Juvenile Gangs, TikTok-LSD And Interaction-Disaster Should Also Be Discussed

ONE 

Recently, a large part of the news and social media has been occupied by juvenile gangs, infanticide, juvenile homicide, drug company, homicide, sex crimes, TikTok-LSD, etc. We want society and the state to talk about these. We made the definition of sustainable development child-friendly. I learned that 'sustainable development' means development that will protect generation after generation. 

We must not only create a green world but also leave a humane, livable and safe world. Bengali poet Sukanta Bhattacharya said, "I will make the world livable for the children."  

Bangladesh is now part of the world community. We too have set foot on the ‘Information Super Highway’, and are moving forward with equal pace. We are also partners in globalization. Like other consumers in the world, gadgets, devices, the internet, wireless are scattered in our homes. We also do online shopping. Foodpanda delivers food to our house. Uber-Pathao etc. is taking us to our destination. Evaly and Daraz deliver the goods to our house. We are not lagging behind in the arbitrary use of the immense potential of the Internet.

The gap between the west and the east began to widen. As Ravi Tagore wrote long ago- “Shock-Hun-Dal Pathan-Mughal ak dehe ak lin. Poscime aj khuliyache dhar, seta hote sabe ane upohar, dibe r nibe, milabe r milibe, jabe na fire-- ai Varoter mahamanober sagortire."

We can only enjoy the comforts of the internet, a gift from the West, why would nature allow that to happen? Everything that is uncomfortable and unacceptable has taken us back and will take us further. That is the reality. Speaking of which, how do we understand what is the main catalyst behind them? How do we understand why some of our children are turning the extraordinary possibilities of technology into a problem? I am trying to bring up a useful topic in the discussion. The name of the topic is ‘Interaction’ . The subject of ‘interaction’ can be clearly understood with the poet’s writing “dibe r nibe, milabe r milibe”. We think that this give-and-take and fair-matching is more necessary to keep our 'socialization process' going. If this process is kept active, the problem will increase in many ways.  

TWO

I am the lead researcher in a research project funded by North South University. The mental health of adolescents during the Corona period is the subject of our research. I did preparatory research before the main research. Parents took part in that episode. Although few in number, teenagers also took part. That research has given rise to a number of insights. Parents are very worried about the internet and gazette addiction of teenagers during the coronation period. So far the matter was understandable, but then no special depth was found in their thoughts. They do not know the main aspect of the child's addiction. Of course, it is very difficult for them to know. It is also difficult for lawmakers and law enforcers. Journalists know the fact, but it is difficult for them to get deep into the fact. As it is difficult for everyone, it has become difficult for sociologists to get the right information. 

During the research, all the parents have blamed two things in bold. One is gaming. And the other is chatting on social media or texting on the phone. Problems they mentioned include insomnia, mood swings, rudeness, disobedience, apathy, excessive privacy expectations, distaste for food, antisociality, annoyance, and Intolerance, etc. These are not really problems. Prognosis of the problem. Parents are probably not able to catch this issue.

Ushma says that when the children were in school, there was not so much crisis with them. Everything was orderly. Now parents are not getting adorable teenagers in all-time indoor behavior. They understand that this time of puberty is complicated. Due to the rapid change in their physical-mental state, children are sometimes felt as ‘someone else’ or ‘stranger'.  Ans the children are becoming more and more unfamiliar every day. So many people wanted the school-college to be opened even if the teenagers are at risk of covid-19. 

Who does not know that the organization is not an option? There is a theory in sociology called ‘socialization’. According to that theory, the main controller of socialization is the ‘family, then the school. Like school, family is also a social institution. The opinion of the parents is that the efficiency of the primary or the main institution or the family is becoming secondary. In fact, the role or efficiency of the school is not the same as before.

We also talked to some of the teachers during the research. According to them, they are afraid of this generation so do not want to handle it at all. Their fear is that they no longer know the parents of the students as before. The parents do not come forward in cooperation as before. In our country, there is an example of a leader holding a teacher by the ear. Another forced the teacher to hold his leg and apologize. After so many incidents, teachers no longer want to take risks.

