OTT platforms and their influence on personality

-

 


    Being updated with the content on OTT platforms has become as important as being updated with what is going around in the world. It creates influence over the lifestyle and thought process of people watching it. 

    Personality is a set of characteristics that makes an individual unique. It makes one stand out. An individual’s personality depends on his surroundings. It takes shape according to his/her family background, culture, and financial status. One such factor that affects personality is the kind of content they consume. Today, our generation is so influenced by the shows on OTT platforms. From having an established career to having a perfect love life, it should all correspond to some or the other series. 


    The kind of content shown on these OTT platforms normalises several behaviours that are otherwise not considered to be appropriate. Ranging from violent content to sweet, loving romance, everything affects our personality. In an experiment conducted by Albert Bandura in 1963, it was observed that children who observed physical aggression through a movie were more likely to imitate the same behaviour than the children who were exposed to live physical aggression. This is because whatever we see over media, influences our cognitive abilities. The way we look at the world changes.

A lot of content on these platforms is based on high school drama and because these shows are based around characters of an age similar to ours, we tend to get more attracted towards it, since we find it relatable. In general, these series show how ‘cool’ it is to get drunk or stoned. A story about a character committing suicide due to bullying may create awareness about mental health but at the same time may shape some people into what they are not. It puts ideas in their head. One with a psychotic personality may be pushed more towards bullying and aggression while people with neurotic personalities may be pushed more towards suicidal thoughts. Excess of these personalities puts our as well as others life in danger. Bullying people may make them lose their self-worth and cause them to take unwanted steps.


    A study of the effect of pre and post-release of ‘13 Reasons Why’ was conducted in 2022. Although there was no increase in paediatric psychiatric visits specifically for suicide attempts or self-harm after the release of ‘13 reasons why’, there was a significant increase in overall psychiatric visits in the paediatric emergency department after the release of the series. (Salo, D. ., Kairam, N., Mekaeil, V., Michel, L. K., Pandey, D., Patel, D., Bash, H., & Fiesseler, F. . ,2022).


    Watching horror shows may lead to developing paranoia. An individual who is likely to be highly affected by horror shows may even imagine the scenes of the show happening to them in real life. They could lose control over themselves and overthink every time they are at a new place.


    However, these series do have a positive influence over an individual’s personality. There are shows where the lead character is seen living a lavish and comfortable life. Teenagers tend to get attracted towards it and wish for the same comfort eventually leading them to be inspired to actively work for the same. They get impressed by the character’s work culture and become motivated to achieve it. Series like ‘Suits’ and ‘The Good Doctor’ show two different professions that are difficult in their own right, and yet manage to encourage teenagers. People also develop the speaking style of the character they admire. Real-life documentaries however, have a greater ability to inspire than these fictional shows.


    An individual who is too invested in watching romantic series may slowly develop a similar kind of personality. There are a lot of people today talking about how they want ‘old-school’ love which they might have actually picked up from some series like ‘Mismatched’. This leads them to have unrealistic expectations sometimes which their actual personality would have not wanted. There are some people who obsess over a particular character in such a manner that they completely start behaving like them, from their walking style to dressing style to their talking style.  


    Fictional shows also have a different influence on our personalities. Humans usually like everything which shows a better version of their current world. People sometimes get so emotionally attached to these series that they forget to connect with the outside real world. They start being empathetic towards the characters of these series and forget about the existence of people around them. They put themselves in that character’s shoes and try to feel their emotions and connect with them and start losing their own identity in this process. There are people who talk about how they are waiting for their ‘Hogwarts Letter’ and refer to other people as ‘Muggles’.  At times, they remain so engrossed in the thoughts of that particular series that they do not realise the situation they are present in and act accordingly. 


    It is our responsibility to differentiate between real life and reel life. One should have their thoughts and perceptions very clear while watching any show and make sure to not let it affect your mindset in a negative way. There are rare cases where shows can create a very harmful effect on one’s personality but it is necessary to be careful. It is important to realise our own identity. 



References



  1. Singh, A. (2018, October 1). How Fiction Can Change Your Perspective on Real Life? Entrepreneur. https://www.entrepreneur.com/en-in/lifestyle/here-are-the-wonders-that-fiction-can-do-to-your-life-and/320914

  2. “Losing yourself” in a fictional character can affect your real life. (n.d.). ScienceDaily. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120507131948.htm

  3. Salo, D. (2022, June 11). “13 Reasons Why”: An Analysis of Pediatric Psychiatric Visits Pre and Post Release of A Popular Netflix Show Detailing Pediatric Suicide | European Journal of Medical and Health Sciences. https://www.ej-med.org/index.php/ejmed/article/view/1242


About the Author 


Hrishika Jain

Studying in first year, BSc Applied Psychology, she likes reading and has been learning contemporary dance for a while now. She is an introvert but at the same time an open book with the people she has known for a long time. She has been writing poems and small write-ups for the past three years and it has been her comfort zone to pen down whatever it is that she feels.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Diasporic Disconnect Amidst Urban Setting in Students

-
Image
 The Diasporic Disconnect Amidst Urban Setting in Students  - By Drishti Haldia (MSc. Applied Psychology, Sem II) Automat by Edward Hopper (1927): The painting depicts isolation and urban loneliness.  “ Imagine standing by a window at night, on the sixth or seventeenth or forty-third floor of a building. The city reveals itself as a set of cells, a hundred thousand windows, some darkened and some flooded with green or white or golden light. Inside, strangers swim to and fro, attending to the business of their private hours. You can see them, but you can‘t reach them, and so this commonplace urban phenomenon, available in any city of the world on any night, conveys to even the most social a tremor of loneliness, its uneasy combination of separation and exposure .” -Olivia Lang What is Diaspora?  Diaspora refers to a population or group of people who originated from a specific geographic location but currently reside in different regions or countries. It is very re...
Read more

THE PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND THE “FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT” PHENOMENON

-
Image
-by Unnati Sahni (FY, MSc. Applied Psychology) Have you ever found yourself stepping into a situation where you didn’t feel ready, telling yourself, "I'll act like I belong here?” Maybe it was speaking up in a meeting giving a presentation, or even asking someone out. That’s the essence of “fake it till you make it.” At its heart, this concept isn’t about being deceptive—it’s about leveraging the mind-body connection to grow into the person you want to be. From a psychological point of view, this is effective because the human brain is amazingly adaptable. One theoretical framework that supports this notion is the self-perception theory, which argues that people often come to know their emotions through their behaviors. For instance, when a person smiles, even when in pain, the brain interprets the smile and starts to associate it with good feelings. The same principle applies to confidence—when you act confident, your brain interprets your actions as evidence that you are con...
Read more

Virtual Reality Therapy: The Future of Mental Health Treatment

-
Image
“Virtual Reality in Therapy” sounds like a bizarre match, doesn’t it? Well as astonishing and new as it sounds, it is surprisingly equally effective in mental health aid. Virtual reality (VR) allows you to experience a life-like existence in a computer-generated environment. The digital environment setting is expressed through a head-mounted display. By setting up a realistic VR environment through this headset, clinicians help patients experience situations that will further help in the diagnosis and treatment of the respective disorder. Virtual Reality Therapy for Treatment of PTSD and Phobia: Let’s begin this topic with a statement of pure experience given by one of the clinical psychologists testing VR effects in therapy: “One thing I have learnt from VR, is that it is straightforward to fool the brain." Is it, really? Well, the use of VR in the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) justifies this statement, as it has had a great impact on treatment and the pos...
Read more