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A serial effect
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A study conducted by the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre reveals that most children are not only hooked to television but also to the serials dished out on various channels. SUSAN SRIDHAR writes...
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COME PRIME time on TV and serial mania grips Chennai. Surprisingly, it does not spare even children.
In most homes, the entire family congregates before the television to watch serials. Though the PC has carved out a niche for itself in many homes, it's the television that remains the prime entertainer. As R. Raghavan of T.Nagar admits, "Though I have a computer, when it's time for his favourite programmes, my son is in front of the TV set".
Even in the slum areas, a faint glow of the flickering TV screen is always visible. And if every house cannot afford it, one can see the old concept of community viewing resurging in these places. As 12-year old Raghav, studying in the Perambur Corporation School, said, "I paid Re.1 to my friend's father every time I viewed "Chithi" because they have a nice TV". This is the impact of the small screen and it is the medium that continues to be the most spoken and written about.
The irony is that in spite of the proliferation of channels, there is hardly any specific programming done for children and most of what is available is done with market forces in mind.
An analysis done by the Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC), "Growing up with TV" stresses on the fact that in India, the total number of children's programmes in all channels is not even 5 per cent. If what one hears and reads about an exclusive channel for Indian children, becomes a reality; it would be nothing short of a miracle. For now, the channel "Splash" is making waves, but it is only for those who can understand English and relate to a particular lifestyle. If there are only limited programmes for children and they are still spending a lot of time in front of the television, what are they viewing? How does it affect their behaviour?
Are these young viewers able to put things in the right perspective? Do viewing habits vary across the socio-economic strata?
Though these concerns are many and varied, a study was conducted among young adolescents in Chennai and an attempt was made to find an answer to at least some of these questions.
For the sake of greater validity, the age group was restricted to the 12 to 14 year group. The main objectives of the study were:
To find out the favourite medium of young adolescents in Chennai.
To find out whether socio-economic status determined their channel and programme preferences, and
To find out whether TV viewing had any sort of impact on their other activities.
Before embarking on the actual study with a sample size of 1137 children, a random study was conducted among parents to find out their children's favourite medium and television topped with 56.5. Even in homes where the PC is available, 40 per cent of the parents said, TV was their children's favourite medium.
The sample of 1137 adolescents was divided into low income (below Rs. 5,000 a month), middle income (Rs. 5,000 to 10,000 per month) and high-income (above Rs. 10,000) groups. When the researchers tried to find out the frequency of TV viewing among this sample, it was interesting to note that only 89 children were low frequency viewers (roughly half to one-and-a half to three hours per day) and a whopping 692 were high frequency viewers (over 3 hours per day).
The ten most preferred channels were Sun TV (35.8%), Star Plus (16.6%), Star Sports & ESPN (10%), Cartoon Network (8.5%), DD-1 (5%), Star World (4.7%), Vijay TV (3.8%), Sony (2%), DD-2 (1.9%) and AXN (1.3%).
What is important to note is that in the above two tables there is a significant difference (Pearson's Correlation shows .00000) in channel and programme preferences between the three income groups. As expected, language and the lifestyles play a major role in channel preferences, but it is amazing that serials stood out as the most popular content in all the channels.
As Dr. Karthikeyan, an eminent psychologist from Chennai puts it, "The narrative style will always be the most entertaining as story telling has always been an integral part of our culture. And today in nuclear families, the TV serials have in a way substituted for the stories grandparents used to tell their grandchildren".
When the children were interviewed in groups, they agreed that viewing television was an entertainment for the entire family.
But it was found that children belonging to the high-income group mostly watched Cartoon Network or programmes on foreign channels (see table). This is because they can understand English or there is more than one television set in these houses, or the parents had alternative means of entertainment leaving the children by themselves.
For the majority, however, socialising with the family/peer groups also seemed to revolve around the television content. Whether it was the popular "Chithi" (now, "Indira") on Sun TV or "Friends" or "Dharma & Ally McBeal Greg" on Star World, the children hardly missed serials.
A part of the study also revealed the activities the children indulged in other than TV viewing — reading books, school work, pursuing hobbies, listening to music, computer games, net surfing, sports, spending time with family and friends and going to theatres to watch movies.
Most parents seem to be echoing what Mrs. Bhaskar said, "I am really not worried about the TV because we all watch it together, but what I am really scared of is the Internet. I do not know what my child is watching and I have no control over it".
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