(Dys) Functions of Social Media!

Make no mistake I am not a Luddite, who would argue not using social media and going back to pen and paper. However, the immense attraction of social media on the one hand and its abuse, misuse on the other, is a cause of concern. In TISS, a day long abstinence from social media was tried. The participants felt "detoxified". Let us try to understand this toxicity which is a part of our everyday life.

It is beyond doubt that social media has helped to connect people in ways unthinkable. My contention is that it has outlived its purpose and now it is a site of toxicity. We see fake news, spams, so called viral videos, porn freely circulated on social media. In WhatsApp, we see "All Boys'" group, an avenue of hyper-masculinity, objectifying, degrading women. We witness trolls against celebrities. We see blatant rape threats to women expressing their opinion. The whole atmosphere is marred by toxicity, hatred, negativity. The worst part is we are 24*7 a part of this.

What explains this? I say 'information pollution'. Just as we suffer from diarrhea when we consume polluted water, when we consume polluted information we suffer from toxic behavior. I believe there are pockets of social media which are heavily polluted - the main culprits being WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram. Conscious effort must be made to not consume this toxicity. Fortunately, some pockets like LinkedIn, Telegram are less affected and we should make the utmost use of it.

Next, I feel social media dumb down people. It is also an instrument of the ruling elites to divert attention of the masses from the real issues of the day. Think of it. Average college students spend most of their times on these Apps, leaving little time for reading authentic sources, original readings. I doubt how many members of Leftist groups on WhatsApp have actually read 'Das Capital'. 

I reiterate social media has outlived its purpose. Think of the Bell or inverted U curve. Initially the use of social media increased the productivity of people. It reached a peak. Now what we see in fact, is that social media has reduced the productivity of people. The gains from its usage can be said to be negative. People are caught in virtual lives, with arguments with anonymous strangers and add the IT cell to the mix and you get toxicity, real toxicity.

Lastly, contrary to popular belief, social media does not connect people but distances them. People have lost the value of human contact, interaction, spending time together. A ping, a ring, a video call, it seems is all that is required. We are not robots, are we?! Gone are the days when phones were made to convey important things, letters were written to know well being. Instead, we have couples talking all night and ending with the cliché, "you hang up"! "No! You hang up!" So much so for demographic dividend!

I would say that like any technology we must consume this wisely. The mantra is to avoid sites of 'information pollution' and access the pollution free sites. Let's not get drowned in this dump of information. We don't need 2GB data per day. We have got a life!

(Nerd-वाणी is a new column on my blog. All write-ups in this column are written by a good friend of mine, Mr. Saket Kakade. Enjoy and Cheers)