The perks of social media

PC: Google images

It’s flabbergasting how social media that mushroomed somewhere in late 90’s has changed the very definition of not only communication, but the way we view, consume and react to information. Before its advent, interactions were so limited. We were to a large extent, frogs in our own wells, isolated beings. The comparison can help us chalk the drastic change social media has brought in our lives. The mesh of interlinking nets has brought the world on your screens. This has given us the freedom to experience distant realms of entertainment, information, adventure, science, art and probably everything down the sun and beyond and is the reason you are reading this post!

Probably that is why, we feel so hapless without our cell phones. Before social media, you didn't have any medium to express your opinions and views, even celebrities on screen didn't! For instance, you watch a movie or political discussion or news, but have no platform to respond and react unless you are a profound writer (not scribe) and find invitation for a newspaper column. Maybe you can just go as far as discussions at the family dining table. Facebook, Twitter has given us a mouthpiece to air our views, and no one would deny that everyone likes to be heard; cutting the controversies and over-board banter as a result of the latter. Freedom of speech, as you know, is subjective and one must know where to draw the line. Today, photos are clicked merely to be shared on social media! Life seems to be happening! Not tilting to the other side of the coin, social media, by all means, has ruled the roost, widened our perspectives, understanding, and changed the way we interact, communicate and even think! 
Today, you don’t know a thing, and Google comes to your rescue, so much so that it has become a verb itself! ‘Google it’ we say! Just imagine how ignorant would we have been had the information not reached us with this ease! Of course, there were means to find information earlier, but not always, did one have access to all the relevant materials. Today, thanks to the Search Guru, we have access to almost all the files.

International news can travel in a flick of a second, and thus newspapers and websites give us updates on global news. Overall, if we minus this digital intercommunication, our lives would definitely not be the same! As Brian Solis, digital analyst and author says, “Social media is about sociology and psychology more than technology.”
Why to go far, the exchange of ideas, women groups- the mutual learning and sharing through social media have contributed to community welfare. One of its best uses has been to garner support, expose corruption and create a people’s movement. It has redefined the use of hashtags with #MeToo etc. trending among the Twitterati.

The World Wide Web is a sea of engaging information waiting to be explored and pursued for our tastes and benefits. A little innovation, spark of an idea, can change destinies today as they did for Mark Zuckerberg and Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger's (founders of Instagram) or Dhinchak Pooja :D (pun).

But as we tread this digital path, what lies crucial is maintaining originality and not getting carried away with all the bombardments from all sorts of media. Posts should not be for the ‘sake of it’ but genuine, which of course, is a challenge in this ‘copy-paste’ world. In fact, the fear is also losing one’s own indigenous talent in the run. Practising ingenuity is the key.

Social media, if used effectively and rightly, to enhance one’s skills can create wonders!