SOCIAL MEDIA – NOT EVERYTHING IS HUNKY DORY

There are only a few technology-loving, mind-stimulating and idea-generating individuals out there who are still unplugged from social media. I am sure those too will join soon as well since social media is not just a platform for easy online marketing and aimless gossips, it is also the stand alone revolution of our century!

But is it actually ‘sugar and spice and everything nice’? One of my colleagues exclaimed the other day that she feels totally exhausted and drained out and is going for a month long break. I thought she is contemplating a vacation but when I inquired where she intended to go she said “nowhere, just unplugging myself from the social media”!

 The social media has completely changed our way of life from what it was only twenty years ago. Now, there is a dramatic decrease in face-to-face communication, which reduces our generation’s ability to interact with others on a speaking level. The youngsters, in particular, enjoy the cloak of anonymity provided by the social media and the not so young, instead of putting their mind and their experience to a problem in hand, they take the short-cut refuge of the social media. During our childhood when our parents read the Ramayana or the Mahabharata to us, each one of us had an imaginary Ajodhya and a Hastinapur in our mind. We could vividly dream of Gulliver in the land of Lilliputs and experience the thrills of Sinbad as sailed the unknown seas. It is this imagination which became the first victim of television, the forefather of social media.

Multiple social networks, from Twitter and Google+ to Orkut and MySpace create an information overload that is difficult to manage. People juggling between these sites have trouble processing all the information making the whole exercise excessively taxing. A 2009 study by three Stanford University professors on cognitive control concluded that chronic media multi-taskers are more susceptible to distraction.

True, I will be the first to admit that had it not been for Facebook and WhatsApp we would have perhaps never known where our long lost school mates and college pals are in life. These virtual reunions have rekindled our friendships and stimulated us towards real life reunions, this time with our spouses and children and this has added the long lost colours to our tapestry of life. But this joy has come with a price tag that cannot be denied. 

Over the years I have noticed that social media can easily reach out and touch people’s emotions. That is why it is important that it provokes the correct type of emotions. Posts that invoke amazement, joy, surprise and positive vibes are great but those which provoke anger, hate and anxiety are certainly not so. Anger is a unique emotion and needs to be handled with care. Well managed it can lead to the Arab Spring and ‘Abki baar Modi Sarkar’ but poorly managed it can precipitate violent riots, communal disharmony and threat to nationhood. Bloggers may, by their blogs and posts grab attention to evoke anger or capitalize on the anger their audience is already experiencing about a certain topic. These can often go hand in hand with social movements and protest of issues directly impacting society at large. But again, this can go out of hand and cause disaster. The conglomeration of hundreds of mourners at the burial of convicted terrorist and traitors is also courtesy social media!

Naturally when a far reaching medium such as the internet brings us social networking sites that spice up our lives a little, it also attracts the fractious few of society. Disasters are for individuals, for companies and for nations.

Individuals:

1.       Hacking: Incidents of profiles and accounts being hacked into are commonplace. While this could be restricted to simply playing a practical joke on a friend, it sometimes leads to the more serious misdemeanor of identity theft.

2.       Likes that do not mean anything: Social networking often can help create something which does not exist or may not be as good as it is presented. Thus a hundred ‘likes’ can be manufactured for products of sub-optimal quality and doubtful use. The same illusion is created for personal lives of people. Just posting happy and party pictures do not mean one is actually happy!

3.       Lack of emotional connect: The quality of a conversation using social media is awful because one cannot sense the emotion or enthusiasm from the other person. It makes one wonder if they actually mean what they say.

4.       Gives license to be hurtful: Some comments are offensive to the point of getting hurtful when the writers forget that there are real people at the receiving end. Suicides have resulted from such hurtful comments!

5.       Conveys inauthentic expressions and feelings: ‘Hah-hah’ and ‘LOL’ are feelings which are no match to a bear hug, an embrace or a full throttle laugh.

6.       Face to face interaction suffers: When I see my friends on their phones and I am around them, I feel disconnected even though we are only two feet apart….. In fact English language has a new word for ignoring the person in front of you in favour of one’s smart phone…..fubbing! The world is more connected but we as individuals are getting disconnected!

7.       Facilitates laziness: Social media is a fantastic way of doing nothing. It causes laziness because instead of running to your friends you can message them. Or instead of walking upstairs to notify the family of dinner you can WhatsApp them as they all are online!

8.       Creates a skewed self image: We all develop this perfect image of ourselves and some of us actually try to rely on this imaginative thought we have of ourselves instead of staying true to who we are.

9.       Distraction is maximum: Smart phones distract you from every other thing - watching television doing homework and even spending time with friends and family. The number of accidents that have occurred on the roads and at work because of smart phones is mind boggling.

10.   Pictures and videos posted can be morphed photo-shopped and doctored and used for blackmailing, defamation and cyber bullying.

11.   Defense personnel, national project engineers and scientist face an added disadvantage of hackers misusing any leaked classified information. Any unintended slip of information could have serious ramifications and jeopardize national security if it falls into the wrong hands.

12.   Imposters: Social media provides anonymity to many imposters. There have been so many cases in developing countries where people fall in love over social media website and end up being cheated financially, emotionally and physically.

13.   There is an extensive range of mental and health problems known to be associated with spending too much time on social media. In addition to reducing productivity, creating distractions and increasing burnouts, they can cause some serious medical issues like to stroke, blood pressure, colds, dementia and cognitive problems.

Companies:  Viruses and malware also pose a serious threat to the safety of the IT systems. Numerous applications available through Facebook are potential sources for these Social networking at workplace can also cause confidentiality issues. An angry employee can use these sites to leak sensitive information to public causing financial and credibility loss for a company. Employee infighting, dissent against the management can come out in the open. Employees posting bad comments about the company out of momentary indiscretion can create a negative image (even if false) can hurt business prospects.

Nations: Social networking websites have, at times, been used for the purpose of furthering political agendas. This has proved to be significant disadvantage of social networking at many places. China’s blocking of Twitter and YouTube before the 20th anniversary of the Tienanmen Square massacre, or the use of Facebook as a medium for instigating and spreading the message that led to riots in London, have been questioned. Criticizing the Union of India, it’s President and its Supreme Court by a bunch from the Left and Left of Centre thinkdom (LLCT) following the hanging of convicted terrorists is still fresh in our mind and was certainly not the best use of social media! 

Social media has brought to the world a common medium for thoughts, words and expression. However its correct and efficient usage is completely dependent on how it is managed. Being aware of the risks and vulnerabilities that we are exposed to through these media only empowers us further to use them in a positive way. It is up to us to make sure that social networking does not turn into social dysfunction.