A person did not like television and its programs and wanted that all the members of his family should stay distant from it. He was of the view that, this evil box would demolish the characters and manners of the members of his family especially the young and immature ones who were not able to differentiate the good from the bad.
He was also right as he had seen that many families had given complete free-hand to their children and they passed all their time in watching television, surfing the net or doing other activities in which they not only wasted their time for studies or healthy activities but also filled their minds with so many ideas that had greatly corrupted their thoughts.
But such things can never be perceived by children who are in habit of thinking about their own issues. They were really disappointed when they realized that they might never be able to watch television and enjoy its wonderful programs. When they met their friends in school or outside their house and heard from them about wonderful things in television, the feeling of deprivation was always intense. Time taught them how to steal some moments and go to the neighbors or a friend’s house to watch it.
This is not the story of merely television but of all the other things that have created a conflict between the old and new generations. Such a conflict is natural in a society which in the transition period from the old ways and thoughts to the new ones. It doesn’t mean that old ways are useless or new ones are better but even then, conflicts may arise due to the difference between the set of beliefs and ideas of the members of different generations.
Such differences or conflicts may arise on how to dress, how to interact socially, how to adopt or not to adopt the things which are called the marvels of technology and how to remain loyal or quit the established norms, ideas and philosophies.
A person who made up his ideas many decades before and the passage of time added to the firmness of these, would always discourage anything that is going to shake and bring down his firmly established ideas and philosophies. It is also a reality that our present generation would learn from the present situations and scenarios and it is almost impossible to expect that a person of today should think like the person who lived here a couple of decades ago. Both the ideas are developed on the basis of strong and logical points and thus none of them show readiness to sacrifice his ideas and adopt and agree with the other.
In such cases, a person who is having older ideas thinks that the new and present generation is not mature enough and thus its ideas are also stupid and baseless. With such perception of superiority, he tries his best to remain loyal to his own ideas and also force the others to accept his. Such a situation gives birth to the conflict when one generation is trying its best to alter the minds of the other which also resists and doesn’t give up its own ideas and denies accepting others.
Many years ago, a person was beating his teenage brother fiercely. Later on, he told that his brother daily arrived home late from school and when inquired, told about any extra activity in the school. When his brother inquired from the school, he was told that there had been no such activity after the school timing.
One day, he chased his brother and noticed him entering a cheap restaurant. In this restaurant, Indian films were shown on television and every customer had to drink a cup of tea for sitting in the restaurant and watching the film. This teenage boy liked films a lot but such things were strictly forbidden in his house and thus every day, he used to go to the restaurant and watched a movie for an hour or less and then returned home. The fears of his brother were also reasonable as in this restaurant, a lot many criminal-minded people used to sit and entice the immature minds to join their work. Anyhow, the problem was averted but there was a very alarming lesson that if a problem is not handled properly, it would lead to more problems.
When we talk of the things like television or others, main problem comes when we fail to comprehend and control the situation nicely and as a result many discrepancies come onto the surface. Like all the sensitive issues of the world, if this problem is not dealt with properly and tactfully, the end result would always be conflict and disagreement.
The unfortunate factor in this regard is that; we believe that by forcing the others and imposing something forcefully would eradicate the problem but it is just like covering the problem which keeps breeding in the cover and again emerges with intensified effect. At the same time, it shows our inability to solve the problems in a reasonable manner because we either lack the knowledge required to tackle with any such problem or don’t have enough courage and patience to tactfully handle it.
In a family, a father knew well that his children should avoid television and excessive and uncontrolled use of internet but he knew that if he tried to force his decision at his children, they would definitely try to look for some stealthy door and would develop the habits of telling lies and hiding realities. So before bringing home the television, he made up a very good plan in his mind as how to safeguard them from the negative effects of it.
He selected all the healthy and entertaining channels that would not only entertain the children but would also provide them with good information. Secondly, he got into an agreement with the children that they would watch only when they would complete their school works and responsibilities at home. Then he bombarded the children with other side activities like taking the children to sightseeing, picnics, playing scrabble or chess at home, playing football or badminton in the small yard of the house and also fixed a table of table tennis in the saloon to keep the children busy there. But most importantly, he explained in the most tactical manner about the hazardous effects of different programs and the need of avoiding them.
With this, children took the responsibility of their own and they never tried to watch anything that was not allowed. In the end, a time came when children were no more interested in television as they were too much absorbed in other activities that had greater appeal to them. Same tactical strategy was implemented by the father in case of internet and once again, children used it rarely when they had to gather any information about their subjects.
Such a father is not a rare commodity and if you glance at your surroundings, you would definitely find such a blessed, happy and healthy family. The above problem of internet, television and many other things are not only a matter of concern to the parents of our country but also to that of the developed countries where they are much frightened about the numerous activities of their children. We can always look for others as milestones that have tactfully handled such problems and devise a useful strategy to our own.