There is no doubt that the internet is the biggest game changer of the 21st century. The way it has transformed the entire globe over the last two decades has ultimately propelled mankind to come together and form a new virtual world. Today, if you have a smartphone, the world seems to be at the tip of the fingers. With a single finger touch on the fluid, sensitive screen, you can do things that seemed like a dream two decades ago.
Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp have built an entirely new space for everybody to interact with one another. This is indeed an incredible leap in the history of technology. While on one hand, the advent of digitalisation has made life easier like never before, on the other, the increasing dependency on the internet has created a reverse action of dominance over the human mind and seem to be a matter of contention.
Recently, Netflix released an amazing documentary The Social Dilemma, in which stalwarts of the Silicon Valley have discussed the process that runs behind the various social media platforms. They have openly confessed that the primary objective of the companies they once worked with is to keep us stuck to the screen and dominate our minds for the maximum amount of time possible.
One of them said that every step of our lives has been monitored by the Artificial Intelligence team of these social media companies. They then try to infiltrate our personal lives in the best way possible so that they can manipulate the next series of actions about to happen to us. This movie is an eye-opener and a wakeup call for people who have already entered the addiction zone.
In today’s time, social media is getting more popular than conventional media. There is a section of people that believes more in the news that reaches them through social media than that through television or newspapers. This kind of news circulates so quickly that there is no verification of it.
And the worst part is that it reaches a million within a fraction of a second and folks easily fall prey to it. Most often, these kinds of news are designed in a way to create a sense of hatred against a certain community. It is very easy to form an opinion and reach out to several people at the same time and win their trust. This is the reason why politicians and celebrities are so active in their Twitter and Facebook.
Today, a single tweet or a short video on Facebook can influence the opinion of several people at the same time. Social media campaign plays a major role in the world’s biggest election polls. Going online was a leisurely job once, but now, you can create a profession out of it. Folks are earning a handsome amount of money from YouTube and other portals. Undoubtedly, the internet has boomed employment in various forms and sectors over the years. During the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the most secure jobs are the ones dealing with the internet and social media.
As we are about to end 2020, we can see that there has been an incredible growth in the digital world, thus impacting our social lives to a large extent. And the world will continue to transform in the next 10 years, increasing our dependency on the internet to a new definition. At a time when education is going online, the intangible world of the internet seems to be an inevitable force that has engulfed humans.
With all forms of social media getting increasingly influential day by day, people are losing conscious thinking over a subject. The mind of an intellectual person can be misled by interpreting a general issue into a political opinion. So, the question of the reliability of social media does arise at this time. And so does the consciousness of every individual. Social media and the digital world will certainly get stronger with time, but we need to introspect and realise the saturation line that separates our real, personal life from the virtually created social life.