Power of I

Marketing experts say that brands reflect the personality of individuals and the societal aspirations, if this indeed true then I-Power is in and We is out. I pods, I phones, I mate……. And the list of brands prefixed with I …… goes on and on.

Today it is all about I or self. Individualistic or self worth is more important than team (what an irony, TEAM means Together Everyone Achieves More) No one is interested in teams, I come first before Team, (not in dictionary alone) Team work or we did it are mere jargons that is confined to slick presentations and PR.

Everywhere you see it , I did it syndrome , one up man ship is all over, it starts at an early age parents are too worried that their children will fail in the game of one up man ship that they shadow box other parents through their children right from nursery. Nursery admissions are definitely a case in point and schools pander to this by having interviews with parents to decide on admissions.

Once admitted parents literally push the child to master everything Music, Dance, Karate, Sports and what not as some parents proudly state about their child’s achievements ……….’I like to push the envelope at an early age so that my child is ready to take on the world’…………

I mania spills into sports too that athletes by hook or crook wants to be the winner, Landis and now Marion Jones are recent examples of the I generation that had to bite the dust after all the earlier denials of wrong doing. Even when team wins the focus is on the player Icons. David Beckham, Tendulkar are some good examples of I power over Team power. The current on and off field tantrums of Indian cricketer Sreesanth clearly shows how media is focusing attention on the wrong Individual, rather than sidelining him for his pugnacious behaviour media goes out to woo him that the poor bloke thinks he is a hero while everyone around him are either laughing at him or pitying him.

I told you so is a favourite corporate game where individuals wait for colleagues to fail since no one wants to help the other lest one out do the other and does all possible to ensure the other fails even when the company as a whole fails……common reaction is ……….. ‘I told you so…….great he failed, what if it impacts all of us negatively’……….. . The I play between the Ambani brothers led to the split of one of the most dynamic corporate houses in India.

The I generation is also too busy (act busy is more right) that they have no time for anyone and everyone. Bigger the city more the busier they are, after all, they need to reflect the aspirations of a growing and demanding city.

Media has had a great role in shaping up this I generation, Star worship culture has been taken to very sycophantic heights thanks to the media. Public persons especially politicians use media to create positive spins around them to cultivate the Indispensable Image. Both TV and Radio are at the forefront of this I culture that today we have some VJ’s and RJ’s who go to any length to promote themselves in the guise of doing public service.

Films are the opiate of the masses especially in India, films no longer sell on stars and story line they need an Item number to survive. So we have a new trend Item girls, Mallika Sherawat, Rakhi Sawant and their likes are definitely a product of this I syndrome.

Today it is all about reality shows, Big Boss and Big Brother clearly underscore the power of I, to the uninitiated it is a show in which everyone tries to have the other eliminated to win the grand prize for him self or her self. Mind you the winner takes it all. If you want to see selfishness, falsehood, pretences, gossip, slander, racial jibes (remember Shilpa shetty), back stabbing and greed this is the Mother of all Shows. Never has life imitated art so well or is it vice versa.

The greatest leveler is the Internet; thanks to technology I can have a virtual identity, voice, gender, friends, career and what not. You cannot have another medium that really gives power to the Individual.

I guess I would not be publishing this if not for Internet and why do I do it, after all, I want my voice to heard or my verbiage to be read.

Come on ,whose afraid of the I generation am I or we not a part of it? Long live I-Power .

Of 'Birds and the Bees' - Need for Sex Education in Schools

In recent times there has been a steep increase in the number of female attacks and rapes in the country. The number of rapes have gone up throughout the years . In 2012, 433 rape cases were recorded in Delhi whereas till 15 August this year, 1,036 cases have already been registered in various police stations across the city according to a study by DNA in collaboration with AC Nielsen . Female molestation cases are also up by 500% . In addition to that ,there are more than 2 million people living with HIV in India. Nearly a million new infections have occurred in the last two years, 50 per cent of which are among young people. Apparently, there has been a lot of thinking and discussion on this regard in our country on providing ‘sex education’ for growing children.

The changes in the family and society from an extended family to a nuclear family have had serious implications on the emotional and social mindset of children. During the times of extended families, an alert child who has crossed puberty would easily absorb the basic facts of life. These facts were taken in as a package, along with emotional and social overtones. 

The want for sex education in schools reflects the fact that even in a culture where comics and general movies include explicit references to sex, children's ignorance about their own bodies has not diminished over time. Similarly, parents seem as reluctant to initiate the necessary conversations as they have ever been. The Internet and widespread online access has made it easy for young people to get the wrong kind of information about human sexuality. Sexually explicit videos are only a click or two away on today’s smart phones and other electronic devices. 

Even when the system was implemented in many of the states, the response had not been welcoming . 11 of India's 29 state governments have either banned or are in the process of dropping sex education from school programmes. Reasons included 'overtly explicit teaching modules' and 'pictures that were too graphic'. Private schools are continuing with lessons, but many have watered them down to avoid controversy. The sex education in the country is 'highly retrograde’ and immediately requires a revamp. The material covered in the class must be medically accurate and age appropriate. It must cover a range of topics including healthy relationships and STD and pregnancy prevention including both contraceptive methods and abstinence.

Social Media To The Rescue!

In crisis and disaster situations throughout the globe, social media has emerged as the ‘power of many’ to help prepare and mitigate the after-effects. Preparedness has been always been better than response in such situations.  Had it been a giant cyclone, a flood or even a building collapse, it is really exciting to see how technology and social media are used to improve the reach of information and manage disasters effectively in today’s global scenario. 

Social media had been projected as a major lifesaver during many disasters with a noted few being cyclone ‘Katrina’ , the Uttarakhand floods and the recent ‘Phailin’ storm in the Indian subcontinent. Access to information has become as important as access to food and shelter. It has also become perishable, making accurate and real-time information on demand. 

How social media can help? 

People use social media to communicate during crisis. During such instances, the number of tweets and facebook posts surge as well.  Mining data from social media is a great way to get a sense and map social media data about crisis areas and make use of it for planning and disaster recovery measures.

Google Crisis management is a public interest initiative to help find missing people during a disaster. It combines the power of contributors as well as the people looking out for information to generate a media for communicating in times of distress.