A new trend hit like a wave during the pandemic, and I was one of the victims. The trend was to “stay healthy,” which, my lord, is not as easy as it sounds. Staying healthy is a difficult job. I started preparing for this task just like I prepared for my other, unachieved tasks – by creating a “routine timetable”. It included everything from getting up early to eating a balanced diet. I entrusted my mother with the task of preparing my “diet” food, and I have no idea what bizarre experimental food items were consumed in the name of diet.
So, what did I take away from all of this? Very simple. It was to uninstall WhatsApp. If you got the message, great; if not, congratulations on your admission to ‘WhatsApp University.‘
This is the time when you see mobile phones in the hands of people more than anything else. Moreover, mobile phones, internet connections, and social media are like one nuclear family. Social media has gained leverage in what news and content we see over the last few decades. The far-reaching scope makes it an ideal platform for sharing news.
Journalists now have unprecedented access to their audiences, bringing them closer than ever to the content and story ideas that matter to them. Audiences no longer need to wait for a news anchor to tell them the news. Instead, they’re sifting through material and reading articles on Twitter and Facebook, sometimes before a journalist has even picked it up.
Today’s social media has a lot of power, but as Uncle Ben rightly said “with great power comes great responsibility.” For the past few years, it seems like people are not taking that responsibility seriously. Social media is now mostly used to spread misinformation and fake news, and it has become a tool for achieving various political and personal agendas. More than actual news, memes and false information related to elections, politics, religion, and whatnot is being shared. While WhatsApp stands as one of the most misused platforms, others are not very far behind.
Bizarre WhatsApp diet recipes may be less concerning than hatred, misinformation, and fake news messages, but only by a small margin. People must realize that, with social media serving as our modern news consumption outlets, it is up to us to serve as the media’s new fact-checkers and that forwarding anything is not the only way forward.