They said that the parent-teacher-student interaction is decreasing, now it can be said that it is not existing. 

THREE

The participation of adolescents in our research was only three percent of that of parents. But the information they provided was much more meaningful and detailed than that of the parents. They were able to shed light on the problem as well as the solution. Their complaints against the parents were not so much. On the contrary, there was a little remorse and self-criticism for taking the wrong path. This is an aspect of hope. The proof is that our children also know how to evaluate their own actions.

Adolescents had a condition in agreeing to our research support. That is, their identity has to be kept secret. Needless to say, all of our researchers were moving from urban lower middle class to middle class or members of middle-class families. None of them mentioned their problems while giving information. Most reported that they were worried and anxious about many of their close friends. Friends are getting involved in pornography, drugs, sex, and crime. As we can guess, some of the respondents themselves are problematic. Maybe they are continuing their problems with the name of a friend.

One thing is clear, their remorse and guilt about getting involved in the criminal world have not completely disappeared.

Adolescents have provided much clearer and more detailed information than parents. Most of them have told us in writing and told us the words they could not say to their parents.

All four of their statements were almost identical. One. They hate and avoid talking to parents, discussing issues, raising issues, or seeking advice. So their interaction with parents is decreasing day by day. In their commentary, interaction with parents is impossible. Because they carry in their minds before and after the communication that they come to impose their attitude of being a parent, living on the floor of the power-relationship and ‘what they know or say is right’ attitude. There is nothing new in this feeling or complaint of teenagers. This allegation is also ageless. But even if there is no novelty, this information has food for thought. Parents claim that there is no shortage of friends and support from their side. In many cases, the results are the opposite.

Then let's come to other mills. Two. The biggest part of teenage friendships is in the virtual world or the internet, not the social environment. Three. As those friendships grew, so did the association, contact, and relationships of childhood friends, or relatives, and school-college or area friends. Four. The most effective factor behind their interaction and storage is called 'comfort'. In other words, the more comfortable they are, the more their relationship with them grows. They are more comfortable with online. Because there are fewer accusations, faults, and quarrels. As soon as someone starts doing that, they can cut them off from the friend's list. Everyone has that preparation. They can also overcome temporary emotional trauma or conflict. Because no one can blame anyone for all this. As a result, relationships are short-lived and deep.

There is reason to be afraid of the information. Relationships are always matured through ups and downs, values, pride, rights, responsibilities, duties, feelings. Adolescents today are trapped in shallow relationships. As a result, the impression of shallowness and temporality is also evident in their life philosophy. The relatives of the guardians and the people in the house are also loose, shallow, and very comfortable. They can no longer think of anything uncomfortable as part of life.

That is not the case. But how do they connect with the criminal world? We already know some incomplete answers to this important question. Their first acquaintance without games and in connection with friends on social media came with adjectives expressing abusive and provocative words of foreign pornography. 

Here is an example of one. One teenager said his estranged friend first asked an online friend what the word 'hi hauya'. He knew that the idea meant being intoxicated. Start with the curiosity to know how to ‘be high’. A lot of unknown information about the world of drugs and addiction in the teaching of a friend, question after question and interest after interest has drawn him into the world of drugs. At just seventeen years old, he feels it is not possible to return to a healthy life. On the contrary, when destiny is bad, becoming the 'best bad' has become part of his only pursuit. 

Respondent Kishore said there are more such examples. Two conclusions can be drawn from a few more case studies. One. Dangerous fractures and deficits continue to increase in desirable interactions. The ropes of family, education, religion, morality and values are loosening at once. This is happening in the case of eye-to-eye interactions. On the other hand, unseen interactions, especially in cyberspace, are multiplying more dangerously.

Recently we started talking about cyber-security. Surveillance is key here; but no one is talking about ‘interaction management’. But the problem is the problem of interaction, the problem of communication. Very few Kulkinaras can monitor this problem. To get back to ‘desirable interaction’, one needs to build a social movement, not spyware.

*The writer is the Professor at North South University