NEW TRENDS
Bhagvad Geeta 18:66 says – “Sarva dharman parityajya mam ekam sharanam vraja aham tvam sarvapapebhyo mokshayishyami ma shuchah” meaning “let go of all other processes & surrender to me (lord Krishna), I shall deliver you from all consequences of sin. Don’t be afraid”…
While Lord Krishna asked his devotees to surrender themselves to higher force, he meant surrendering to Almighty. But today’s trending Genzies (Gen z generation) are not only dependent but have also submitted & surrendered themselves, not to Almighty, but to “Trending Social Media & gadgets”.
Gone are the days when we seamlessly recalled phone numbers/birthdays of our loved ones. Today, Google calendar reminds us of the special days. People have stopped using words to communicate & solely rely on unique abbreviations.
Setting themes for events is fine but one does not even acknowledge it, leave aside celebrating it with complete immersion. There’s a myriad trend to capture everything seen and every single aspect witnessed.
Whether it concerns cuisines or nature or humour. It surely is not cool to disconnect from grabbing moments in the form of pixels for memories, but not to an extent of becoming desperate with your gadgets. These days people don’t ensure if food is served with a glass of water or not; instead they take care to see that their gadgets are charged & talk-time fully topped up. Earlier, people stood beside a waterfall and clicked pictures but these days, pictures are taken when still finding a place to stand too, inviting untold mishaps. Sometimes experiencing moments firsthand, without any device should also be given priority to.
What experts rightly term – “Elephant in the room” is a new definition for ‘SOCIAL MEDIA’. Whether it be an infant which gets fascinated with scrolls or lights, or moms who use phones as a medium to feed their kids, or students who binge-watch posts just to garner likes/comments etc; the very fabric behind the discovery of social media has itself taken a back-seat. It no longer focuses on connecting friends but concentrates on their personal lives and uses them as a trigger to increase your dopamine in order to do all what your friend does, to buy all what he buys, to go there where he goes, to use same exact filters as he did and in doing so; you cross your own boundaries and become yet another clone of your friend by losing your individual unique identity. A constant urge to seek validation for your posts makes you less decisive of your own self. All thanks to Social media!
According to a study by ‘We are social & hootsuite’ – an average person has 5 social media accounts & spends nearly 7 hours online per day. On an average, 7.4 platforms are accessed per month worldwide, but in India, the number is 8.7!
YouTube has become a King comprising of more than 500 hours of content being uploaded every minute. As per survey by the ‘Sproutsocial’ – 1 billion hours of absurdity is consumed every day, especially by viewers aged between 15-35.
A hilarious race to consistently showcase online presence, to enrich followers and likes has encapsulated youngsters like no other. Unless a person generates his/her income through social media, it should be used with certain limitations.
A picture is worth a thousand words, but what about those smiling emojis with colon parenthesis? Surely, if you choose your words well, readers/listeners would know as to when were you loving or being funny. You don’t need to add a squiggle at the end, at least not always. Words have power and they can create magic if used well.
How soon we evolved from – “Oh my God, it was too funny. I laughed my heart out” to saying “LOL” and these days, we lack patience to use those abbreviations also.
A mere ‘smiling emoji with tears rolling down’ is trusted to convey one’s happiness. Emoji is regarded as world’s new visual language. This is despite the fact that for anything to become a language, it should necessarily consist of words and phrases. Yet, the digital era has involved innumerable exceptions.
Red-heart emojis serve as a medium to express love today, while people ages ago struggled hard to express love through poems and songs. GIFs have replaced Love letters. Celebrating or congratulating for triumphs meant organizing functions earlier but an applauding emoji suffices it today. From finding a partner online to sending marriage invitations on whatsapp, everything has evolved drastically, resulting in fewer meaningful interactions and strong relationships.
Unfortunately, children are left to figure out how to navigate this new terrain even as they deal with the pressures of student life. Youngsters today are often in a parallel universe of updates & notifications due to syndrome known as FOMO(fear of missing out). This social media epidemic has enhanced bond with gadgets but failed to foster bonds with humans.
Experts term the unrestrained usage of social media by youngsters as – “having kids in cars with no safety features and driving on roads with no speed limits, no traffic lights and no rules”!
The onus is on adults to take the cue and curb the overuse by culminating a culture of conversation and exchange of innovative ideas at home and schools.
