A critics on the new avatara of the media– Social media thelife line of common man

-Prof. Abhay Saxena

Dept. of Computer Science, DSVV

The God had created this wonderful world with dilemmai.e. whether to make it or not. Since the world had came into the existence, the second option by default came into the mundane world. People called these two factors as positive and negative node. We dofind positive and negative impacts, factors, status, issues and consequences in society and based on these theories the world prosper, flourish and get new dimensions.

The positive node is the start of every action. It does get polluted in the mid of the journey that is destiny or the existence of a second part i.e. negativity. All though people look the negative aspect a blot or curse for the life but it’s a part of existence of darkness and ignorance. The darkness is essential and then only one realize the essential of light. The ignorance is important as it leads towards the knowledge. The negativity is essential that make us to notice the worth of positivity. For me the positive change is an essential part of the destiny of each and every thing in this world and Journalism is no more exception.

Look around the world, the vibrant colors are present everywhere. The show is going on, the movies are making a run, the politician are making statements, the fashion shows are pulling the crowd, the catastrophes are making the world turmoil, the wars are making people crazy, the pollution, population and passion is driving the world and here comes the existence of journalist. Thus breed is sheer critical in nature, rushing, running and covering each and every one through their pen, camera, shoots, interviews, story boards, channels and in sum total we can call it a perfect media.

The new avtara of Media:

Although the media is a byproduct but it steals each and every show. The success of any event depends upon the broad shoulders of media. The light, action and camera are the movie making activities but in the part of media it is just beyond that. The TRP business is another wonderful aspect which shows that after the God, one new factor which can make our life is Media.Can’t we give a new contemporary verse for the benefit for the common man:

“Om aam purush vidmahe, image building deemahi, tanno media prachodayat”. Om mediyahe namah.(IT upnishad, verse 3.3)

It means, O common man, if you want to try an image building exercise, please go into the sharan (approach) of media. This new avatar will help in branding in many ways, right from the digital to physical, the social to critical, print to electronic and local to global. It can providethe omnipotent, omniscient (virtual) presence of oneself and now with the emergence of cloud (various Lokas) can also be covered. Surprising if one can afford Rs. 7/ km, the image can be send to the Mars (special thanks to Honorable Prime Minister and ISRO).

The Social Media – Impact and Importance:

Surprisingly, People had forgotten the Chaupals, the Nukkads, the coffee houses, the bear bars- once the most common places for the aggressive discussion, hot talks, knowledge enhancing venues and gossip boards. They are now becoming history and if one will ask about the same in 2020, one has to open the archives of youtube. The social media had taken the responsibility to replace the same.

The entire world is tremendously changing and the media is the new lifeline of the people. Earlier when we commence from the house, elder people used to suggest to take the blessings of the parents and now the same people says “Beta have you charged the mobile”. The ICT is moving fast and as per the Moores’s law (often called him Moodh law) that in every one and half year the speed of the processing devices get doubled. It should not be a surprisingly matter that our processor (brain) will be doubling its performance speed and giving results “Quicker” to sell it on the internet.

Social media is just making the world weird. The facebook, twitter, Whatsupp, Viber are the new addas of the so called intelligentsia. Why to confine it with this breed, the impact is huge. The panwalla, Dukanwalla, Presswalaare not asking person’s name or place. They usually ask what is your FB address or the whatsupp name because he will find more vital information about the person then what he is supposed to. In north America, people often believe that the “LinkedIn is for the people you know, Facebook is for the people you used to know and twitter is for the people you want to know”. The entire kundli of the person is available over there, right from when he is born, what are the hobbies, family, friends, liking, dislikes, studies, business etc. The persons who complains of the security breach, are themselves providing all these vital information on the open domain. The question is about the social media’s importance and impact of social media on the common man.

Common Reasons why we need social media:

There are various reasons that why the social media had taken over our sentiments, feeling and emotions. Why it has become an easy source of outburst with no cost and in fact the identity can also be hide. The various psychological reasons behind the need of the social media are as follows:

