ROLE REVERSAL OF INDIAN PARENTS IN DIGITAL CHANNELS

Priyanka Rajkhowa

We are constantly on the move – get up, start the day and most aptly, end the day with a lot of stress and procrastination, which happens to the fullest. We hardly find anyone saying, “I am so happy with whatever is happening in my life!” With all these day-to-day struggles, we are a race which constantly digs into our phones to relax, to entertain ourselves and most importantly, escape from this mundane life of ours.

Social networking sites here play a major go-to friend. We all know how digital channels over YouTube are attracting major followers. We have Indian digital channels which are very popular among the users. People enjoy the contents which are so relatable to present-day scenes that we are dealing with. Some channels have contents which are totally humorous while some have contents which are totally relatable to every individual. It unites us in away.

I have been lately digging into some Indian digital channels over YouTube. What caught my attention over some channels is the portrayal of the role of the parents in the series. We all - be it as a teenager, as an adult in the late twenties or say as an individual – deal with so much of issues that they drag us to depression, and some of us fail to deal with it to an extent that we start taking medications. But here the role of parents in each of our lives matter the most.

In our country, the communication gap between parents and the kids have been one of the major factors in causing loneliness and depression in youths. The lack of communication, the acceptance of our parents as our friends is common in the society we live in but as I mentioned before, that with my visit in the digital channels over YouTube and their contents, have made me think that yes we are changing and changing to a better state. The portrayal of the parent's role in the series is helping us get a new perspective on the relationship between parents and their children. The thinking, the communication, the support and that bond of friendship which these contents show is what we need in our real lives. The series as they show how the parents are the first one you go to discuss any crisis you are going through is a healthy presentation of what we as a society must start doing. Be it from the side of the kids or the parents, we must accept that it’s not that hard and we are not in the era in where Bollywood-depicted roles of fathers who house arrests their daughters for falling for someone, fathers who actually proved to be the villains of the family who forced their sons to join family business and forced them to marry the daughters of their business partners!

We have moved on and now even the roles of parents in reel and real lives have changed to a great extent and if not, we are not in a healthy environment for sure.

The series depicts the role of parents who support their daughters to move on to new place and pursue their dreams of helping sons to start their own startups. The communication, sharing of problems between parents and their child is worthy of praise. Even these digital channels have broken the stereotype of the common idea or say the image of mothers-in-law and fathers-in-law. It’s not that typical I hate whoever my child marries concept or say trend anymore. I feel these contents are very apt for the present and also shares a message for a healthy society unlike the ones over the entertainment channels over television. Digital channels like Filter copy, dice media etc have to a great extent breaks the existing stereotypes and its worth a watch while we dig into our phones to escape from daily stress. And not to forget not everything over the social media is to complain about unless you are a media literate and you know what to view. It's worth appreciating that we are not exposed to these contents which are positive which are healthy for our personal well being.

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