The Internet and social media can change mindsets but it must be used with wisdom and care, says Ratna Vira
The Indian General Election last year was called the ‘Twitter Election’ with 56 million tweets in the January to May period. Facebook claims that 29 million people in India made 227 million interactions on its platform during the same period. Claims are made for the online chatter having driven a young India to a record voter turnout. We were not the first… the UK elections in 2010 and the US just before showed the ability of social media to communicate with voters.
The world certainly knows social media. If users of Facebook were a country, they would be third in the world in terms of population (behind China and India). Yet, the question remains about how does society need to change to keep pace with and take advantage of the digital communication revolutionIJ
Social media is a tool for empowerment of those oppressed. In the last six months, two remarkable films made their way to the world through YouTube and Vimeo. Creepers on the Bridge comes from Egypt and shows gender inequality and eve teasing as two women feel the stares and aggression of men while walking across the Qasr al-Nil bridge in Cairo. Another video, This is Kabul, shows the everyday lives of three young women in Afghanistan. We are at a stage where, for the first time in history, people are able to tell their stories without restrictions of censorship.
Sometimes, the power equations are not those of state censorship but the feudal nature of society itself. My debut novel Daughter By Court Order deals with the hypocrisy and oppression of women. Daughters, however, are supposed to be seen (sometimes) and not heard (ever) in some families. Social media played an important role in making it a bestseller.
From flash mobs to earthquake relief, from corporate launches to movements such as the Swachh Bharat Campaign, social media is being used to impact mindsets. For some, the impact is direct and immediate, as exemplified by the 74 per cent of North American adults who use social media. For others, the impact is through a limited few but is exaggerated by key influencers and by getting information out of closed society structures. It is the urban youth in India who lead the social media growth. More people are mistrusting traditional centres of information and are expressing themselves on social media. Adolescents and teenagers are faced with diverse sources of information and use peer validation through digital communication as a means of dealing with the world. This often comes into conflict with the views of their parents.
Increasing access to information and the general lack of privacy leads to its own issues. The number of spousal conflicts arising from information sourced from modern communication devices is rising in India. Private emotions get amplified and are made public on the Internet. It is easy to tweet or post a casual comment using modern electronic devices. This ease and the ability to remain anonymous, if one so desires, is leading to a casualness, to an almost uncaring, attitude towards the ‘victim’ at whom the comment is directed.
Monica lewinsky, as just one example of many, has had to relive her affair with Bill Clinton with details and interviews going viral on the Internet. As she says, “We can tweet a revolution in the streets or chronicle achievements large and small. But we’re also caught in a feedback loop of defame and shame, one in which we have become both perps and victims. We may not have become a crueler society — although it sure feels as if we have — but the Internet has seismically shifted the tone of our interactions.” She has words of warning to add: “Having lived humiliation in the most intimate possible way, I marvel at how willingly we have all signed on to this new way of being.”
Social media touches people on a personal and emotional level. Humour, awe, anger and even narcissism are expressed on the Internet. A McKinsey study has identified four primary functions fulfilled by social media: to monitor, respond, amplify and lead behaviour. At its best, it is entertaining, helpful, inspirational and valuable. At its worst, it is unforgiving, humiliating, defaming and shaming. Social change and freedom movements around the world are using social media to express themselves. The Internet is a platform for liberation. However, just adding the Internet to society makes little difference. Existing power equations are replaced by newer ones. Social progress and, indeed, revolution does not come easy. The Internet and social media can change mindsets but must be used, as with most things, with wisdom and care.
(The writer is an author of Daughter by Court Order)