Social media has sparked tons of debate whether it is useful or harmful. In this digital era, social media has become an integral part of our daily lives creating a power impact on our society. News can now travel from one corner of the planet to the other in just mere seconds. As the old saying goes, every coin has two sides, and so does social media. With its positive aspects, there also exist negativity. Breaking the geographical boundaries and interconnecting humans from across the world is one of the biggest strength of social media.
But at the same time cases of anxiety, loneliness, and depression have been on the rise in the recent times, particularly among the youth. The question is, why? Despite being constantly connected with people throughout the social media, why do we feel lonely? Are people truly there with us or are they present only behind the screens? Humans are social animals and naturally drawn to be surrounded by other living creatures. However, in this era of social media – Facebook, Instagram, Tiktok, and more we often become so much absorbed in these digital media world that we sometimes forget to live our own lives. Today’s generation are so busy in getting likes and getting followers that they forget about a world beyond these apps.
Social media does helps create awareness, as its helpfulness was evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. When lockdown were imposed and schools and colleges were shut down, social media helped in continuation of education through online classes. A great impact of social media in education can also be seen. Social media provides a vast scope in the area of research in different fields. Social media revolutionized the way of communication between students and educators. The online platforms enable real time interactions. This helped the students to engage with their classmates and teachers outside the traditional classroom settings. Now classes can be conducted in the evening rather than only in the morning daytime through platforms like Google Meet, Zoom, etc. Group discussions, projects and study sessions can be conducted through these online platforms. This allows a sense of community and also encourages collaborative learning.
The integration of social media in education has created new opportunities in communications, collaborations and access to information. It is truly a medium which connects people worldwide, albeit virtually. Platforms like LinkedIn have created career opportunities. Social media is also a medium of creating a voice to the marginalized, raising awareness among people. Various movements have got global attentions and led to actions largely because of it. The media can also be used as an educational tool, spreading important messages about using sanitary napkins, maintaining hygiene and the importance of mother and child pre and post-natal care. Social media offers platforms to artists, writers, dancers, singers to showcase their talents. In todays’ era it is quite hard to imagine life without social media, but much depends on how we choose to use it. Along with all these benefits, there comes some drawbacks.
Although social media is a medium of interconnection, simply giving comments and likes on a post will not change the society and how we think about the important matters. Studies shows that excessive use of social media is negatively impacting mental health. The competition for followers and likes is causing depression among some individual, especially among the young generation. Children today are more busy playing video games within the four walls of the room rather than to go outside and play with their friends in the playground.
A particularly sensitive topic, is in rise in the rape cases of India. Despite the potential of social media, it truly failed to stop the rising rape cases in India, which only revels the limitations of digital activism in addressing such sensitive and deep-rooted societal issues. Platforms like Facebook, twitter, Instagram have created awareness but they failed in translating those online outrages into a lasting change. The inadequacy of social media can be seen with the persistent prevalence of sexual violence, domestic violence and more, despite all the numerous viral campaigns and widespread discussions, couldn’t transform any of the societal issues.
And because of these platforms sometimes a toxic-environment is foster where misinformation spreads and victims are blamed. Superficial engagement can often be seen in online campaigns, where sensitive issues trend, but only for a short period of time before fading away, which fails to sustained the attention needed to tackle such cases. Thus, while social media has brought some cases to forefront, but it failed to completely vanish or address the underlying causes of sensitive cases such as rape. It did failed to bring any changes to the system necessarily needed to prevent it. While people protest and post their opinion on social media, but it beg the question: Does that really going to make any change? We are in 21st century, in 2024, till now rape cases continues, and we are still discussing about gender equality. It’s disheartening that the power of social media has not been able to protect the rights of woman from such inhuman things.
Yes, social media is a powerful tool, it has transformed our world to a large extend in ways which were previously unimaginable and is still evolving. While it provide numerous opportunities for connections and learning, yet it has significant negative sides that can’t be ignored. We can post dozens of status updates wishing someone a happy birthday, but without the personal interactions, which built deeper bonds, such gestures can create a void – a feeling of emptiness. We are technically connected through social media but our emotional ties are weakening. While we can constantly talk with someone on social media, we may still feel distant from them. Without real interactions we can’t feel what a person is going through or what he/she wants to express. As we navigate through this digital era, it is important to harness only the positive aspects of social media and work actively to minimize its negative effects. That is how we can made the best use of social media for the betterment not only for ourselves but also of the society.
By: Lisha Bharali
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