‘Regulate Social Media to Make it a Boon, Instead of The Bane’
Suvarna and Souvik Ghosh, parents of child influencers Aarav and Eshna Ghosh, discuss the risks of explicit content in public domain and its impact on young minds. Their views:
The controversy that has erupted over the explicit comments made by a popular YouTube content creator on a top live show recently has sent shockwaves throughout the country. Parents and guardians of young children are questioning the credibility and credence of such content creators who have reached celebrity status over the years through their mass-followed podcasts and online shows.
Consider some of our top social media influencers for instance – many boast a YouTube following of as many as 10 million subscribers and average many million more in viewership for each of their shows and podcasts. While some of them interview people from various walks of life, some discuss stock markets whereas some others discuss detailed studies on geopolitics. What is important here is to note that many of these millions of viewers are possibly children or teenagers – impressionable young minds who consider these influencers role models.
However, do we as parents really understand what drives the social media industry and their celebrity content creators? It is views, likes and comments and the ability to influence millions with just a five-minute video! While it could be argued that many creators and influencers are disseminating useful information or educated opinions on various topics, there are those who also resort to explicit comments or vulgar language just to grab eyeballs and additional viewers.
For the benefit of doubt, even if the usage of such language is not being done to gain additional viewers, it is downright immoral and at the very least, massively irresponsible. That is because their ability to reach millions of eyes and minds with everything they do should ideally inculcate a stronger sense of responsibility and accountability in them.
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Tomorrow, if an eleven-year-old, who watched the latest episode of India’s Got Latent asks uncomfortable questions to his/her parents based on the obscene and vulgar statements heard on the recent episode or discusses such subjects with his/her friends at school, who will really take accountability for this? Our children are after all our responsibility, and we simply cannot allow them to be brainwashed by such content that is being freely floated online.
Social media, be it Meta, Whatsapp or YouTube, is considered to be a boon in the Internet age. We all have unlimited access to information as do our young children. We can constructively absorb knowledge and learn about many new facts, events and opinions through social media. However, this implies that social media has an invisible power over us. The influencers and content creators on social media can mould our next generation in a myriad number of ways – some positive and some not so much. Hence, we need to be wary and careful about the content our younger ones consume and probably set boundaries on who or what they are allowed to follow.
There are no perfect solutions to this but it could well be argued that we keep social media access limited to channels that truly help our children – educative content that help them in their scholarly journey (such as @Peekaboo_Kidz , @AwesomeMaths and @KhanAcademy or help them face challenges. And, of course continuously monitor who or what our children are following.
This is the only way we can make social media a boon instead of the bane
(The narrators’ children Aarav and Eshna Ghosh run a popular YouTube channel @smashingvids )
As told to Mamta Sharma
