WHILE THE Indian social fabric is facing a serious threat of disintegration due to collapse of the joint family concept, a fresh crisis has developed in the new society. Unitary families, mostly comprising of husband and wife, are facing a more serious menace of further disintegration. The couples are living like separate islands where each of them seems to be a single unit.
This is not because of an unwanted intrusion of the third person in their love life making it a triangular situation. It is not also because of their differences in lifestyles or in philosophies of life. Modern electronic gadgets are, today, playing the role of a villain, which is fast isolating the couples from each other. Love to modern day couples is not platonic, neither robust nor hot and physical. Their first love is the MP3 player, personal digital assistant, portable media player, hand-held game console or mobile phones.
Spending quality time with the husband or wife after busy office hours is a story of the past. Now, the couples love to remain busy with several options provided by modern electronic gadgets instead of spending time with ‘meaningless’ or ‘temporary’ kind of relaxation. To them, browsing the net or chatting with the friends, office colleagues or at least enjoying songs or jokes on FM channels are more rewarding.
‘Sleep Council’ – an organisation dealing with social problems – has established the fact that the modern couples are factually married to the electronic entertainment or educational devices. The study has come to the conclusion after experimenting with over 1400 Britons of all ages that modern electronic gadgets are taking a toll on the sex lives of British couples. A quarter of the couples sleep apart in hi-tech bedrooms. Eight out of 10 couples use at least one gadget before bedtime. One in three makes phone calls or sends emails in bed, while one in five surfs networking websites such as Face book, playing computer games or listening to a portable music player.
Jessica Alexander of the Sleep Council commented, “With our 24/7 society and internet access, mobile phones, Black-Berrys and the like bedtime routines are becoming ever busier. These are driving couples’ bedtimes and even their bedrooms apart.”
Human relations between the couples, thus, are fast being erased and sex is seldom. They are not so crazy for a child and even if they have one or two, the couples prefer them to be brought up in a crèche, later in a good school hostel, because they prefer to remain on their own without being divorced.
This is a new phenomenon in the context of the Indian society. 50 years ago, being brought up in a joint family seemed to be the ideal atmosphere for a child. This retained the social fabric and human relations. Later, due to differences in financial positions, social status, increasing needs of an individual and too much self-consciousness cracked the root of the joint family concept. But it was never thought that unitary families of two, three or four members would further be isolated simply because of a craze for something, which does not have any human quality. It’s amazing! It’s like a sweet girl developing a relationship with a robot! Or a man making love with a Barbie doll.
Social scientists and psychoanalysts, however, feel that this behavioural development is not unnatural in the context of the social developments of Indian society. Indian society, today, particularly in the urban localities and more particularly in the mega-cities, is converting into a very fast moving society every day. The people, today, have no option but to concentrate totally on professional responsibilities for hours even after office hours. The stress is more mental than physical. Entertainment that boosts human energies is out of reach for them. Both the husbands and wives are facing the same kind of crisis and tensions throughout the year. They are not able to do physical exercises on a regular basis due to lack of time. So, simultaneously with mental stress, they are developing physical problems. In such an adverse situation, they are losing interest in normal livelihood and becoming prey to the external world where ‘problem’ is an unknown word.
Psychiatrists opine that it has been experienced for years that under such situations, people become alcoholics or drug-addicts. It is good that they are now addicted to gadgets.
They, however, feel that this is no solution. If this continues, the society will face a serious crisis within a very short span of time. The members of a family will have no social binding and everyone will sail on his/her own, not knowing where to reach. The situation will be dangerous.
What is the solution?
Social scientists say that the couple will have to sail the same boat together and solve the problems of crossing the sea jointly. This will develop a fresh bonding of love and togetherness towards a lively society.