Intertwined with proper functioning of families in our social setup, morality gives enormous strength and support to family fiber besides helping to achieve the goal of mutual coexistence.
Considered a primary social unit, families mostly rely on shared moral and ethical values in order to develop relationships, give stability and foster development of responsible individuals to carry society forward.
However, the continuous erosion of moral values in existing modern society in wake of mushroom growth of social media had raised significant concerns about its negative impacts on basic fiber of family structure both in privileged and underprivileged class.
Each and every member of the society must explore how diminishing morality threatens the fiber of family by examining various dimensions like trust, responsibility, mutual support and influence of outside factors like media and culture.
“Trust is essential part of our family relationships that provides strong foundation for a prosperous society and inculcates values of honesty and loyalty in children which are prerequisite for building a strong nation,” said Professor Dr Irum Irshad, former Chairperson Psychology Department University of Peshawar while talking to APP.
She said that when these values were ignored, trust erodes that leads to increased suspicion and conflict negatively impacting family fiber, especially in developing countries including Pakistan. She said that unchecked floods of vulgarity and obscenity materials on social media platforms often mislead young minds besides threatening social fabrics of the society.
She said that marriage was a lifelong commitment in Muslims society that was being threatened by pornographic contents and video clips on social media polluting the intellects of youth besides increasing cases of divorce in society.
While referring to police reports, the noted psychologist said that about 3,800 divorce cases were registered in Karachi alone during the first quarter of 2020 besides 10,312 divorces, khulas, guardianships, and maintenance cases reported by the District Judiciary of Rawalpindi between January and November 2021 which was a matter of great concern for all.
Gallup and Gilani Pakistan survey has recently disclosed that major reasons for divorce was lack of commitment, closely followed by infidelity and conflict in the families.
Dr Irum said that time has come that we let our marital affairs be handled by specialists in counseling and psychological and conflict managers than elders who have hardly any clue what is happening around us and mostly end up ruining the matter rather than solving it.
“Diminishing morality can strain mutual relationships of family members and develop a chaotic situation that weakens the basic family fiber,” said Dr Khalid Mufti, renowned psychiatrist and former principal of Khyber Medical College Peshawar.
He said that a strong moral framework promotes responsibility and accountability among family members and in absence of these values; individuals may neglect their basic duties creating an imbalance in household responsibilities besides adopting negative tendencies and becoming drug addicts.
Moreover, children raised in such antagonistic environments are more prone to exhibit behavioral and psychological problems that affect their character and approaches, he said and maintained children who make the base of a family fiber may face morality challenges if unchecked pornographic contents continue on social media platforms.
Dr Khalid Mufti said the development of children is influenced by the moral environment in which they live and when moral values are stressed they may struggle with understanding right from wrong. This struggle can develop behavioral issues, poor academic performance and difficulties in formation of healthy relationships in their lifetime.
It is well known that families derive strength from kin networks and community support to maintain moral standards and provide a congenial environment for children especially in schools and colleges while modern societal changes have weakened these support systems.
He said that rise of individualism and decline in community cohesion have left many families isolated besides increasing challenges of immoral values such as drugs addiction and acid throwing in case of refusal of a marriage proposal by a girl family.
These developments have also contributed to scarcity of morality impacting family fiber in our societies. Blaming media and new values in our culture for decline of morality, he also suggested controlling the menace of pornography and vulgar contents on digital media.
The family unit that is regarded as the bedrock of societal structure is under persistent stress and facing challenges including erosion of moral values. The threat has jeopardized the existence of social setup besides threatening survival of family fiber, said Talib Javaid, a teacher of a private school. He said that pervasive portrayal of violence and materialism can affect the thinking of any individual, damage their behaviors and undermine family stability.
It would be very difficult for parents to save their children from these influences which can erode the moral fabric of family if not countered effectively, he said. The absence of needed moral guidance and supervision in many families has resulted in growth of negative influences that had also damaged our family fiber.
Family ties also play a significant role in upholding moral values within society while strong family bonds guarantee higher ethical and moral standards that strengthen family fiber, he said.