The pros and cons of social media
By: JAVAID JAFRI
Internet is one of the greatest and biggest inventions in the modern day technology. Without a shadow of doubt life would suffer a lot without it and this is the reason that in the present era, internet is considered to be the most vital technological advances that has squeezed the world into everyone’s reach and made a lot of things accessible despite great distances.
Internet and social sites are serving as a medium of communication through which people can engage in different aspects of dialogue turning the globe into a ‘global online village’. Its users are nearly half of the world’s population i.e over 4.2 billion out of 7.7 billion while 3.3 billion people are actively involved in social media circles. As such, it has become vital for our lives giving access to large volume of precious and valuable information necessary for our survival in this era of digitalization. All the newspapers, magazines & records are available on internet, the possibilities on internet are unlimited and the services are provided by both government and private organizations.
While writing this article, my mind was crossed by the thoughts of the discussions during my college days with a friend, Mr. Gh.Rasool Malik Sb, regarding the issue of social media. We would often keep the scenario and circumstances in mind and feel that the government should implement some rules and regulations for the users of social media. This would mean that there is some kind of eligibility and criteria for users so that the results would be fruitful and beneficial for an individual as well as for society at large.
Positive use of internet makes our lives easy and simple as it provides us useful data, information and knowledge for the personal, social and economic development and verily it is up to us how to utilize our time on the worldwide web in a constructive manner. The internet is a revolution in information and technology and undoubtedly the largest source of information in this modern era. There is a huge amount of essential and mandatory information on the internet for just about every subject known to man.
It is rightly said that we don’t have choice whether we use social media or not! The question is that how we use it. Surely, it is the matter of usage! Using the internet is just like using a knife, if we use it correctly and wisely, it is a helpful tool, but if we use it wrongly, it can cause harm. Therefore we should not desist from rightful usage of internet instead we should avoid the wrongful ways of it. Social media can be used in a way that it can shape the politics, education, culture, business, career, talents and encourage innovations rather to share and discuss useless fictitious and concocted details.
But with all its beauty, internet also comes with inherent risks as well as the potential to malign, smear and start a hate campaign against an individual or a community. We have seen such things happening more profoundly in recent past than ever. Take for instance the aftermath f the Pulwama attack, an entire brigade of hate mongers used the same social media platforms to malign Kashmiri people making sweeping generalizations. As a result many young kashmiri students were targeted as well.
Cyber bullying is the most common threat that we may face while using the Social Networking sites. On these sites spreading false rumors about someone is relatively very easy. Also, people can post anonymous posts about someone on various sites without revealing their identity. Cyber bullies send insulting and hateful messages to their target, spread lies about them and post nasty comments on social media making the victim unable to face the society.
Addiction to internet is also a very unhealthy trend which is prevailing in our society. Our children lock themselves in a shell and refuse to come out for any physical exertion much needed for their holistic development. Remaining glued to the mobile and computer screens is now a fully acknowledged disease.
So, the choices are with us and it is our decision what to make of this great technological advancement. Do we bring it to our use or make ourselves a commodity in the hands of this invention, all depends on us.
Writer is a government employer and can be reached at [email protected]
