

The third question was on a popular Hindi serial called 'Saktiman'.

l Children al over the country avidly watched this serial. There were reports
a t the time of this survey of children putting their life a t risk in their attempt to imitate certain feats of 'Saktiman'. The question was framed in such a way a s to check whether children took Saktirnan a s a true-to-life character. The question was: 'Suppose you miss your way back home. It is getting dark. What will you do?' Most of the children were amused by this question indicating that they watched the serial but did not take the central character for a real person. Only 5 persons out of 300 said that they would wait for Saktiman to rescue them. Three of them were boys and two were girls. Two belonged to the younger age group, three to the older age group. Three of them were from score 3 families and two from score 4 families. Their percentage of the sample being 1.7%, these children are exceptions and do not tell u s much about the children a s a whole. Most of the children are realistic; 47.7% said they would get the help of passers-by. Another 40.7% would ring up their friends or relatives. Ten percent of the children would get upset and would ask somebody to take them home. In conclusion, it could be said that children in general do not confuse the TV world for the real world. They are rather cautious about the

advertisement messages. But they are not unaffected by their persuasive messages. But it does not mean that advertisement messages influence children's perception of reality. Parents may have some influence on the way children perceive TV reality. But socialisation does not seem to play a major role in this process.

E. Children's Perception of Violence

A child is bound to watch many a violent scene as he watches TV

each day. They are either depictions of violence that take place in society a s shown in news and news-based programmes or contrived in programmes such as cinema or serials. This exposure to televised violence can have two effects. Increased viewing of TV violence may lead to decreased sensitivity towards violence and a greater willingness to tolerate violence in society. Or it may produce the 'mean-world-syndrome' in which viewers overestimate violence in the world around them. Do children get desensitized to violence or do they overestimate violence in the world around them? If they are desensitized, they would perceive the world around them a s less violent, and if they overestimate, they would perceive it a s more violent. On this assumption, children were asked whether there was a s much violence in the world around them a s they watched on TV. Four options given were: 1. violence in the world is more than what we see on TV, 2. T violence is a true reflection of the violence in the world, V

3. There is less violence in the world than on TV, 4. There is no connection

between the two. The majority of children (53.9%)perceive the world around them to V be more violent, 29% perceive it to be less violent, 11.4% think that T violence is a true reflection of violence in the world. For 5.7% there is no connection between the two. The data suggest that a good percentage of

children by viewing considerable number of violent scenes on TV every day tend to overestimate violence in the world.
;

This statement is with regard to the perception of children and it has nothing to do with the actual situation, whether there is actually more violence in the world than what is shown on TV. That children are not desensitized by violence on TV is also indicated by the responses given by children to another question. Children's overestimation of violence in the world may have some relation with their own anxieties, fears or insecurity feelings. A s the family score of children goes up, there is a slight decline in the number of children who overestimate violence in the world. Chart 33: Children's estimation of violence in the world: impact of family environment

Thus exposure to TV violence may produce in children a sort of 'mean-world-syndrome'.But effective socialisation in the family may serve as an antidote to it. More girls (57.0%) overestimate violence in the world than boys (43.1%).Younger children (60.7%) are far ahead of the older ones (48.4%) in overestimating violence. This indicates that chiidren a s they grow up tend to have a more realistic view of the world, in spite of TV.

Sc.1

Sc.2

Sc.3

Sc. 4

Education and income of parents have a bearing on children's perception. Children of highly educated parents perceive the world as being less violent. As the education level goes down, more children perceive the world to be violent a s can be seen in chart 34: Chart 34: Children's estimation of violence in the world: impact of parent's education

SSLC

SSLC PDC

PDC

PDC

DC

DC

PG

DC

PG

Likewise, a s the income level of the parents goes up, a lesser number of children view the world as more violent. This may reflect the insecurity feelings of children from lower income groups. Chart 35: Chddren's estimation of violence in the world: impact of h d y income

Poor

Low-Mid Mid.Cl Upp.Mid Upp. C1.

Comparing the two graphs, one can see that it is the education of the parents that has more influence on children's perception of reality,

'+

especially of violence in the world.

