Daily Soaps - Major Impact on Minds


Television: the small screen plays a major role in shaping people’s minds. There is at least one person from any family who diligently watches serials. There are both positive and negative impacts of serials, reality shows, and comedy shows that get telecasted. Although, the problem is that the negatives dominate and are bringing more bad minds to society.

In contrast, there are also great initiatives like Satyamev Jayate, Memu Saitham that are making people 'think' and act in the best interest of society. Some creative, dancing, and singing shows provide individuals with a platform to showcase their talent. Shows like Swarabhishakam are a musical treat to every music lover.

Coming to the case of Indian women, most of them watch daily soaps where misery is glorified. Daily soaps create a great impact on youth, middle-aged, old people. A few of the negative impacts have been listed below:

Induction of Abuse and Humiliation

Most of the women are fascinated by the story, sympathy and drama played on TV. Soap operas are mostly women-centric which keeps women audience attached to their TV sets. These days soap operas are telecasted containing more abuse, targeting the protagonist, and lots of humiliation to lead actors. Large-scale serials have saas-bahu concepts where bahu plays the role of the protagonist. The majority of the shows are run by belittling the lead actress in various ways and making her face numerous hurdles. These kinds of stories inject negativity in the minds of people who watch serials continuously without their knowledge and they start treating people in their surroundings with the same thoughts that they imbibe from such serials.

Promoting Unethical Behaviour

Often most of the serials seem to be destroying our society and culture. They showcase extramarital affairs, premarital romantic relationships, polygamy, and many more immoral behaviors in the process of defining the antagonist's character. A few people can grasp the wrong notion of character and treat it just like fiction. In contrast, there are some people who get a liking towards villains and are easily influenced by their acts. The nasty feats performed by negative characters play an important role in shaping human minds and thoughts. The influence of the villains is the initial step of developing unpleasant thoughts. These kind of shows play a major role in maintaining the state of the environment.

Unnecessary Investment of Time

There are audiences of various age groups who watch television serials for more than 3 hours. They invest their valuable time in sticking themselves before the screen. Most of the serials are telecasted in the afternoons and evenings. Astonishingly, there are many female audiences that allot time for serials and waste their valuable time. There are people who invest their time in thinking about what happens next in their serials and wait for them eagerly. Along with technology, daily soaps are also available on many applications, and in return, these apps increase viewers' interest in serials.

Irrational Roles

Mostly the character of the protagonist is designed as a  woman who places family first before her self-respect, personal well-being and dedicates their lives to the family. The character wears traditional attire, maintains the utmost dignity, suffers humiliation obediently with a smile on her face, and mostly plays the role of daughter, wife, daughter-in-law.

On the other hand, the antagonist is overdressed with heavy jewelry, makeup has an outspoken personality and is mostly seen in western wear. The scenes mostly include situations where the vamp is involved in picking up fights with the main lead, demeaning her and the lead actress deals with the situation emotionally without logic and in addition to a melodramatic background score playing to involve viewers. These kinds of shows receive more TRP and is a common strategy for producers to make profits. These inculcate people with illogical and highly sentimental emotions. Many people are accustomed to suffering than reverting back because that is what is shown in their favorite serials.

A World Away from the World

Some of the serials are based on ghosts, margins, concepts of the afterlife, rebirth, and the audience is made to believe in these superstitions. People observe nightmares and get scared often as a result. These shows are telecasted at night to the audiences who like horror content. These beliefs of introducing fiction in serials at such extreme levels that make no-sense at all are imbibed in the minds of people. Fiction creates high TRP’s in the entertainment industry. They are also making people more materialistic as any normal housewife who relates to the character and wishes to wear such expensive designer costumes.

Children- The Major Victims

Kids generally pay attention to what their parents watch and become victims of serials. Children absorb a lot of negativity, domestic violence, and many more things that are shown on TV. They show scenes that involve love-making, first-night experience, and other romantic scenes that expose children to sex at an early age. There are serials that portray women in negative shades on homemakers and these may change their impressions towards women. Children are too small to understand the difference between reel and real lives. Parents should make sure children watch informative, educational shows on television. This definitely aids the growth of children.

Some of the show TV industries telecasts are educational and productive. There are many educational shows, cartoons, and channels like Discovery, National Geographic that present knowledgeable shows. Mahabharata, Ramayan is also showing that make us aware of values and principles. A few channels are dedicated to dance, fitness, yoga, and meditation also.

Of course, there are a few shows coming up with fresh concepts and good morals. The good thing is that people are accepting them whole-heartedly as well. One should be conscious of what they watch because it influences their thoughts and mind. When people realize that they are feeding the wrong food to their brain then the  TV industry comes up with some innovative and productive shows to entertain people. Remember! Entertainment should bring positive vibes all around and should be worthy of your time. Let’s hope for some informative and productive shows for our next generation that would help them to become better individuals.

Read this interesting article to know about Anime Shows that would help you inculcate important moral values along with unrivaled fun and entertainment. 

Want to know about some informative TV serials for your kids? Read this article on 8 Best Educational Shows For Kids of All Ages.

Written By -  Sreeram Mahima

Edited By -  Bhanu Jain