Social Media: What you see is not what you get
At this point of my age if someone asks me who will lead the biggest tragedy in future? I would answer, Social Media. My fellow scholars and thinkers would agree to it. We are creating a monster which is not limited to its misuse but is also attacking our intelligence and making us weak day by day.
The crowd is deciding what and whys of your actions. A bunch of people with no face are deciding what you want, what is good and bad for you, what is true and false for you. In simple words, your perspective of the world is being shaped by a crowd.
When I was young and social media didn’t exist then things depended on my discretion. I didn’t need a GPS to go places, I remembered the birthdays of my loved ones without Facebook reminding me. We used to have albums of important family events filled with memories cherished with everyone. We used to reminisce those days together and not alone somewhere glued to our phones. Nothing was generalized, though the times were black and white but our thinking was not. The times have changed now, we remain in a hurry to reach a conclusion. We remain in a hurry to like or hate. The truth is that we are made to jump on conclusions and made to like or hate things,people and even communities.
Today when I see the youth, especially the kids, any emotion can change them. They only see things, and believe on things they see too many times. The fake news they see on social media develop a never changing opinions in them. They start seeing the world through social media and refuse to take down those specs which they don’t even need. These specs of Fake News are making their vision more blurred that may damage them for life. For example, One of my friend is a doctor and his son is the brightest student of his batch. He sent me a friend request on Facebook. After seeing his timeline , I doubted that it was his profile. It was filled with so much hatred. He lives in London and the kind of education he receives can only be imagined by people and still how could he be drowned in so much rage?
During my next meeting with him, I asked why do you need Khalistan? He told me that Sikhs in India are being tortured everyday. That he sees the videos of such tragedies. He said that many of his friends on Facebook inform about such happenings. I asked him to see the profiles of his friends and found that most of them are sharing false content. They are using videos of some other places and changing the real information. I tried to explain this to my friend’s son but he was not ready to listen. At last I suggested him to visit India and go to Punjab and tell me what he saw.
After some argument,he agreed to it and after coming back from India, his views were changed. He went there with many assumptions but all of them were shattered. He thought of seeing bloodshed and tears but all he got was Lassi and Parathas. He now understood what Punjab was and how Sikhs are treated with utmost respect in India. He realized this because of the warm welcome he got not only in Punjab but in other states too. He chatted there with people from all walks of life and asked them, what Sikhs mean to them. Some answered honest, kind,brave, joyful and someone said that they always found Sikhs helping others.
He didn’t want Khalistan now. He saw the importance and respect of Sikhs in India. This respect has not been earned by us but our ancestors have earned it with their hard work. Which is now being endangered by some people for their own selfish reasons. Some of these people are running huge Aid foundations but their personal agendas are different. They are breeding so much pain that peace is far away from them. They are far away from the virtues of Sikhi.
After seeing the change in my friend’s son, I decided that I will speak. For many years, I have taught I.T security. Now using that experience I will teach people to be logical. Will expose the ‘mafias’ who spread fake content and want to ruin the next generation.
