Identity Crisis in Digital Age: Reflections Through "Kaset Pita"

Social media has created immense opportunities for young generations to create and connect with people. But at the same time, social media also builds huge challenges across the national and cultural boundaries. One of them is the pressure to look perfect, exist, and be liked. That pressure has become a new source of anxiety, especially among teenagers. The short movie "Kaset Pita" manages to symbolically and emotionally depict the issues that are currently being a concern to the world; teenage mental health due to social media pressure, and the marginalization of local cultural identity amidst the globalization of digital content.

The Pressure of Social Media: A Psychological Crisis

The main character in the short movie, Damar, is portrayed as a teenager who aspires to be a famous content creator. He shows his passion throughout his contents, but gets negative comments instead. His passion turns into pressure as he tried to meet the expectations of netizens. The negative comments from netizens not only affected his emotions, but also encourages him to create flexing contents, which is a form of showing off wealth, that he thought would be liked more.  

Social media, once a space of expression and freedom, is now a field of relentless comparison. In this case, teens are not just only expressing themselves, but also being judged, commented on, or even publicly bashed. As a result, many of them experienced stress, loss of confidence, and serious psychological concerns.  The World Health Organization (WHO) in its annual report highlights that teenagers mental health is one of the global health crises of the 21st century. Depression, anxiety, and many psychological issues are the main problems, and most of them are triggered by social pressures, including those from social media. Damar is one of the representation of millions of teenagers around the world that feel that their existence is measured by digital validation in the form of netizen's comments.

Cultural Identity as a Form of Resistance

The peak of the change in the video occurs when Damar experiences a flashback to the past, remembering his father's messages for him. At this moment, he rediscovers his cultural roots and decides to create another type of contents. Later, he introduces Serdam, a traditional musical instrument from Lampung, to the world through social media. To his surprise, the content was widely received and goes positively viral and touching audiences from all over the world. 

Damar playing the traditional Serdam instrument, (Youtube/Joshua Michael) 

This transformation was not only a turning point for Damar, but also a strong statement that local identity has a place in the digital media world. In a situation where popular culture dominates cyberspace, Damar's choice to highlight local culture is a form of local resistance of the homogenization of global identity. It is an important step to protect cultural diversity that is now threatened by uniform algorithms and global trends. 

Damar's phenomenon reflects the global issue of cultural identity crisis. In many countries, the younger generation is increasingly distant from their cultural roots due to greater exposure to global culture, which is often dominated by Western countries. Local culture is considered 'outdated', even though it has an incredible wealth of value and history. When Damar chooses to present Serdam in the digital space, he is not only saving his cultural heritage, but also providing alternative content that is more meaningful to the wider community.

A Final Word

The problems featured in this video are not just local problems. Many studies around the world have shown that intense social media use is associated with increased levels of anxiety, sleep disorders and even seclusion in teenagers. Meanwhile, a cultural identity crisis is also occurring in many countries, especially in minority communities who feel their culture is not represented in the mainstream of digital media. Many local communities and indigenous cultures around the world are now using social media to sustain their existence, showing that digital platforms can be empowering spaces if used wisely.

The story in "Kaset Pita" conveys a message that is highly relevant to today's global context. The pressure to be recognized online and the desire to follow global trends has become a psychological burden for many teenagers. However, the video also shows that social media is not the enemy, but rather a tool whose power depends on how we use it. Damar found a new direction when he chose to return to local culture and create content that has meaning and value. This is a clear example that presenting cultural identity in the digital space is not only possible, but can also have a broad positive impact. Through Damar's story, we are reminded that behind every content choice is a responsibility, and behind every identity crisis is an opportunity to return to who we are. In facing the global challenges of mental health and cultural crisis, the younger generation needs to be supported to become more aware, wiser, and braver in voicing constructive values. If change starts with the individual, then a healthier and more diverse digital world can be built one meaningful content at a time.