Society pays high cost for unfiltered content on OTTs

Visakhapatnam: Even as the Kukatpally police in Hyderabad cracked a five-day-long murder mystery of a 10-year-old girl Sahasra, who was found stabbed to death at her home by a Class X neighbour, the case did leave several parents and communities rattled as it raises serious safety concerns of the wards.

Apparently, there are valid reasons for them to be overwhelmed by fear, anxiety and umpteen doubts. How do we identify children with a ‘peculiar’ mindset? To what extent bad parenting impacts their wards? How safe are students in schools and at homes? In an era of OTT and social media platforms, is there any tracing mechanism in place to keep tabs on the sort of content the children are browsing through when left unmonitored?

What turned out to be a rude shock is the way the 14-year-old accused executed the step-by-step ‘theft mission’ as written in his plan of action with such dexterity and focus. Despite his theft mission ending up in a brutal stabbing of the victim 21 times and the teenager eventually confessing to the crime, what draws the attention is his deep influence of the crime content he has been watching on OTT and social media platforms. Not just parents, even the police were taken aback when the 14-year-old accused confessed during investigation that he’s influenced by the crime content.

The Kukatpally murder case might be the tip of the iceberg that came to light. But, in an age of unfiltered content of sex and violence streaming on OTT platforms, what sort of impact would that leave on young adults over a period of time? Even as content creators argue that sex and violence sell like no other formula to multiply viewership, at what cost are they being entertained within the confines of the four-walls of the home?

Despite the freedom and space that the ‘Gen Z’ kids are entitled to take advantage of, experts emphasise that parents should keep a close watch on the wards’ browsing history before it costs them dearly.

“Watching uncensored sexual content has a very adverse effect on young adults. Apart from getting hooked to their mobile phones, they suffer from lack of concentration and judgement, sleep deprivation and issues like inability to cope with studies,” cautions Dr. Kodali Prasanna Kumar, a psychiatrist.

Long spells of exposure to such obscene content leads to substance abuse and in some cases, sexual abnormalities. Also, it fuels criminal instincts, Dr. Prasanna Kumar warns.

When both the parents work, monitoring the child’s behaviour becomes all the more taxing. Investing quality time with children, allowing them to communicate, observing their behaviour along with their friends will go a long way in tracing any change in the child’s attitude, recommend experts. Underlining the need to be vigilant in monitoring students at the school campus, Gotteti Ravi, Headmaster of Zilla Parishad High School, Peda Boddepalle in Narsipatnam mandal, suggests, “Teachers have to monitor students’ behaviour from close quarters.

How are they spending their break time, with whom are they moving around closely and their teammates’ background are some of the aspects which need to be looked into. In case of any unusual pattern of behaviour, teachers have to bring it to the fore and alert parents or suggest counselling sessions. Besides installing CCTV cameras on the campuses, appointing qualified counsellors should be taken up on a war-footing in schools.”

Apart from parents and teachers, experts opine that even peers play an imperative role in observing the unusual behaviour of their teammates and they should come forward to flagging off such observations.