Social media is great because it has
made complex, deep emotions so easy to express. Death of loved ones
with RIP messages and we shed some emotional load. A birthday and
pictures of our friend, our deed is partly done in showing how much
they are loved. Dog killers and posts are shared at the speed of
light, people uniting in hate.
Sharing at the convenience of a click
is taking away reflection, contemplation, passion. Users are
robotically propagating their agendas, their rights, their voices,
their ideas. We click and then move onto the next thing.
Social media is also creating a lot of
misconceptions. Uninformed, vehement people are igniting the fires
of other half informed people across the world. A mob physically
dispersed across the world is congregating, burgeoning and bursting
on the electro-plasmatic spaces of facebook and twitter.
What does it mean to share, to sign the
petition, to post, to like, to comment, to update the status?
What does it mean as a responsibility
we have as human beings?
Because we have started living more on
the internet than temporally. Because we are sharing more pictures of
toes in the sand and azure waters with “Keep calm and xyz”
instead of really waking up to see the sunrise or digging our toes
into the earth. We have begun to believe that life can only be
enjoyed momentarily, compartmentalized between holidays and work. We
see a a walk in the woods or a drive through the countryside as
something we do on holidays.
Frankly, I'm so sick of these senseless "keep calm and ..."
And then, the check-ins. We are wasting
precious seconds of magical life to tell the world where we are at
the moment. Checking into airport first class lounges, into suites at
Six Senses, the hip bars in New York and shopping at PlaceVendome.
Why does the world need to know? How does it enhance the experience?
Have we become so dependent on sharing such mundane information that
without it, our experience becomes incomplete? Do we really need to
“check in”?
And the life we aspire to have. The
photos of beautiful sunsets with a few profound sentences along the
lines of how life should be lived, about meditation and acceptance
and letting go. Juxtaposed by an upload of pictures of last night's
conquests.
Maybe we are a bit of everything rolled
into one complex philosophy that defines each individual. But my
point is, what is this ease of sharing our thoughts really doing to
us? And is it affecting society and humanity?
By expressing what we feel, what we
want, what we think on social media, we are essentially shedding an
integral part of us. Our passions. We feel that by sharing our
thoughts with the world, we have made the journey, half way. We are
expressing what we feel with such an ease and nonchalance that it
begins to mean nothing.
Our minds feel good. Our egos better.
We are good people. We do care. We are righteous.
And this is where the problem begins.
We begin to feel that by expressing ourselves, we are showing the
world who we are. Good people, that is. We are finding it incredibly
easy to place the blame on others, to scream at lion hunters, to
attack governments, to shame assholes.
We are conveniently removing ourselves
from the problem equation.
We have become couch activists,
screaming for human rights, animal rights, global warming,
anti-terrorism, etc. Spreading information and opinions with a click.
Igniting fires on the internet that may burn our capabilities to do
something in the real world.
Something about social media is taking
away responsibility from us and conveniently placing it on others.
The minute we share or update our status,s we move on. Sharing on
social media is like an emotional outburst that is needed to help
people move on. When you NEED to cry to move on, when you NEED to
scream to forget. By sharing, we are stopping. We are no longer
questioning deeply, the implications of what we are saying on the
internet.
Cheap online journals and websites by
the score are not helping either. False information, tacky web
content, shamefully low quality research is propagating web hysteria.
“15 reasons to live abroad”, “7 ways to achieve inner peace”,
“15 unbelievable photos of earth”, “10 places to see before you
die”. Since when did it become so simple that we began to quantify
some of the most profound questions of humanity like how to live, the
meaning of life and a balanced living? Where are we going if we are
sharing content that is giving us 12 ways in which we can improve our
lives to become who we are meant to be, to realize our untapped,
unbound, human potential? What does it mean when 1176 hours of
meditation by Buddha gets a very hip, shiny, attention caching
wrapping so that people on the bustle can decipher the profound truth
he was trying to propagate in 10 effective snap-points and in 2 short
minutes? If this is what we are into, aren't we sinking slowly into a
shit hole of stunted intellect and emotional or spiritual
questioning?
What is WITH the numbers? How ridiculous is this becoming?
Take the case of Cecil, the lion who
was recently shot by an American hunter. All the sites that confuse
the hunting with poaching and then the signatures to ban hunting.
What are couch activists doing and what implications do their actions
have on the future? Also, how is it that they are so easily
distancing themselves from their own responsibilities? Is hunting the
biggest threat to lions or are there other issues that are putting
the species at risk? We can safely say that the biggest threat to
lions is loss of habitat and subsequently human-wildlife conflict
(attack on cattle and people resulting in retaliatory measures like
spearing, poising etc). Do we not have a big role to play in habitat
loss – do we not see that our consumption and the economic
mechanisms of the world are pushing less privileged people or
societies constantly into protected areas? Global warming and
unpredictable weather patterns are accelerating desertification,
flash floods, etc. These things affect forests and wildlife. And we
are affecting the weather.
Frankly, when it comes to numbers, we
are a far greater threat to lions than a bigoted, egocentric hunter.
