For the last few hours, I have been going through an Instagram page, which had posts with clips from the 70s, 80s, 90s and also 2000s. Watching them, I compared those with the ones in the current era, and came to the conclusion, that those days were better than these as far as media is concerned. In this article, I will talk about how I came to this conclusion.
Media always plays an important role in society, since TV came. It always either gives a negative or a positive impact on society. Here we will discuss how the dramas or the tv industry put a positive impact back then, and why nowadays, it is mostly giving a negative impact.
The old era of dramas
So, first going back into the old era. PTV (Pakistan Television) started in 1964 with its black and white transmission. Back then, very few people used to have a TV in their houses. There used to be a time for TV in the households, the time when PTV transmission would start. Those who didn’t have a TV in their houses used to go to the houses that had a TV in their houses, hence people would know each other. The content which was shown on TV used to be within the moral and societal values of our Pakistani society.
Coming further to the 1970s, 80s and then in 90s, the dramas aired on PTV used to have moral values, and it made people learn moral values. The people who spent their childhood in that era were lucky to have such stress free TV. There was a limited time, and the content was that could be watched with the family. In those days, there were some very intellectual drama writers such as Bano Qudsiya, Ashfaq Ahmed, Anwar Maqsood, and many more. The main thing was that there was no vulgarity in those dramas. Comedy used to be within the limits of moral and social values. Dramas are used to portray the problems in society and what could be done to overcome them. There was a sense of positivity in it.
Some of the famous dramas and plays include Sunehrey Din, Dhoop Kinaarey, Andhera Ujala, Tanhayyian, Alpha Bravo Charlie, Khuda Ki Basti, Ainak Wala Jinn, Alif Noon, and shows such as Neelam Ghar. They used to be aired once in a day, once in a week, the time when everyone would sit and watch them. These dramas also had an essence of our cultural identity.
How this eventually disappeared?
The aforementioned dramas were surely worth watching, but in the late 90s, eventually, they started to disappear, and more because of the foreign content, more of what came from across the border from India. In that era, the Indian content started to copying content from Hollywood and eventually the Bollywood film industry got influenced by that, and then that content started coming to Pakistan in the form of cassettes, which were commonly available at cheap rates. Hence, when that started coming the local industry suffered, and eventually disappeared. The moral and societal values were influenced by immoral content, content which couldn’t be watched with the family and particularly with kids.
Then in the 2000s, the Indian drama content started to influence the youth due to which the youth went away from moral and societal values. Children started to get away from religion. I grew up in the 2000s, and have seen the evolutions in the past two decades. Analysing it, I came to the conclusion that this essence of moral and social values eventually disappeared. The evolution of technology did have a positive impact but it did bring in a negative impact on our youth.
Intellectualism and literature started to disappear, and our film and drama industry did see a big decline. Meanwhile, the rise of new channels eventually brought a decline to PTV, the State Television. These new channels used to be operated mostly from the UAE, due to which there could be no policing and censoring of the content not appropriate for the under 18. There were literally no channels for the kids, and those which were there like Cartoon Network and others, instead of giving the kids an essence of moral and societal values, it eventually made it worse. It changed the society, and I have seen the changes in our society, more Western influence, youth listening to English songs, watching English movies, following their styles, eventually destroying our social norms.
With the destruction of these social norms, the rate of crimes has also increased. As people get influenced by the content West shows, and then try to do it here, which eventually leads to crimes.
With the passage of time, the drama industry grew but the dramas of that standard decreased to nearly one or two which also finished. The reason that Western and Indian content has destroyed the norms too much is that now local content has started to copy them because it is what is being sold, hence the moral values are destroyed. Nowadays, the dramas which have come on TV sets, from nowhere show the culture of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
Nowadays, the dramas in Pakistan, mostly show the culture we should not be shown to kids or even be seen with families. The dramas shown nowadays are destroying the generations because there is no grooming in those dramas. The dramas are depressing, people crying everywhere, showing conspiracies, making divorce a common thing, extramarital affairs, and the scenes which cannot be watched with kids or families, but the content is available to them nowadays. Furthermore, the dramas are promoting Western culture, dressings, the way of living and everything. From nowhere these dramas are giving a positive impact on the youth, and from nowhere this shows our culture. In films, the content is what it used to be Bollywood. The item numbers and the other things mentioned above are abuse to Pakistan’s society.
The aforementioned things have eventually influenced the youth and now they have started implementing them in their lives, which is bringing in negativity, foreign culture and whatnot. People have gone far away from moral and social values.
The Rise of Social Media
While I was growing up I saw technology evolution. Amidst this, social media was introduced with Facebook as the leading major platform in the beginning. At first, there was the presence of some sensible, mature people on it. But, as time passed, technology became handier and handier with the introduction of smartphones, which literally now every person has. Whether under 18 or above 18, everyone has come to a single platform. With Instagram and Twitter, matters have become worse. Respect for age and gender has disappeared on social media. Inappropriate content is not censored hence available to all age groups. This has a negative impact on the youth. YouTube and then TikTok has now become common. There is no policing, monitoring or parenting. Youth are doing whatever they want to do. This has also gave a rise to vulgarity. Vulgar content is now common, which shouldn’t have been. Vulgar language is also common on social media, which also negatively impacts the youth.
Social Media has become a place of war. The 5th Generation hybrid warfare is in the form of social media. Propaganda, fake news, anti-state activities and whatnot. Youth is moving away from the love for the country. If you call wrong a wrong thing, a brigade of people start hurling abuses on you, even declare you a Kaafir, or in the other way round too. There is no respect for differences in opinion.
TikTok and Snack App are spreading extreme vulgarity in society, as there is no parenting, policing or monitoring. This is becoming the root of many problems. When people see vulgar content on their screens, they try to copy them, and hence end up in heinous crimes.
What to do now?
Now that we have seen how with time, good content disappeared and replaced the content which is not appropriate. So, what can we do to control it? The artists, filmmakers, writers, and actors must revisit the content that is being created. Content that does personal grooming of children and youth, should be aired. Immoral and inappropriate content should either be censored or removed from YouTube. Comedy and other genres must be within the limits of the social and moral values of our society.
TikTok and apps such as those are spreading vulgarity. Apps such as those should either be banned or limited. Immoral and vulgar content should be removed. Misuse of technology is not good. The Government must do policing and monitoring of the content, which is anti-Islam and goes against our social and moral values. Freedom should always come with discipline. There must be parental guidance as well on social media and content creating sites.
Content showing our history, culture and society must be shown on TVs so that people get education from it as well. Brainstorming shows such as Neelam Ghar should also be promoted. We need to make a civilized society for our youth. We need to come out of the Western sphere of influence. We must promote positive Pakistani content so that people learn something.
Media plays an important part, hence, come to the conclusion that the older TV was better than the current. We need to revive our social and moral values.
I hope you understand what I tried to explain.
You can agree or disagree.
For feedback write in the comments below.
PAKISTAN ZINDABAD