Recently, while moving my eyes on social media on my mobile phone, the very caption of a video struck my attention: “The death of a popular actor in Mumbai.” Immediately, I opened the video, and to my surprise, I found the anchor saying, “The actor has only been admitted to the hospital, and his death is only a rumour. There is no truth in the news.” To a certain extent, this video is manageable as it deals with the truth, though its caption is misleading. But there are videos that would declare the actor dead straightaway and have no regrets. Here, the question arises: is this the way to prepare and upload a video on social media? Definitely not. We can come across hundreds of such misleading videos carrying wrong captions and false themes or news. The intention is obviously to get good TRP. It is not that social media is all about such videos, news, or themes. There is no dearth of very good, research-oriented, and informative videos that have made social media a power to reckon with in the present-day society.
The wide prevalence of social media at present reminds me of my school, college, and even university days. We, as children and boys, were really handicapped as radio and cinema were the only sources of entertainment, with no mobile phone to fall back upon. Television came much later. Since the cinema halls were a few kilometres away, we could see movies with either family members or school teachers, who took us children for children’s movies. Radio was another medium that engaged us in entertainment. In the midst of studies, we made it a point to listen to popular Hindi film music programmes. Although television existed in India in one way or the other since 1959, it was during the IX Asian Games of 1982 in Delhi that it became a household name by telecasting the events of the Games live. Thereafter followed a series of soap operas and mythological serials that made television all the more popular, with radio and cinema playing second fiddle to it.
Social media came to be used in India only after the year 2000 and has gradually turned out to be the centre of attraction, thereby eclipsing and sidelining the other media. Today, it has become such a craze and obsession that children, youth, adults, and the old—nobody is free from it. Let us now analyse its strong as well as weak points and how it could be made more effective:
- Not a waste of time – Some time back, one of my friends called it a total waste of time and, therefore, stayed away from it. I did not agree with him and made it clear that how could it be a waste of time when people are seen to be engaged in habits like gossiping, backbiting, gambling, drinking, playing cards, and standing for hours in chowks discussing with friends national and international issues casually. As somebody has put it, a habit should be a stick that we use, not crutches to lean on. We should divide our time and give social media its due. We just cannot afford to skip it in present-day society. Otherwise, we will lag behind and miss its benefits.
- A creative platform – Social media is a very good platform for creative people. They can not only write poetry, stories, and other informative articles but also upload photos and videos on it. On occasion, I find time to enjoy the best of photos and videos on social media. In fact, it has come up as a good substitute for print media, and all creative people should take full advantage of it.
- Dissemination of information – Social media has further reduced the world to a global village, as through it, there has been tremendous dissemination of information. In today’s world, we just cannot afford to miss any kind of information if we really want to keep pace with the changing times, and we cannot ask for a better bet than social media in the matter.
- A source of engagement – In this age of unemployment, social media has turned out to be a good source of engagement for the youth, who are not only earning name and fame but also money. Not only the youth, but also senior people and professionals have engaged themselves, not necessarily for money but for presenting their viewpoints before society.
- Education and entertainment – Social media has been a tremendous platform for education as well as entertainment. Professionals like doctors, engineers, astrologers, scientists, journalists, teachers, and others are doing a commendable job by contributing many educative pieces of information, photos, and videos to social media. There is no dearth of entertainment also in the same.
- Development – Social media can very well be a powerful medium for social and economic development. In developing and undeveloped countries, where society is afflicted with many problems, social media can make people aware and highlight the plans and policies of the government meant for their development. In a democracy, social media can point out the faults of the government. But at the same time, its populist measures must also be highlighted.
- Awareness and vigilance – As it has been rightly said, eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. In a democracy, people just cannot afford to remain ignorant. They have got to be highly alert and vigilant. Otherwise, their very freedom would be endangered. Social media has a pivotal role to play in it. It can make people aware of their rights and duties in a democracy. In other words, it can safeguard the interests of democracy.
- Children – Children have developed a weakness for the mobile phone, which is taking away a lot of their time from studies. It has been a matter of serious concern for parents and guardians worldwide in recent times. Not only social media but also the games and other applications available on the mobile phone attract children. Teachers and guardians should convince and dissuade children from wasting their valuable time this way and rather concentrate on their studies. Of course, they can get the benefits of social media by giving some time to it.
- Propaganda – Though in countries under a democratic and constitutional setup, people mostly enjoy the right to freedom of speech and expression, they should be careful while dealing with issues like caste, community, religion, unity, integrity, and security of the nation on social media, which may raise a controversy or incite violence. In the name of propaganda, others’ feelings and sentiments should not be hurt.
- A boon – Social media is a boon, a gift of science, and the need of the hour. We have to accept it to keep pace with the changing times. People involved in social media, the channels uploading and carrying it, and the government should all see to it that nothing goes wrong with it.
As per a latest survey, 5.22 billion people, which constitute 63.8 percent of the world population, are using social media today, and the day is not far when it may cover cent percent of the population around the globe. Social media has obviously turned out to be the most powerful media and is a power to reckon with in today’s world of information, education, and entertainment. It can be made more powerful and effective if the people and channels involved in it and the government having jurisdiction over areas of its operation see to it that the media is moving in the right and responsible direction.
(The views expressed are the writer’s own)
Mr. Prafulla Kumar Majhi,
Retired Asst. Director, A. I. R, is an eminent Scholar and freelance writer in English & Odia. His areas of interests are sociocultural, economic, literary, historical and analytical studies and writings.
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