* India is spending 78% of its time on mobile phone apps on media and entertainment.

* India’s Media & Entertainment industry is expected to grow to Rs 3.08 trillion by 2026 at 10-12% CAGR, led by OTT, Gaming, Animation, and VFX.

* Indians spent 13 Bn+ hours on online sports, among the most time spent in the world.  THESE are just a few pointers from the official Government data relating to investments in India, with specific reference to media and entertainment industry. For any country, growth of any industry is welcome. For, it contributes to country’s economic growth. However, when it comes to media and entertainment industry, a side-effect is silently inflicting a heavy damage on the country’s demographic dividend, that is, youngsters. That side-effect can be termed as content obesity.

 

If one takes a look at the engagement of the youngsters in every household in India, one realises that they are all the time busy browsing, surfing, chatting, gaming, and watching some ‘content’. Well-regulated use of cellphones, television, tablets for some meaningful pursuit is alright. However, every engagement with the screens cannot be termed as meaningful. Especially, the addiction to content being dished out in the form of movies, web series, shows etc cannot be termed as meaningful. For, addiction means needless consumption. Like any other addiction, this is bound to have adverse impact on an individual’s trinity of mind-body-soul. Watch the behaviour of youngsters addicted to ‘content consumption’ closely, and one finds increasing loss of processing ability, increasing irritation, aggressive social behaviour, declining quality of inter-personal interaction, fall in inclination towards maintaining social decency and decorum, disinclination towards discipline in personal and social life, and gradual decline in confidence to rise again from the shock of refusal in life.

 

All these are results of content obesity. Much of what is being dished out in the name of ‘content’ is actually building a flab of unhealthy combination of crime, sleaze, violence, addiction, stupidity, abusive language, commodification of women, and ugly exhibition of sexual dysphoria. As a result, instead of the so-called content platforms being used chiefly to add value to people’s understanding of history, people, culture, arts, relationships, and investigations, they are spewing things that pose the risk of converting the people into mob of fatheads, who may not be of much use in making intelligent, meaningful, productive, and dynamic contribution to India’s growth story. Obesity in any form is bad for health. In the present era, this content obesity has potential to seriously affect societal health. This is not to say that one should relinquish the desire to entertain oneself. But, in the age of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, once a person watches a particular content, the respective platforms give him or her suggestions for watching similar content.

 

In the long run, this runs the grave risk of creating stereotypes and not only defining but also cementing one’s choices. This stereotyping may be about political, ideological, social, cultural, aspirational, educational, and even professional choices. In this content-driven decision-making, the ability-driven choice-making gets compromised. As a result, many individuals face a critical situation when they discover that content-driven aspirational thinking has landed them into something that does not match their ability. Some even realise that while they focussed on content consumption, a few others worked hard, away from the lure of the content, and equipped themselves with skills that added polish to their personality and ability to excel as a professional in the pursuit of their careful choice. But, at that juncture, realisation of stark reality leads only to frustration and depression. Because, by that time, thousands of hours are already lost to content consumption.

 

The resultant obesity converts one into a cripple or a dependent, because obesity is not a sign of a healthy body. Speaking of number of hours, it is a matter of pride that India’s Mars Orbiter Mission or ‘Mangalyaan’ was prepared in a record time of 15 months, that is, 11,000 hours. Now, compare this with the number of hours spent on an average by Indians addicted to screens. As per one estimate, screen-fans spend an average three hours per day (sometimes more than five hours per day). This translates to 90 hours per month, and 1,080 hours per year. Thus, the time taken for preparing ‘Mangalyaan’, a symbol of national innovation and strength, is almost equalled by a screen-fan in 10 years in content consumption. Imagine the tremendous time devoted to content consumption -- may it be to watching films, web series, gaming, surfing, etc.

 

Of course, there are people making judicious use of screen may be utilising that time to refresh themselves or to expand the vistas of their understand of the world, but they also back it with their purpose-oriented action. Hence, they do not build content obesity. But, those who just keep consuming content without any specific larger goal for life, are bound to lose out on a lot of things that matter while leading a purposeful life. Whether the ‘content’ benefits the society and the nation as a whole in the long run, will be decided by how many are victims of content obesity, and how many are successful in striking a fit balance. But, one thing is clear -- to tilt the balance in favour of fit persons, massive socio-cultural effort is needed. Are we willing to take up the challenge?