A close scrutiny of social media behaviours will make the dangers evident. A collective social norm on the rights and wrong must be brought into public discourse
In a rather disgusting display of desperation, two senior Congress leaders recently posted derogatory tweets, targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Taking the political rivalry to a new low, the new breed of twitter pelters in Manish Tewari and Digvijaya Singh sadly resembled innumerable invisible ruffians, of all political hues, who treat the social media as their fiefdom and spew dirt all over. The acts of Tewari and Singh are symptomatic of a new social aberration, a rampant psychological disease of turning to the social media to exhibit shameless glorification, mindless vilification and concealed gratification.
What has led to the rise of this diseaseIJ An array of social, psychological, cultural and political factors can be seen to be causing this disruption of a new kind. The rise of the Internet and social media has been rapid. While it has made communication faster, more convenient and less cumbersome; by powering individuals with unprecedented control over speed and ability to remain anonymous; it has posed grave risks — anyone can vilify anyone. By giving the lever of handle of broadcast to individuals, social media has broken barriers, so sacrosanct with traditional mass media mediums. It has de-institutionalised broadcasts and created a new channel of unfettered communication between one to many. By replacing erstwhile human interface of communication and enabling mediation through technology, social media may have fueled a false sense of connectedness, and endangered the backbone of social relationships.
A close scrutiny of social media behaviours makes the aberrations and danger abundantly evident. Many are posting pictures of the dead on the Facebook — rather than taking to the old method of intimating family and friends through phone calls; the ‘disillusionment with life’ posts by some and thereby alluding to their desire to ‘give up’ and in the process grab attention and emotion is an emerging trend; people are venting out their frustrations by taking to anonymous Twitter handles and abusing friends and foes alike — not sparing even the Prime Minister, Chief Ministers and public servants — despite knowing well that it leads to no resolution; many are celebrating the bizarre — a good handwriting, a lick by a pet, new pair of shoes, a new face pack — and Facebook today resembles the happiest planet on the earth and threatens to outsmart Bhutan by miles in the Happiness Index; people are forming relationships on WhatsApp, and enormous time is spent on unproductive conversations and sharing of intimate pictures and other details; even faith-laced grouse against gods are finding vent on the social media — the arrest of a lecturer of Delhi’s Dyal Singh College over posting derogatory post against goddess Durga is a case in point.
The disease — where social media is perceived as the chimney of human agonies and ecstasies — has gripped the old and the young alike. The Blue Whale game is a glaring manifestation of the same aberration, and this is turning rampant. While sociologists and psychologists may term these trends as transitional, the facts may lay elsewhere and may require a more holistic intervention, at least at the institutional levels.
A collective social norm on the rights and wrong of social media must be brought into public discourse. While an unwritten code of conduct exists for Government officials, there is none so for political workers, who are often the most virulent in their attacks on Twitter and Facebook. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat recently expressed his stand against online abuse and trolling. “We do not support those who display such aggressive nature. We do not support trolling and aggressive behaviour on the net,” Prasar Bharati chairman, A Surya Prakash, quoted Bhagwat as saying in his tweets. It is sincerely hoped that political groups, including the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Indian National Congress, took a leaf out of Bhagwat’s lesson and joined in loud condemnation of deviant political acts on social media.
The need to institutionalise social media behaviour in school curriculum is something that our policy-makers must consider. Secretary, Union Ministry of Human Resource Development, and one of the most avid users of social media, Anil Swarup professes use of the medium to invade through negativity around us and bring positive stories to the fore. The same must be taught to children. As India’s most trusted and respected leader, is it time the Prime Minister also issued an advisory to the people to moderate, refrain and sanitise the social media space, lest it slips into an irreversible chaosIJ Sooner, the better.
(The writer is a strategic communications professional)