In 2006, I remember my introduction to social media in form of Orkut (Created by Orkut Büyükkökten) which was being operated by Google Inc. At an age of 15 years, it was just an amazing experience. Being an introvert, I found it really convenient expressing my thoughts on a virtual platform rather than interacting my own friends in school, tuitions etc. My unexpressed emotions therefore got a platform to stand. I became addictive to this thing and most of my time was now consumed sitting in a cyber café (I didn’t had a PC or Laptop at that time, I think most of us didn’t have). Then in India, we came across a wave of Facebook, which caught India in a flick of a finger. It was more interactive platform for which registration was based on the invitation you will receive from your friend. It had a more easier UI than Orkut and had a private messaging services which was not offered by Orkut. Thereafter, I also received an invitation via Orkut to register on Facebook, but being very new to the platform and less than 10-12 friends on the Platform I was least interested in using Facebook. Thereafter, I got focused on my career and distanced myself from the social media activities. In some news article I got myself acquainted with another social media platform “Twitter”. The article had made some good points regarding its impact during 2009-10 on Iranian Elections. The Twitter had cascading effect of information flowing to the citizens of Iran to form a common conscience and act accordingly on a mass level. And above all, Twitter introduced an unique micro blogging feature which made expression of thoughts, ideas and beliefs more easier to read and reach through a trend. With introduction of smart phones in market, these social media platforms received another platform to reach each and every people across each and every nook and corner in country. With installation of an .apk file in your enabled you look into a world that was very much different from the world that we were looking at in reality. But these platforms were not able to offer instant messaging. Instant Messaging was a feature that was desirable by most of the people of early 20s. Then we came across other social media app (Yes, an app because it was designed specifically for phones) i.e. WhatsApp. When I started using WhatsApp the it was not instant as such because data plans were too expensive and we had an access to mere 1 GB of data which had to last for a month. After introduction of 4G plans of Reliance group, we had more access to these platforms without any restriction in usage of data. After 2016, more free data resulted into more inclusion of common people in the fold and sudden increase in use of social media applications. Gradually, these apps made a space in every smart phone owned by citizens of country. These citizens now have been converted into consumers of digital content.
Now, here comes the true story which had to be discussed and knowingly unknowingly has impacted our lives. In recent decade, social media has made considerable journey in it’s own development and development of hidden conscience among people. We have witnessed storming victory of Mr. Narendra Modi and his NDA alliance in 2014’s General Election. The election campaign of erstwhile winners of 2014 was majorly focused on inseminating information through these apps. This helped NDA in gaining grounds for victory which till date hasn’t took much damage even after major failures on part of the government.
In between all these chaos, everyone has forgot about a major link and i.e. people. While campaigning for election, dissemination of unauthentic news and information to gain support of an individual, we almost forget what impact it has made on his or her mind and conscience. Easy access to these contents, has made most of the people Digitally Sick. After consumption of such content, it is impossible for an individual to not act as a Zombie who are infected by these contents. Recent events across the country are it’s prime example.
To avoid such state of mind, is almost difficult but not impossible. These platforms over a decade has form an integral part of life of common man. Being wise while expressing ourselves is the least possible outcome. Therefore, the need of the hour is to promote digital well being of the people using social media. Usage of the app should be controlled in a systematic manner which includes few things like notification after over usage of an app, censorship of Social Media trends which tends to spread faster if it has fake or false information entangled to it. If a Social Media trends promotes disharmony, then its reach should be controlled by algorithms. These trends should be mandatorily tagged as false information (Which is happening nowadays but only in a selective manner). One shining feather in cap amid all of these is introduction of DIGITAL Well Being application in Android phones which cannot be uninstalled from phone. People should be encouraged to use such apps so that they cam minimalize the use of these apps and put a step forward in direction of mindfulness.
Do you think social media platforms have the ability to reinforce how we think and behave (for instance, whom we vote for)?