A fast world, a superlative world, a busy society has increased stress and anxiety. Innumerable reports have reported the toxic effects of social media, which is also why – “detoxification of social media/digital escapism” is trending like no other, these days. Social media is no more social but has become the cause & consequence of isolation, depression, anxiety etc. What makes it even dangerous is its algorithm which stalks every user and is well educated with user’s likes, choices, preferences etc. Cybersquatting, espionage, cuber-bullying, deep-fakes, fake account handlers, trolls etc are not so uncommon too. This is exactly why a restricted liberty does more good than harm!
In the Anushasana Parva, Bhishma tells Yudhistira – “Satyeshu yatitavyam vah satyam hi param balam!” meaning “Exert in truth, for truth is the greatest force”. This holds true in current digital saga because anything and everything said, seen, or shown is believed to be true. Innocent human beings fall prey for digital evils like money laundering, digital arrest and much more. Therefore, educated digital knowledge and sense of awareness becomes quintessential.
A mindful approach towards life brings calm, creativity and sense of fulfillment. To cultivate patience, precision and an eye for ‘beauty in simplicity’ helps us reconnect with our surroundings. A meditative escape is vital for composing our lives with lines of satisfaction.
Consider the analogy of a frying pan being put over fire. The closer the pan comes to the fire, the hotter it becomes because of the heat of the fire. However, no matter how hot it becomes, it can never become fire. Similarly, man cannot become God. But, can certainly invest in one’s own development.
As Trump rightly quoted – “Change your attitude & gain some altitude”, a change is essential to navigate towards an organic living, devoid of excess digital dosage.
On the contrary, social media does provide you a window to the world by re-enforcing your learning into reality too. You actually get to see what you learn. It helps you stay updated with the surrounding and makes you an informed citizen. In fact it brings to you unheard stories of great people, which lets you stay motivated and inspired as well.
Unknown hill-stations, unexplored places or restaurants which couldn’t reach out through traditional pamphlets, have begun to reach you through social media. For people who travel & try to discover new scenic places, a traditional-cum-homely experience filled “Home-stay Revolution” has made wonders. This initiative of providing home-like experience to tourists has not only succeeded in preserving cultures but has also furnished employment opportunities to the localites as well. Whether fitness regimes or new laws, everything reaches you with a single click. Friends and family members staying continent apart can also stay in touch and give you first hand information about foreign world through social media. It can act as an intersection of ‘what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs and what you can be paid for’.
Also, some online content can help free oneself from the clutters and clusters of stressful scenarios. A 2023 study in Science Direct report found that watching humorous videos reduced stress and acted like reward system as it releases oxytocin hormone responsible for producing ‘feel-good’ emotions in humans. Controlled Distractions were surprisingly therapeutic as they were opted in the form of micro-break from rigorous schedule. It relaxes humans and gives a soothing effect to their hearts.
Happy videos trigger Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) which is a sensation experienced when exposed to specific sights or sounds. Those who can’t afford for healing Gong Bath or sound healing in person, could switch to free videos and recharge themselves back to track.
A 2018 study in PLOS ONE found that ASMR participants felt more relaxed, improved overall mood, by being exposed to virtual nature walks for mental peace and fitness.
But that requires an intellectual segregation and a controlled usage of social media to not let it consume you.
To use Wikipedia as a ‘go-to-source’ to learn & discover new interests is healthy but to use it like ‘going down a rabbit hole’ by non-stop scrolling is not advised. Mindful scrolling by focusing only on what genuinely brings joy should be consumed in limits.
Joy is the justice we give to ourselves, writes J Drew Lanham.
Paradox is that though digital platforms are used in abundance, people experience knowledge-illiteracy ailment. Surprisingly, this ailment is suffered by University toppers also.
Competence in general knowledge is a way to well-rounded personality.
In this age of specialization, one may perhaps ask as to “what’s the need for general knowledge”? While it is not untrue that it certainly is an age of specialization; however, without a broader knowledge, how can one decide as to what is the best area of specialization? Besides, with a narrow outlook, can one be able to effectively apply one’s specialized knowledge anywhere in the world around?
Facts packed in a dense manner is not General knowledge. General knowledge abbreviated as G.K is not just knowing facts, facts & more facts;but understanding the facts as well.