He even pays and his money is sustaining entire habitats that would
have otherwise been encroached upon and depleted for meat, illegal
logging and supplying east Asia with animal parts.
Sure, social media is very powerful
too. I am just concerned about how we are steering the course of our
future and the world by our nonchalant and ill informed one-click
petitions or support and by doing so relieving our responsibilities.
On a personal level, what is it doing
to our reasoning and the pains we should be taking to reflect on the
most important questions of living. Is everything really meant to be
so easy? Aren't some journeys just meant to be hard? Are these
articles and posts damaging our intellect and the amazing human gift
we have to question and reflect? Because sharing or expressing on the
internet has become such an integral part of our lives that when we
do anything on the internet we are beginning to subconsciously
project it into our “real” lives. Whether it is becoming friends
with someone, blocking a friend you no longer like or in this case,
activism. And the danger of that is, because we see the action as so
complete because we have done it on social media, we tend to deem it,
finished in the real world. We have a sense of achievement.
But certain questions are questions of
a lifetime. Certain inquisitions are the reason why human beings are
who they are, an unique animal that evolved an amazing ability to
introspect and be profound.
Our trends on the internet are
determining our lives on earth. It is ok to protest, to rebel, to be
senseless now and then but we need to understand the implications of
our protests and rebellions. When we make choices for those who are
far and different from us, we may feel that we are serving the cause
of human rights but our choices could be destroying their world.
Similarly for wildlife.
Can we let content just make us deeply
question, instead of simply act? Won't a reasonable outcome be the
result of a complete understanding?
Can we stop quantifying life and
spirituality and stop pretending that there are 5 or 7 or 10 easy
steps to achieving balance?
If we reject this lie and stop
demanding and consuming this heap of cleverly packaged and utterly
disrespectful nonsense, we will be doing the world a far greater good
than professing our intent and righteousness on the internet.
Because, then, we will be taking a leap in the real world.
This “social” web, what we think
connects us is also what is destroying very real social connections.
Yes, we are reaching out to people across the world more easily. We
are connecting with our “clique” more easily. It is true. But we
are simplifying the process so much that we are forgoing essential
learning, our social skills. We are turning into demanding little
trolls. This ease of access is killing the chance discovery, the
mistakes. We aren't stopping on the way any longer. We are made to
believe that we just don't have the time! Why read a book about the
strange and wonderful world of the world's tribes when we can see it
in a shoddy, ramshackle representation that sets it up in 5 glossy
pictures. By doing this for so much, we are rejecting those who have
dedicated their lives to the furthering of humanity – historians,
philosophers, writers, spiritual figures, anthropologists, musicians,
linguists. People who have or had dedicated their lives to
understanding these subjects are replaced by
barely-out-of-adolescence youth who are churning out content by the
giga byte for uninspiring, intellectually defeated websites like
buzzfeed and their contemporaries. We no longer want to delve deep,
just skim the surface and know enough to be able to “share” it.
Magazine subscriptions for journals
like the National Geographic have been dramatically cut. 73 million
dollars lost in subscriptions in less than a decade. Newsweek and
Life don't even exist anymore.
This means lower funding to scientists
in the field, 30 days instead of 6 months for photojournalists on a
story.... everything that we are protesting against on the internet!
Let's save the lions from hunting, lets halt global warming, lets
give rights to the tribes!! How can this be done without
understanding absolutely about the lions or global warming or the
at-risk tribes? How can the scientists and journalists understand
what they need to, with reduced funding, quick turn-arounds on
stories, etc ? Instead of helping societies and establishment that
have existed for over a century, bringing into our lives news of
discovery from far corners of the earth, we are aimlessly logging
onto buzzfeed and validating ridiculous content that satiates nothing
but our demand for low quality information and engaging our
surprisingly shortened attention spans and worn curiosities.
We are conveniently blind. Always
blaming others for the atrocities, the twisted acts of cruelty, the
political motives etc. But we are playing the game, we are the
leaders. Our mediocrity and futility, our satisfaction with
uninspiring content, demand for immediate and easy, is killing
quality. Quality that requires effort and time and engagement.
We are the oxymorons.
Being right is difficult. Finding your
chord in life's harmony can be daunting. Looking deep inside
ourselves beyond sunlight needs special vision. Acquiring compassion
needs acute awareness.
To change takes tremendous energy. To
disagree takes courage. There are no easy steps or “5 quick ways”.
There aren't just “20 amazing beaches” and “15 spectacular
roads to travel on”. There are hundreds, even countless. You may
even be on one right now.
We just need to excise ourselves from
this psychology that has established such a keen grasp over us.
Don't check-in to tell us about the
paradise you are in. Don't be foolish enough to waste that second.
You are not pathetic enough to need validation from social media
spies to have a good time.
Leave a bit to imagination. Talk about
it with friends over dinner. Take time to understand the world. Read
a book. Remember what it was like to discover something you never
knew? Now, we know about everything, everywhere, but never really
well enough. Isn't that sad?
Demand quality. Demand intelligence.
Demand ingenuity.
If not, we are fucked.
