Assimilating Social Media into the Everyday Life: Normalising the Abnormal

 

Assimilating Social Media into the Everyday Life: Normalising the Abnormal


For a considerable period of time, there has been an unrivalled debate about the essentially disastrous effect that social media has had on young people, especially students from school to college. Parents, doctors and almost every member of society think it to be an absolute evil that has been constructed to only mar young people on a disparaging path. But almost more than a decade after the coming of social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram or even Snapchat, it is time that we review our thoughts towards these platforms and move towards a healthier way of including these platforms in our daily activities, rather than completely shunning them away or creating such an environment whereby the respective pupil still uses it, but in a way that requires them to hide their activity behind strict parental eyes. There is no doubt that social media platforms have often become a ripe ground for every kind of questionable act - from trolling mercilessly behind fake accounts to creating judgemental remarks or creating trial courts. But the mass opinion cannot often be guaranteed as the right one or a form of judicious judgement aimed at securing a better or safer future. Often remarks are instigated by an overdose of excitement, impulse and passion. Moreover, there are contents floating in social media that can be cited as poor, base, low or even pornographic in nature. Hence the question arises as to whether such content should be made easily available to young, impressionable minds or whether these little heads do have wisdom enough in them to actually know what is good for them or not! One cannot just be a Romantic and leave everything to the Great Unknown. Hence the hullabaloo over social media as an absolute evil on the minds of children.

            But a good amount of thought needs to be given to how parents should also learn to assimilate what they have so long termed as the absolute evil as a normal but balanced part of their child's life. Let us consider the multiple benefits even though quick, and short-term, as they may be of social media, for many kids, social media pictures and posts have become an alternative source or form of their autobiography-one can almost say that it replaces the age-old Anne Frank’s diary. Moreover, social media has allowed even teenagers to start their small start-up companies, whether that be selling paintings, handicrafts, baking items, or even indigenous jewellery. By cutting away the middleman, rent for shop places it has allowed the youngster to commercialise their creative output. Moreover, the idea about content is that it allows the young impressionable minds the choice to select -herein comes the parental educational outlook in the modern world. Rather than completely negating it as an absolute evil, it would be more beneficial if parents teach their kids the differentiation between what is poor, base or lowly content to what content gives them food for thought. Parents should also be able to regulate social media as a timebound affair-just like kids or they themselves would play for an hour and a half during the evening to relax, similarly Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Telegram or Snapchat should be similar spaces of entertainment but for a stipulated time of the day. In this way rather than demonising a platform, which in one way or the other would gain upon the pupil, parents would be able to regulate in proper measure the usage of these platforms through thoughtful and careful teachings from a very early age.

Thus, sweets should be enjoyed but in a manner that they do not cause either cavities in the teeth or result in sugar or diabetes!


Dr. Arunava Chaudhuri

Assistant Professor,

Techno India University, West Bengal

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