A Vegetable's Guide to Social Media

Democracy is a giant myriad of opinions. 'Power to people' is theoretically convincing – and perhaps in practice, can be mobilising. As someone who largely professes power to people, I am always at awe when oppression can be overruled by unity of the common people. Yet, with advancements in technology, the concept of power to people seems to be hanging by a thread as more damage than good surfaces on the world wild web.

Social media, the sexiest new phenomenon, is at everyone's fingertips. Commentaries range from what's cooking in your bathroom to what the Prime Minister is thinking; one can often mistake the average man in his midlife crisis to be the country's next policy analyst. Take the recent incident at Ramu, for instance. A fake profile resulted in torching down 12 Buddhist temples and 50 houses. Only goes to show how fickle minded our society has become and how social media is more real than reality. Very recently, Aarong's new and modest designer line on Facebook raised a feud over cultural practices in our society, and on retrospection, it makes one wonder how irrelevant much of the debate was. Features such as 'likes' and 'followers' have created 'online stars' overnight, resulting in a situation where regardless of credibility or insight, everyone's opinions matter.

The problem in this scenario is obvious. 'Thought leaders' emerge from nowhere and influence a larger audience. In the process, misrepresented information and personal prejudices receive validation, allowing our so-called online star to land in a bubble where there is no scope to unlearn because someone 'favourited' it. Sure, the introvert, the voiceless, the marginalised are suddenly on a roll, but what happens to the stuck ups, misdirected and self centred lot? A recent study conducted by University of Salford in UK, for instance concludes how Facebook can lead to low self-esteem when there aren't enough 'likes'. On the flipside, it can equally result in superiority complexes and loss of values.

Trolling is a phenomenon that has swept across websites in recent years. Social media sites are bombarded with insults, provocations or threats. While many argue it's nothing more than mischievous humour, the personal nature of the abuse leans on hate speech. In Bangladesh, the nature of trolling is borderline abuse with Facebook pages such as Ei Meye, Tor Orna Kothaye ("Hey Girl, Where is Your Scarf") promoting sexual harassment of girls on social media by posting offensive pictures of someone as 'real life' as the girl next door. Numerous political parties have recently begun to use Twitter and Facebook to spread their messages, leading to controversies and fast paced propaganda. The worst kind is vengeful behaviour towards an ex and friends who support it, further encouraging the 'offender' into believing he/she is the 'hero of the story.'

The line isn't between whether to use or not to use social media. It is the extent to which we'll act upon our virtual worlds that is concerning. Power comes with responsibility, and more often than not, is misused to serve a personal cause. Browsing through my Facebook or Twitter feed makes me nauseous at times, the ranting seemingly an endless episode of counter arguments. I frequently wonder what people are arguing about, and how an overdose of information added to an underdose of intellect leads to a growing trend of accepting dimwits who believe it's cool to be a dimwit. On the contrary, the difference of opinions should have promoted the ability to reflect, learn and distinguish between both sides of a picture. In our micro world of validated thoughts, the bigger picture gets lost - and the omnivorous transformed to an amoeba. The next time you're online, take a breath and think: whose line is it anyway?

(Sabhanaz Rashid Diya has graduated from the Department of Media and Communication at Independent University Bangladesh, and founder of the nonprofit youth organization, the One Degree Initiative Foundation.)