Less social, More media | 16 Sep 2022

Socialization is the lifetime process of acquiring and disseminating norms, conventions, and ideas. The use of social media has now become so important for the new generation that it has become an addiction that is difficult to recognize, so in this contrast, the older generation feels a sense of satisfaction and contentment at having been born in an era when something other than technology defined the social and recreational lives of the children of that time. We are attempting to become more socialized through media, yet the media is expanding, and individuals are essentially being trapped within a room. The younger generation is entirely relied on social media. Social media is basically the primary source of getting information in the present scenario while in the 90’s newspapers were the primary source of information. Reading the newspaper is a habit that our parents have instilled in us. The primary source of reliable news was regarded as newspapers and television news. Doordarshan was the most famous and reliable TV channel in the 90’s, compared to the 24-hour news networks of today, which lack any meaningful content and are occupied with playing outside in the real world. Social media is basically an outcome of technological advancements.

Every technological advancement brings advantages along with disappointments. It is on the awareness of the users how advantages can be maximized, and disadvantages minimized. 90’s is the time when there was no Internet and single-screen theaters were common. So, circumstances at that point were not conducive for the growth of social media. Rotary landline phones were found in every home feature, phones were considered a luxury, and our identity was determined by what we did in the real world. The 90’s generation often feel an awkward generation gap with younger generations. Social media created a virtual word which runs parallel to the real word. In contrast if we talk about socialization then there are two kinds of socialization that exist the one is real socialization and other is the virtual socialization. Technological innovation brought with itself the heat of change. A person who is able to adopt the stream of change will survive and advanced in future.

We molded ourself with change in time and time advanced with technology. We also adapted to ourself with changing technology and evolving social media life. Simple landline advanced in to cellular phones and it gives way to multimedia phones which ultimately culminated in to proliferation of smart phones. The origin of smart phones has given way to social media advancement.

Impact of social media we can observe in every sphere of life. Social media is used by the people for popularity. Ministers, Bureaucrats and several higher ranked government officials are proactively using social sites and social media to popularize their works and trying to establish themself as highly efficient professionals who are working more efficiently as an administrator to resolve the suffering of others. While the main purpose of using social media to popularize himself as an efficient administrator because it will be beneficial for them as per future is concern.

Billions of people are now creating and sharing massive amounts of data with one another. This gives people a sense of being associated instead of feeling lonely. When you consider developing a social media strategy for your company, the following platforms are likely to spring to mind: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube etc.

“You are what you share”  ^_ Charles Leadbeater

Civil services aspirants who lost their last UPSC attempt due to Covid-19 pandemic protested for extra UPSC attempts. They asserted that they would put pressure on the government for fulfillment of their demands. For this purpose, they started a campaign for extra UPSC attempts through several social media platforms such as Facebook and twitter. Social media is working as the people’s voice. It makes people's voices loud and clear.

Social media is the most promising medium in human history from the Stone Age to the Metal Age is currently in the Digital age. Mass mobilization to the spread of false news is highly influenced by the news available on social media. In a few cases, the situation deteriorated, which ultimately culminated in the loss of life.

In response to a recent exchange of aggressive religious social media remarks, two people beheaded a 40-year-old man in broad daylight at his tailoring store in a market in Rajasthan's Udaipur city. This incidence basically reveals that human beings are becoming inhuman day by day and have no guilt of being involved in anti-social activity.

Social media usage, on the other hand, can have a detrimental impact on youngsters by distracting them, interrupting their sleep, and exposing them to bullying, rumor spreading, inaccurate views of other people's lives, and peer pressure.

The views on social media held by peoples of 90’s and the younger generations are different. The younger generation see them as a way of life; however, people from the 90’s simply view them as a way to switch things up and meet with close friends sometimes. Social media has a big impact on people's everyday lives, self-esteem, daily activities, and even, to a considerable extent, job decisions. Younger generations' brains have been influenced by social media in such a manner that being successful YouTubers, Tik-Tokers, and Instagram influencers seems to be the aspiration of many of them. They take satisfaction in choosing to become these because of their cheap popularity and quick recognition.

A few years back an online game known as "Blue Whale challenge" which was basically a 50-day online "suicide game" for kids. The challenge was alleged to have resulted in a number of deaths throughout the world.

Social media is basically promoting socialization but in the closed room. People are feeling that they bring social revolution through societal change by proactively working on social media. Hard reality is entirely different from reality exit on social media platforms. Revolution needs ground work which is not possible only through social media. Any social media campaign will only be fruitful till it is not backed up by the groundwork. The new generation does not want to take the pain of groundwork because it needs real effort.

The use of social media more than certain limits invites social media addiction. Addiction of anything compelled individuals for self-harm. So now the time has come to take a break and introspect on the hours which we used to spend on social media. A break from social media is required for relaxation and introspection. We should take a break from social media, and try to feel and understand how people live their lives when there were no social media platforms. We should try to comprehend how time flies when there are no social media platforms. People back then were far more mentally stable and didn't experience the irritation that social media is known for nowadays. People were dealing with real practical challenges because they were mentally more stable and healthier. We should give up being creative for a few hours or even a day to detox since we have many other great ways to keep ourself engaged outside of the workplace. If social media is cut off from their lives, even for a short while, youngsters and adults in their twenties could experience anxiety. It is a characteristic of being addicted to social media.

On evening walks, we regularly see young men and women dancing and using a camera mounted on a tripod stand to record short videos to upload to Facebook or Instagram. We suppose it is reasonable for us to limit ourself to one or two social media networks in order to save time, which we can then commit to improving our health or performing other creative work that will benefit us. Almost eight to ten hours a day are typically spent on smartphones by most individuals. Most people use their smartphones for nearly eight to 10 hours a day.

Millennials are drawn to sign up for any new or well-liked social networking platform. This is because they frequently use the virtual world to incorrectly define their real-world personalities, resulting in them living in an illusory reality. Someone younger than us has opened their eyes in an era of social media, cellphones, and multiplexes, and their vision of the world, identity, and opinions have been significantly influenced by it, resulting in views that are dramatically different from those of someone 10 years older than them. The new generation is proactively socializing to themselves through social media rather than real physical socialization. They know a lot of information about the events happening in the entire world but they are not aware of the suffering of their neighbors.