Social Media: The Weapons of Mass Distraction

“In a world deluged by irrelevant information, clarity is power”. - Yuval Noah Hariri, Historian.

Yes. With the glut of information inundating our space, the old adage, ‘information is power’, needs this refinement.  The problem is accentuated by the pace with which information travels, which is breaching speed limits even on the ‘light’ highway and is currently approaching the speed of thought.

In this social media roller coaster ride, irrelevant information, fake news, gossips, planted disinformation and allegations get passed along with genuine stuff like jokes, personal development tips, moving life-lessons and real news.

No one appears to have enough time to validate information reaching us, as more and more of them are piling on us relentlessly.

Memes with messages purported to be from the likes of Sundar Pitchai on issues like NEET, Sterlite Factory flood WhatsApp, Twitter and other social media confusing the members in the network.

More than the confusion they create, these messages, forwards and ‘information’, cause divide amongst the members of groups. 

Social media is turning out to be the man-made black hole in the cyber space. It traps anyone close by and no one can escape from it. 

Can we learn to live in this deep hole, unscathed?

Take for instance, the memes calling for the boycott of IPL matches at Chennai in 2018. The ostensible justification was that people in Tamil Nadu, particularly youth, are in a gloomy mood due to non-resolution of Cauvery water issue. Hence this is not the time for entertainment like IPL. 

The counter messages in social media highlighted the irony that the protest was run by some of the champions of Tamil cinema industry!  There had no issues with TV channels streaming movies 24x7 and movie halls open across TN. Since when movies stopped being an entertainment?

It was all out war on WhatsApp, Twitter and other social media networks.

I read, decades ago, a quote on the beauty of the game of cricket, which said, “Amidst million mutinies, cricket unites India”.  I was awed by the quote then; now, I am frightened by the revolts messages in social media can cause. 

We can only say, ‘it is not cricket!’.

Historically, religion and politics have been the fertile grounds for conflicts. Now they, or shall I refer them singularly as ‘they’ are quickly losing their distinct identities, possess the omnipresent powerful tool of social media. ‘It’ now creates riots on social media by-the-second.

While the war is waged between forces in the political arena, battles and mutinies on smaller scale happen in the social media space. People have their own perceptions and positions on issues.  Some of them, with vested interests, could ‘plant’ messages, some could support by forwarding them to drum up support for their ‘causes’. 

Political forces, on a large scale, exploit social media by engaging consulting firms like Cambridge Analytica, to analyse personal traits using behavioural micro-targeting techniques to predict the ‘needs’ of people.

As Yuval Noah Hariri says, these days censorship works not by blocking the flow of information, but rather by flooding people with disinformation and distractions. 

Social media channels are turning out to be the weapons of mass distraction and mass hysteria.

“Come on, this block-hole is full of illuminating stuff”, you might argue. Agree. There are lots of benefits from social media; it helps in quickly developing professional and business networks, makes it easy to trace and reach out to our long-lost contacts, promotes relationships despite the distance, and endless other benefits.

However, tackling the menace of misinformation and distractions is a humongous challenge. Furthermore, how do we escape from the provocations we get through social media?

Key is to exercise caution while receiving any information.  One has to distinguish between the wheat from the chaff, in this modern day social media farm too.

Like sculptors, netizens must develop the ability to chip away the ‘unwanted’ to see the beauty of the sculpture in a stone.

Pick out what is good and necessary for you, and leave the rest. This has always been the hallmark of winners.

Muhammad Rumi, Persian poet and Sufi master, offered this wisdom on ‘knowing’, in the 13^th century, which applies very much to the current era too, “The art of knowing is knowing what to ignore”. 

How did I stumble upon this quote?  

A friend of mine shared this wisdom-quote with me, yesterday, through WhatsApp.

From where else?

-         By Radha Konda

June 2018