| Don't hit log out just yet. Social media can spearhead social change for good In the early 2000s, social media glided into our lives and took a permanent seat. Today, according to a recent report by DataReportal, more than half of the world now uses social media (62.6%) with the average daily time spent online being 2h 20m! As more people come online, many are also bidding it adieu (Ironically, there are endless videos on quitting social media on Instagram and YouTube). Does that mean quitting social media is the new trend? I am all for mental peace and nirvana. But it is too convenient to dismiss the platform altogether. Recently, social media users took notice of the way a differently abled fan of actor Nagarjuna was pushed aggressively by one of his bodyguards. Such was the backlash, that the actor had to issue an apology for the same. This changes things. Accountability has a new face, and it's social media. Customer care departments of any restaurant otherwise might not entertain your complaints, but one tweet with a tag of their page, and they are ready to schedule calls with their seniors. There's no escaping a burnt pizza or wrong order now!  However, this vigilantism can be a double-edged sword. Before you know it, a random Chantu-Bantu will be doling out advice on your posts like you're their childhood best friend. So, let's bring back minding-our-own-business and stop harassing celebs (or anyone) to the point that the block button becomes more useful than the like button. If enough of us stop entertaining negativity, the air might clear up. By doing this, another space might open up. After all, in the face of disaster, social media can become instrumental in saving millions of lives, if not more. Take the example of Jakarta (Indonesia), which is also known as the Twitter (X) capital of the world. According to a report by the General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union in Vienna, during recent flooding events, people sent almost 900 tweets per minute, often including detailed descriptions of the flooding and geo-specific tags. Imagine the lives it saved! At home, IAS officer Prasanth Nair, who was the District Collector of Kozhikode in 2018, employed a similar strategy and used social media to track and rescue people stranded by devastating floods. So, my final verdict? Social media can be a powerful life-saving tool, as long as we cut back on the noise. |
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