Let us revisit a short horror story many of us may be familiar with. An old couple come into possession of a monkey’s paw which has the power to grant wishes. But it’s also cursed, so the wishes come true but in a tragic way. In the story, the old couple need money and wish for it. They do get it but as compensation for the accidental death of their young son. Reading about it in school used to send shivers down my spine.
Similar feelings are evoked in us now when we encounter things like the Blue Whale game on social media which exhorts youth to commit suicide. There are even more serious issues like online radicalisation resulting in an increasing numbers of terror attacks by self-radicalised jihadis. Social media platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter lend themselves easily to hate speeches, fake news, morphed photos and rumour mongering leading to inflamed passions and violence. Is the internet and especially social media, a monkey’s paw—a curse masquerading as a blessing?
The optimists among us thought the World Wide Web and its applications might bring about a new enlightenment, but now some social commentators fear that it might be leading us to a new Dark Age. The modern world with all its fantastic progress in science, technology and industry is largely an outcome of some remarkable feats of human ingenuity in the preceding five-six centuries only. The age of enlightenment probably began with the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg around 1440, a defining moment liberating knowledge from the privileged few through mass reproduction of books. The cornerstones of this era were a spirit of free inquiry, superiority of reason over belief and a rigorous scientific method to test and verify facts. The viral spread of knowledge and the spurt of scientific and intellectual activity improved human lives like never before.
So why fear the rise of a new Dark Age? The answer lies in the very nature of the web. Till recently, the flow of authentic information and knowledge was largely in one direction—consumed by the public in the form of books, newspapers, journals, radio and TV. Anything published in the public domain was subject to some rigour and fact-checking. Social media has proved to be a disruptive technology which has changed the paradigm. Today, anyone with an internet connection is not just a passive consumer but a potential producer of information and news. In this digital Wild West, there is no way to check the veracity of news; the only currency is numbers. So how will we differentiate between truths, myths and lies? History has shown us repeatedly that people get swayed by seductive emotional rhetoric over the bland logic of reason. In short, belief trumps reason—the very essence of the medieval dark ages.
The trend is only likely to strengthen as traditional sources of knowledge like newspapers and journals are in decline with many moving to digital platforms. Television is desperately trying to ape social media to stay relevant. The dominance of Google (which also owns YouTube) and Facebook (which also owns WhatsApp) is becoming overwhelming. They have quickly become the world’s most powerful publishers and pocket 90 per cent of all advertising revenue in the western world. Besides them, Rupert Murdoch looks puny. Yet Google and Facebook don’t employ journalists; instead they serve advertisements and news to the audience largely on the basis of data mining based on user likes and preferences. Algorithms rule. Human insight is shrinking. Recently in the aftermath of horrific Las Vegas shooting, Google and Facebook searches were yielding fake news regarding the identity and affiliation of the shooter. One can imagine the havoc which can be wreaked by such digital disasters in the future.
The Dark Ages were marked by a herd mentality reflected in public lynchings and witch burnings. The cyber mobs are no less insidious—unpopular opinions evoke hysterical reactions, public shaming of people for their appearance, sexual preferences or political beliefs is common. Virtual fatwas are passed to force everyone to conform. Once the internet deems you to be wrong, you’re sunk. Such a backlash can be brutal and incredibly damaging—to reputations, careers and even lives. Online events can have serious offline consequences.
But perhaps the biggest danger is its ability to distort the truth and rewrite the narrative according to one’s belief system. In the realm of social media, fake news, selective interpretation of history, personal agendas, pseudo-scientific theories, outrageous sensationalism and general ranting are commonplace. As social beings we are predisposed favourably towards people who share our beliefs and prejudices. Thanks to social media, we now have a choice to read about, talk and listen to only those who think like us and block out other points of view. Such mental inbreeding makes us intolerant of any difference of opinion.
And that brings us to the real issue: Is social media to be blamed? Surely not. Technology is value neutral; the internet is neither good nor bad, just very powerful. It’s what we do with that power. The internet and social media have had tremendous positive impact in bringing people together; similar is its potential for evil. It’s no use blaming the tools for our own failings.
What we see in social media today is just a reflection of who we are. Mirza Ghalib put it as only he can: umer bhar yehi bhool hum karte rahe… Dhool chehre pe thi, aaina saaf karte rahe (I kept making the same mistake my whole life… cleaning the mirror when it was my face which was dirty!). Whether we clean up our act or keep accusing the mirror is entirely up to us.
(Views expressed are personal)
Manoj Chhabra
Additional Director General, Odisha
Email: mkchhabra10@gmail.com