Straits Times reported very interesting news on April 16, “Digital Media may affect morality”!
“It’s astonishing but study results, which are going to be published next week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science Journals, found that emotions related to our sense of morality, such as admiration and compassion, take much longer to form that our visceral reactions to pain or physical suffering. For some kinds of thoughts, especially moral decision-making about other people’s social and psychological situations, we need to allow for adequate time and reflection. A USC (University of Southern California) study showed that volunteers needed six to eight seconds to fully respond to compelling, real-life stories used to induce admiration or compassion for physical or social pain, and the feelings are more prolonged. If things are happening too fast, you may not ever fully experience emotions about people’s psychological states, and that would have implications for your morality.”
Social networking sites like Orkut and Facebook, virtual games, online news, and Twitter—thanks to all these platforms, we are living in a virtual world most of the time and that can be dangerous. It’s very necessary to have social experiences to have a strong moral character for individuals. The Internet is such a medium that can lead to addiction and suddenly one day you will realize that you are living in a virtual world, and this will have a wrong impact on your personality. Take it as a warning, we are humans after all and need to have physical presence and interaction around. Virtually, its good to be in touch with all those whom we cannot meet. But don’t get involved yourself so much; start living in that world only.
Womenfolk, especially those who are working, should make sure that they don’t lose their precious emotions in hands of digital media. Is it happening to you that after listening to some sad story, you are least bothered, or the next door neighbour’s illness hardly effects you? Maybe you are so immersed into your own virtual world that you are not aware of the happenings of the real world around. Take it as a warning and come out of your virtual world.
Make sure you are not missing your tea time breaks with your dear friend for a giggle and to share each other secrets with full mindfulness!
Charu Mehrotra
Promoting Excellence in Women!
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