In fact, a curiosity, an interest in things around, culminates into cultivating a well-rounded personality and this is an apt definition of general knowledge.
The current student curriculum is designed in a manner such that G.K is made to be looked at, with a complacent or lulled approach. However high score or rank a student may obtain, yet, she/he always regards G.K as a subject to be studied only for jobs/interviews/competitive exams etc – all of which occur at a later time in a student’s life. Therefore, they invest plenty of their time in their respective curricular studies before taking GK seriously. This is certainly wrong but no student is at fault either!
The misconception borne in student’s mind that purchasing a “GK magazine” at the fag end shall gift him/her with an offer-letter has to be addressed urgently. One-liners may help you finish a book but finishing a book cannot decide your knowledge about those concepts in that book.
Your comprehension depends upon your understanding of the concept’s background, history, evolution, perspective, impact – all put together which, it serves you with a perfect & more meaningful outcome. Missing out any one out of those creates – an information indigestion. Hence, no ‘GK Digest’ can then digest your knowledge on a large scale.
Curiosity and sense of wonder makes learning interesting. But a ‘learning curve’ often hinders the rate of curiosity.
A Learning curve is a curve which expands the rate of learning and then gradually steadies itself for sometime until it tapers off thereafter.
Discipline & determination can possibly halt this fall in curve. Scientists opine that it is an innate attitude of mind to refuse to accept incomplete answers and incomplete information. Thus, an ideal way to enhance one’s appetite for knowledge is by raising the level of thinking to a higher step. This can be best done through a “detective approach”.
DETECTIVE APPROACH :-
Imagine that you are a Detective with a cue – an unfamiliar term. Now, trace down the meaning of the term, its background information, its history and its contexts. You can make use of Wikipedia. It looks like piecing together the mystery using all the available resources. The entire picture is right in front, independently complete but making no sense when kept separately in chunks and pieces. Hence, it is you – a detective who is knitting them all to carve out one complete meaningful story. Once this is done, draw few associations from it, establish some links and connections, relate and compare it with other words; think about it; digest it and assimilate it completely. Only after you have done this, consider the mystery solved.
Very importantly, while doing all this, do it in the spirit of adventure & don’t forget to have fun because learning need not be dull and boring. When things are fun,you learn better and faster without any strain.
You can develop your own method or variation of the detective approach which suits your preferences.
The benefits of this method is manifold:
- A better understanding of things around is enabled with lot of clarity.
- In the process of finding out about a particular term, you invariably run into more words and that diversifies your knowledge about multiple aspects at the same time. Thus, your efforts snowball into greater levels of knowledge and understanding.
- This kind of diligence increases your curiosity and when this happens, rest assured, your whole personality undergoes a marked change for the better.
In a world that witnesses cut-throat competition to excel, General knowledge certainly acts as a weapon to build one’s career with sophisticated outlook. To widen horizons in more ways than one, is a seamless output of an enriched knowledge. You feel empowered as a person and start becoming more aware of the on-goings around you.
Thus, as RALPH EMERSON quotes – “You have first an instinct, then an opinion, then a knowledge; as the plant has root,bud, and a fruit” ; suits absolutely right.
Another way to keep gadgets away could be by indulging ourselves in Nature gazing. Making use of initiatives such as Nakshatra Mahasabha, Astro-camping etc; we can enhance our knowledge-package by learning about stars, moon, planets and enhance our cosmic intellect. Many people have taken up treks and mountaineering activities to chase little-left ecology. The word – Sostalgia refers to homesickness for the lost environment or landscape features which we often held dear to ourselves, once upon a time. Melting glaciers, reduced snow, decreasing precipitation, increasing temperatures have eroded our environment and hence, along-with preserving the existing nature; we also need to experience its beauty without causing any harm to it, because ‘humility prevents humiliation’.
The mind’s purity is thus revealed by the desire to think noble, do good deeds and by the efforts made in that direction.
So, let us all join hands in uniting colours of humanity and uplift Ghatika sthanam ie seat of learning by refusing to believe that we are weak and we shall stand-out as strong.
Zeal, fervour, ardour, passion grips us individually and collectively. Therefore, let’s optimize them all and through proper channeling, let us launch our cherished dreams and aspirations by bringing them to fruition.
By: ASHLESHA SHIVANAND BHALARE
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