Issues of social media and you
Social
media platforms are part of information technologies (web and mobile) that have become
integral part of our lifestyle. There are numerous social media platforms, some
are very popular such as Facebook, Twitter, Koo, Whats App, Instagram, Telegram, Line, Signal, LinkedIn, name a few. Some other platforms like wikis,
blogs, youtube, microblogs, podcasting, and other social networking and social
bookmarking sites are also part of it. Social media is a networking platform
where a user can virtually share ideas, thoughts, and information or better any
content over a live or delayed live networks to the users. The enabling nature
and the structure of the media that social networking offers provide a wide
range of opportunities that were nonexistent a few decades ago. Such media
platforms have become inseparable from our routine activities - sharing real
time important information to leisure time activities. The contents can be
shared through a mobile device or through a static device in real time, which
can also be posted at a chosen date and time by a user. The major areas that
have significant ramifications are education, healthcare, science and
technology, work place, social ordeal, law & order, cognitive science or
mental health, childhood, sports, communal harmony, and religious &
spiritual life.
With the technological advancement, it
is now easy to influence a large group of people at no time like never before.
In the time of crisis, social media have been playing important role in rapidly
dissipating information in real time. The duration during Covid19 pandemic is
the best example when government could easily disseminate information related
to mitigation efforts, restriction measures, vaccination & healthcare, and
public distribution of food grains, etc. Social media also play important role
by rapidly sharing information during natural calamities like earthquakes,
cyclones, floods, etc.
The negative impact of the social media
is equally severe. The new generation is completely addicted to it and
productivity has decreased. It has also created severe psychological issues
amongst youngsters as well as professionals leading to extreme cases of
inferiority complex syndrome and suicidal tendencies. It happens because majority
of users consider the number of likes or shares as the yardstick to judge their
popularity. It’s a new age psychological issue which warrants detailed
research. There is another side of the social media, which in the hand of fringe
elements can play a destructive role by easy manipulation of facts and
mobilizing public opinion to suit their goal in creating unrest otherwise
largely a peaceful society. In many occasions, such posts are purposefully
shared by even established political outfits to build public opinion in favor
of their organizations by manipulating emotions, knowing the fact that a large
section of the society are vulnerable who are not well educated or sensitized
in dealing with such situations. The power of the social media is phenomenal
and ranges from its ability to overturn governments, to mobilize protests,
assist with getting support for terror aid and mobilize groups, campaigning to
delay the passing of important legislations apart from making social media owners
billionaires and millionaires. Under such a situation, enemy countries can
easily take the advantage to destabilize the social fabric of a country. They spend a huge amount of fund for
constantly engaging unsocial elements and even they penetrate our society
through their undercover agents. The cost of such undercover conspiracies is
however, meagre in comparison to the amount involved in a conventional war,
which they could not afford. Such activities fall under the purview of two of Indian
laws namely ‘The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act’, 1967 and ‘Information
Technology Rules’, 2021.
Apart from government regulations on
unlawful activities, there is another aspect of social media in the form of
ethics, which is not binding but mostly self-regulatory to both social media
platforms and their users. The awareness amongst users plays a critical role in
handling ethical issues. The social media ethics play an important role in
protecting one's own and others' dignity, respect and privacy. The definition of Ethics may vary but loosely
it is defined as “the right thing to do” or it can be described as “the moral
philosophy of an individual or group” and usually reflects what the individual
or a society views as good or bad. The absence of social media ethics leads to increase
in unsocial activities like cyber bullying, sexting, infringement upon privacy, social injustice and
ignorance that may affect family values, lack of pure judgments, physical and
online information security. If a
user is insensitive, a simple post such as a photograph of a patient undergoing
treatment in a medical centre can create a furore (or uproar). Sometimes, the
definition of ethics can easily be manipulated to suit a particular section of
violators who used to refer to any classification or philosophy of moral values
or principles that guides the actions of an individual or group. In the modern
era of information technology, children and teenagers represent the largest internet user groups.
Unfortunately, they are not aware of the implications of social media or they do
not know how to protect their personal information on the web and are the most
vulnerable to cyber-crimes related to breaches of information privacy. Such unethical activities are ranging from intrusion to ones liberties/solitude in
a highly offensive way to making public, private information about someone that
is of no “legitimate concern” to anyone. On the other hand, making public false
and “highly offensive” information about others and stealing someone’s identity
(name, likeness) to gain advantage without the permission of the individual are
also part of ethical concern.
The advent of modern information technology
has reduced the gap between professional and personal spaces and often results
in information exposure to the wrong audience. The reduction in the separation
of professional and personal spaces can affect image management especially in a
professional setting resulting in the erosion of traditional professional image
and impression management. In such a scenario, imposition of ethical values is
intended to be guiding principles that if followed, could yield harmonious
results and relationships. It essentially provides answers to questions such as
“How should we be living? How do we achieve the things that are deemed
important such as knowledge and happiness?”. If one chooses happiness, the next
question that needs to be answered is “Whose happiness should it be; my own
happiness or the happiness of others?”. In the domain of social media, some of
the ethical questions that must be contemplated and ultimately answered are:
(1) Can this post be regarded as oversharing?, (2) Has the information in this
post been distorted in anyway?, (3) What impact will this post have on others?
Following are some of the points one should remember before posting any message
on social media platform.
Dos on social media
Think
before posting-whether it will add any value,
Do
respect sentiments of users,
Check
the authenticity of any post before sharing it,
Take
consent of the concerned person before sharing a photograph of him/her,
Respect
women and their rights,
Share
messages that may save lives in emergency situations,
Respect
the society and their sentiments.
Don’ts on social media
Don’t
infringe upon anyone’s privacy,
Don’t
share anything that may disturb the peace of a society,
Don’t
share any post that abuses a child,
Don’t
share fake news,
Don’t
share any post that promotes pornography,
Don’t
share any post that may hurt the sentiments of a society or a
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