Like the air we breathe ?
Social
media has been broadly defined to refer to 'the many relatively inexpensive and
widely accessible electronic tools that enable anyone to publish and access
information, collaborate on a common effort, or build relationships’ (Murthy,
Dhiraj (2013). Twitter: Social Communication in the Twitter Age). This is
probably the most succinct definition that I have come across that sums up the
role of social media in our modern society and makes obvious the change of
paradigm brought about first by internet and then by the mobile smart phone
technologies. The democratization of these technologies has brought in a huge
change in the way we look at ourselves and at other people across the world. Thanks
to the easy accessibility, these technologies have enabled us to integrate and
interact with communities that span the globe that was not easy even a decade
ago. We are in constant touch with our friends, family and peers, irrespective
of distances – not only physical but also cultural, religious and often
linguistic; the technological progress has brought the world to the confines of
our own lives.
Social
media today plays an important role in our lives that will probably have a long
term impact on our points of view, both about ourselves and about the world in
general. It is easy to enumerate the positive effects of social media on our
lives – easy and constant communication, enlargement of our spheres of contact
and influence, almost instant access to information resulting in swift action,
for instance in case of natural disasters and catastrophes. Social media allows
us to get in touch with a large number of people coming from different
countries and societies – an enormous boon for artists, writers, musicians –
not only they can reach out to a large and diverse public
but they can actually get feedback very quickly. It is not surprising that
politicians and businesses quickly jumped on to the social media bandwagon to
promote their own interests. Never in the history of mankind has it been so
easy and so economical to reach out to a global audience. The champions of all
sorts of causes – social, economic, cultural, political, humanitarian – have
embraced social media with fervor and enthusiasm for garnering support. Some
recent historical events like the Arab Spring, the mass uprisings in Egypt were
largely engineered by technologically savvy activists. Social media played an
important role in Syria, in Libya or in Tunisia as well. However, it must be
remembered that the same power of social media can equally be used by other
types of groups for propagating false information, disinformation, racial and
religious hatred, fascism, or doctrines harmful to the society. “A lie gets
halfway around the world before truth has a chance to get it pants on”, said
Winston Churchill, and it has never been more appropriate.
The
different social media platforms on internet and mobile telephone are
constructed to be lucid, entertaining, intuitive and totally user friendly that
inspire a degree of trust in the average user. We willingly share a lot of
information about our opinions, tastes and preferences. Our digital
personalities often complement our real life persona, though this remains a
hotly debated point amongst social scientists and social media observers. It
seems that social media have actually encouraged people to forge digital
identities that are very different from real ones. In spite of that, the amount
of information generated by ‘genuine’ users is absolutely stupendous that is
very efficiently used by savvy marketing managers selling different types of
goods and services. The social media users are constantly tracked by these
commercial enterprises as well, which is somewhat scary – a lot of people in
different places are therefore trailing each user for different purposes, good
or bad, that can lead to individual or collective paranoia.
In
fact, social media users are sometimes victims of stalkers and trolls who
carefully choose their victims and can make their virtual presence a real
nuisance. Social media are fertile grounds for cyber bullying as well mostly
directed towards the relatively young users but not only. Such targeted
aggression can have very negative effects on the vulnerable. Our interview this
month deals with all these issues and more. Our 23 respondents have shared
their thoughts and ideas on these important issues.
“Half
the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't, and the
other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it” said Robert Frost
well before the era of social media. One cannot help wonder if the poet was
actually clairvoyant and had foreseen the power of social media almost one
century back.
Aparajita Sen
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