5. TV and the Emotional Life of Children

Children watch not only violence but also horror in TV programmes. What is the impact of the scenes of violence and horror on the emotional life of children? Do these programmes heighten their fear and anxiety3 Do continual viewing of violence on TV induce children to feel that the world around them is nasty and people dangerous?

r On the other hand children may t y to get some emotional satisfaction

V from TV. They may feel attached to some T characters. Children who have not got love and care from the family are more likely to develop this attachment. It is a kind of compensation for the love they did not get from home. In that case children from low score families must show this tendency more than those from top score families.

A. Fear
Two questions were put to children to understand how violent and horror scenes play on their emotions of fear. The first question was: You watch scenes of violence and killing on TV and a s you go to bed, do you feel frightened and find it difficult to sleep?'

l Five percent of the children have this fear a l the time and 38.7%
have it occasionally. I t means that very frightening scenes or scenes of cruelty instil fear in them. But 37.3% do not have such fears and 19% have this fear only rarely. The second question was more general: 'As you may often see in TV programmes, do you fear that there is an aggressor around and that you may be attacked any t i l ~ i z kidnapped?' or

Again five percent have always this fear

. The percentage of those

who have this fear occasionally is only 23.7%. But 57.5% do not have this fear a t all; 13.7% have it only rarely. Socialisation in the family is not a significant factor a s far a s children's fear is concerned as can be seen in tables 47 and 48:

Table 47: Whether children are frightened by violent scenes on TV

Table 48: Whether chidlren have the fear of an aggeressor around them

More girls are frightened by the violent scenes on

TV than boys.

l While 2.5% of the boys are frightened al the time, 7.7% of the girls are
frightened. 32.5% of the boys and 45.7% of the girls are frightened occasionally. But regarding the fear of a n aggressor around them there is not much difference between them.

Age is also a significant

factor. Younger ones, as can be expected,

are more frightened by violent scenes on TV.7.4% of younger group have the fear all the time against 3.1% of the older. While 43.4% of the juniors have it occasionally, 34.4% of the seniors have it. Factors such a s religion, education of parents and income of the family are not significant.

B. Anxiety
There were two questions on anxiety too. One was on anxiety borne out of the 'mean- world-syndrome' and the second was of a general nature. The fust question was: 'Do you think that the world around you is dangerous and people are nasty?'

Only 6.7% said the word was really dangerous and nasty. 40.1h felt
that it was dangerous and nasty to some degree. 3l0/0 never had this feeling. The family score does not seem to have a bearing on the responses. But one can say that the number of better socialised children feeling this anxiety is slightly lower than that of less socialised children a s can be seen in table 49: Table 49: Chidlren's anxiety borne out of 'mean-world-syndrome' on the basis of family score

The second question was whether children felt anxious that some unknown persons or objects might hit them and they would get seriously injured. The pattern of responses is similar to that of the previous question. But this general anxiety is felt by fewer children. S x percent of children i have always this anxiety, but only 29.1% have it occasionally. 52.5% do not have this anxiety at all. Socialisation does not have much impact on the responses. Variables like sex, age, education etc. play no significant role either in children feeling this anxiety.

C. Love for TV Characters

Children may have admiration, love or special liking for characters that appear on TV just a s they have these emotions towards people around them. Sometimes they model themselves after the TV characters. When children cannot experience love in real life, it is likely that they develop a special liking for TV characters. In that case children from low score families should be ahead of others in having this special relationship. The question was formulated thus: 'Are you in love with, or do you feel special attachment to, a person who appears on TV?' Children who have such deep love or attachment constitute only
8.4%. 35.6% children have this feeling to some degree. But 44.3% have

never felt such love or attachment. 11.7% have very little love or attachment.
A s expected, the family score has got an influence on children's

feeling of love or attachment towards TV characters. The higher the score,

the lower is the number of children having attachment to TV characters as can seen in the chart 36: 36: Children's love for TV characters on the basis of family score
50
43.5%

- Deep love or attachment

- Love

4o

or attachment in a mild form

30

Sc " 1

sc.2

Sc.3

sc. 4

Conversely, a s the score goes up the number of children who do not have any sort of love or attachment also goes up a s can be seen in chart 37: Chart 37: Children's lack of love for TV characters on the basis of famdy score

sc.2

Sc.3

sc. 4

I t may be concluded that children's emotional attachment to

TV

characters is, in good measure, related to their family atmosphere. Those who have healthy social relationships are less likely to develop attachment to TV personalities.