Not just for ‘likes’
Celebrity couple Yusry Halim and Lisa Surihani talks about parenting, their appearance on a TV show and the downside of social media
1. CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT EBU BABYPEDIA, THE ASTRO RIA SHOW?
Lisa: Both Yusry and I talk on topics related to parenting, and share tips and parents’ stories in theshow.
It is especially for young parents.
We just ended the shoot for our second season — I was in my third trimester, pregnant with Yusof at the time.
The amazing director understands motherhood and ensured that the production was smooth.
Also, we had Yahaira on board with us for the second season, which made it all worthwhile. She was so cheeky and cheerful throughout.
2. WAS IT HARD INTRODUCING YOUR DAUGHTER TO THE SHOOTING PROCESS?
Lisa: The setting was at home and familiar to her. It wasn’t hard for us to let Yahaira join us on the show because it is informative and family-friendly.
3. HOW HAS TECHNOLOGY CHANGED PARENTING STYLES?
Yusry: Frankly, it’s somewhat frightening and it has made most of us quite cautious. There are digital tools and gadgets that pave paths to parent involvement but I’m talking about the social side of tech, where opening ourselves to the world freely seems to be the norm.
Lisa and I, being parents to young children, assess the risks. We were very careful not to expose Yahaira so much especially on social media — not in the early stages of infancy at least.
4. IS SOCIAL MEDIA TO BE TRUSTED?
Yusry: For me, there is this whole uncertainty with social media. In most cases, kids are more tech-savvy.
Having said that, we are slowly learning to raise a child while easing into the digital aspect of today’s lifestyle. Being social media-savvy is not committing to it just for the sake of “views” and “likes”.
5. SHOULD INFOTAINMENT CONTENT BE ACROSS SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS?
Yusry: There should be more infotainment programmes to empower society in line with the lifestyle today.
Social media tends to carry stories that are almost always oversimplified and, at times, frivolous.
We need to strengthen content on digital media. However, we shouldn’t disregard conventional platforms when enriching the community.
6. NAME ONE UNHEALTHY DIGITAL HABIT THAT YOU DISAGREE WITH.
Yusry: Making things viral. And when people shoot videos with the intent to distort reality. Lisa and I agree on this. It is a cheap excuse to share juicy stories for likes and
viewership.
What’s more unhealthy is that people can get unnecessarily worked up if the content affects them emotionally. I trained myself to think before I post things online and I advise others to do so too. Just take a moment to think, have some self-restraint.