Why I don’t use Social Media
‘Hello World' is a timeless piece of code that gained popularity during the 1970s when its creator Brian Kernighan first referenced it in his book titled 'A Tutorial Introduction to the Programming Language B’. But what made it stick? Probably the simplicity of it. A friendly message which is innocent and disarming. So much hope underlining it. An eagerness to interact and understand. Or like a servant’s greeting, waiting for instructions and ready to serve its master. Only, the master was evil.
The initial hypothesis was flawed. Technology will solve all our problems. But no one ever asked which problems should be solved. Take the World Wide Web for example. The early internet was a place to share and collaborate. Full of idealists who exchanged information and imagined a virtual utopia. Everyone had a voice now. A truly democratic setup. Who can say that now? Big digital media like Facebook constantly hammer at the fault lines in our society and promote incendiary content to increase engagement.
It is not an understatement that social media might be the downfall of human civilization. Or maybe I give too much credit. Maybe we were always doomed. We are like children playing with fire. Dazzled by the light but too close for comfort. Likely to get burnt. And we do that with everything. Fossil fuels, water, trees. Enough for our need but not for our greed (another timeless message which I don’t hear much now). An army of mindless bots taking sides in a virtual war. Documenting their fear, hatred, jealousy, pride, and all the little tendencies of a fragile ego. Shrieking voices pleading for validation and fulfillment.
I never saw why it was so important to post about the latest "Mundan" (a ritual for babies in India) party in my neighbourhood. Or put up honeymoon photos so that people know exactly when I am getting laid. The idea was that your "friends" had the latest on you. More like strangers knowing your exact whereabouts. And before you jump on the "spreading positivity and good news" bandwagon, tell me this. Do you truly care? I think my day was going all right without the update on which dress you tried on this morning. Does your post add any value to anyone except for the companies who run these platforms?
Again, I am not dismissing social media here in general. I realize it is a powerful tool that can connect people, build businesses, share valuable information, support artists, and foster collaboration. But it is dominated by click-baity content which punches your senses into a coma. You feel sick. You feel empty. Yet you keep scrolling to feel better. And that is their genius. They managed to sell the disease as the cure. All the while collecting data on our hopes, desires, fears, and expectations and using it to influence our behaviour including our political choices, ideology, and even who we fall in love with.
Most of the issues I talk about have been extensively discussed on many forums. Still, there is very little talk around this I feel. For anyone interested to understand the enormity of the crisis we face, I would recommend looking up Tristan Harris of the Center for Humane Technology. Also, look up Maria Ressa, co-founder and CEO of Rappler.That would be a good starting point. Ironically, I am posting this piece on the same social media that I berate but with a sincere belief that it is a message worth sharing.
