Where fascination takes much darker turn
Social media has become a stream of anguish, complains, personal grudges, a stage for propaganda and sadism whose truth is as hollow as ice, but represents the prime display of psyche of people, whether in context of a group of a teenagers devoid of plans for their lives, or an organisation which earns on propaganda or a political force whose key objective is to denounce the opponent.
The effect of numbers associated with notification bar give us pleasure in deluding us to believe that our content is demanded, subsequently giving us illusions of living in utopia. This effect inflicts consequences which relate to anxiety and depression subconsciously at the time when we see an empty notification bar. Driven by the feeling of emptiness, we find ways to seek attention, often by hurling insults to others or by uncountable disgusting means. This is where “Fascination can take much darker turn” as Judi James, an expert on human behaviour, points out.
The flow of information at the social media has kept a common man informed but in the ocean of information, the knowledge has gone to the inaccessible depths while the information flows at the surface like scum.
The difference between knowledge and information is a wide gap – the gap that is filled with hundreds of Lego blocks, however only knowledge will bring the wisdom to build something by using the appropriate blocks. In other words, it wouldn’t be obdurate to call it wisdom.
The flow of information tricks our mind into believing ourselves superior than those without it. This results in building a society where everyone is disliked and considered inferior. Such a society is filled with narcissists and egocentrics – who are but victims of subliminal effect of social media. The societies as such then die their own death by the cause of intolerance and disrespect.
The off side of the information that flicks at our screen is the authenticity which is rarely confirmed. We have transformed ourselves into a machine which concurs and acknowledge anything that is bolstered upon us. Websites engineered to be as addictive as cocaine are used as machinery for propaganda to feed the selective information which would carve the mind of a commoner to meet the hidden objectives that are associated with politics or social norms. Clickbait headlines play a subliminal game in pushing you to trust that you want this information.
The epidemic of social media has obtained harm to our social cultures and norms more than any other innovation has brought. The addicts make getting online their sole priority by doing it first thing in the morning, at work and in slightest moment of boredom. Individuals in company also tend to spend more time with their Facebook and Twitter updates than the real people who are sitting amongst them. In the long term, it brings about losing genuine companions for the sake of online strangers, thus becoming a part of ‘lonely crowd’ that flutters at Social Media.
Children as young as five are using social media platforms being subject to every kind of information, most of which may require parental guidance. Many parents don’t realise; in which world they have sent their children by letting them access the social media websites. It resembles putting your children on the top of a kerosene drum with a matchbox in his grasp. A young child accessing content circulated by clickbait headlines by pages which generate revenue through clicks, is not meant to bring any good to society, but for their own business.
The spree has also taken the political parties into its spell. Every political party has a social media wing, which is busy around the clock in spreading misinformation and propaganda against the political rivals. Paid and sponsored content is circulated to convince or befuddle the unbiased observers. The factory of rumors has verbally dented every institute of Pakistan, whether a government institute or armed forces or judiciary. Undercover profiles ran by certain political group have every day agenda to malign particular establishments and identities.
The surface of Pakistan that is already scratched by unemployment, illiteracy, load shedding, poverty, life security and corruption, social media puts another dent. The end to the epidemic looks like the dehumanisation of individuals – that is exactly where we are heading when youth that is compelled to live amidst the lonely crowd, children that are eroticising women, political groups that are mudslinging each other and the architects maligning institutes.
