Social Media is amazing. It is one of the biggest tools to connect with almost everybody in our generation without the worry of distance or communication cost. Many of us make the best of friends on social media. There are groups of people with common interest who meet digitally and then start hanging out in person together. Clearly one cannot imagine a life without Social Media.
Social Media is also the biggest tool of isolation. It is a faceless weapon that gives power to communicate displeasure, negative opinions and pass judgement on another individual or topic. Rarely does misunderstandings get resolved through online channels. Imagine this; You have a clash of opinion with an individual with mutual friends, you share your thoughts digitally. The concerned person will share their thoughts, maybe, the ‘choice of words’ is not right. A small issue gets bloated out of proportion. Sometimes to an extent that the opposite person contemplates life threatning consequences. One has to ask in these situations, ‘Could the problem have been better resolved over a cup of coffee and a honest face-to-face conversation?’ In fact, even a Video Call could yield different result than just typing away negative thoughts publically.
At the end of the day, one wonders, is it even worth it? Is any topic worth the negative feeling and the possible health impact on an individual? And if it is worth it, then what stops us from trying to resolve this with a calm mentality? Every individual is different. There is always a positive and a negative side to all of us. If there are clashes of opinion with individuals with whom we share mutual friends, then can we all put some extra effort in analysing the situation? Maybe the person is not really bad. Maybe the situation is not worth it. Maybe we can resolve this over a phone call. Maybe we can laugh it off together. Maybe, everybody could be friends again. Just, Maybe.
Let us use Social Media as what is was meant to be. A tool to keep in touch. A tool without which we cannot survive. Maybe communication is still best done when you can ‘experience’ the interaction. Either through voice or face-to-face.