  1. Need of a shoulder: It is found that in this fast changing world there is hardly any space for emotions, sentiments and feeling. Most of these things had already left this world and there is absolute no substitute for it. The problem starts as everything had changed except the human being. We do need the shoulder to share the moments of sorrow, grief or cherishing moments. The cyber addas looks the perfect place to share all this with no hidings or bindings. In fact there are certain bad guys, who are in search of these prays to get caught in their unknowingly tentacles. Various cyber vandalism, trespassing are the new cybercrime which are creating serious troubles for the common or Khas (special) men.
  1. Identity crisis:In this fast moving world, everyone wants to become big instantly. The new mantra to get it fast had changed the history which populates that “‘the Rome was not built in a day” ironically changed into “The Cyber-Rom can be built in a day”. In the country like India, the identity looks a big problems not because we are the second largest populatedcountry but everything moves with weight (source, jack aur green paper). The note-building exercise looks noteworthy because it had our Bapu on the same who never cared for the identity. Surprisingly apart of him,every one of his country man are really cared for the nation or the self-image and hence looking for the short cut to get famous in a day. The social media looks as an easy tool and it really serves in shedding this identity crisis.
  1. To become a noteworthy leader: Once it was that the leaders can’t be produced, they are born. In each of us there lies a leader, who usually creates tremors in belly to get it out of shell. The advent of social media had given solution to this problem. Now everyone can teach leadership, learn spokesman-ship through social media. Facebook, Twitter etc. are providing enough space and time for the person to evolve as a global and virtual leader through regular inputs, comments and even increasing number of likes. The new virtual celebrities are growing in number and are creating serious threats to the film stars and politicians too.
  1. The so-called awareness moments: Giving knowledge to the world was earlier confined to the gurukulas, ashrams and the sages. The new age vibrant sages had created Wikipedia, the new knowledge house. In fact, the story doesn’t stops here, they were supposed to provide information rather than preaching. The new digital sages are making Chelas and in returns making dollars and followers. The so-called awareness moments usually ends up in creating chaos and anxiety among the common masses.
  1. To make money from nothing:The needs and trishna (greed) is increasing like anything in the common man. The zeal to earn an extra penny is always in thought. We do find the people surfing and searching some free jobs, lotteries, money on the net to become kuber (Lord of Money) in a day, week or month. There are many sites who are providing extra dollar on every click. The online surveys are other examples of making money. How and where these sites are using your vital information, is a secondary issue in this case. Secondly how much money the fellows are extracting from these sites will be interesting to find.
  1. Creating Sansani (Sensations) in common masses: The sansani created by media is a new weapon for the terrorist and so called badmans. The ISIS video of beheading of James Folley, Steven Sotloff were the sheer examples were the social media is being used to create terror in respective countrymen. It can also be looked as to show supremacy in virtual arena. The viral videos of various moods and shades are creating anarchy in the society. In the words of Jay Baer, “The social media newer creates negativity, it uncovers it.

There are many more reasons that can be added in this list like finding life partners (matrimonial scams), job search (money laundering, human trafficking), business support (financial help frauds, Phishing), business support system (improper draining of plastic money), online betting and gambling etc which are making the other side of social media prominent and sharing enough space taking in the knowledge world.

Need of the hour – understanding the proper use of the technology:

Technology once designed for the common man gradually taking away the peace, prosperity and happiness from the life. The social media was designed to create awareness, to promote the hidden talents, to harness the potential of writers, creators, developers is now becoming a battle of virtual wars. The so called pundits are becoming the spokes persons of certain group or parties. Everyone enhancing reporting and editing skills clearly shows that in the near future all the Dukans of Professional Reporters, media houses are likely to be closed or a downfall is definite on the card.

It is not the matter of criticizing the innovation skills or curtailing the novel ideas rather it is a review of bulk production which is going to affect the demand supply cycle. When there are many writers, content developers in the market, obvious the quality is likely to be compromised. The sheer concerned is that one has to understand the proper use of technology in best and effective way.

The world is changing with a definite speed and time. The emergence of Big Data, IoT (Internet of things) are growing rapidly like Ibola virus. The Echelon survey, 2014 clearly indicates that up to 2025 we will have 40 billion IoT devices. Literally it means that in 2025 each one of us will have atleast 6 gadgets / person which will works on internet only. We do have banking, reservation, shopping, commerce, mailing and many more important aspects are literally shifting from traditional to the cyber space. This also means that every one of us must have a cyberspace and if we have to survive in the techno world the basic understanding of the technology use (when and where) will be crucial.

The technology, cyber space and the social media are making efforts in shaping our world, but it is not confined with their efforts only. As a common man we must understand that the power of social media. If used rightly it can leads us to new dimensions of life and if otherwise the ship is definitely going to sink. At last I would like to quote Einstein, “I fear the day that technology will surpass the human interaction. The world will have a generation of Idiots”. I do hope with our sincere and connected efforts we will prove the Einstein, wrong, time and again.

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