In this age of technological advances where the luxury of having information at one’s fingertips has kept mankind in a perennial state of readiness for anything untoward, it is absolutely silly to believe that some vested interests could still try to create ‘unwarranted confusion’ in the public propagating false news.
Reports last weekend that thousands of Smartphone users in India were puzzled as a toll-free helpline number of Unique Identification Authority of India was saved in their contact-list by default without their knowledge is an instance of how accounts of such sudden and inexplicable occurrences are enough to perturb even the sanest of minds.
With insinuations that the Indian government had begun keeping tab on its citizens as the NSA does in the USA, the outrage against the UIDAI for breaching their ‘privacy rights’ was instantly palpable.
Clarifications by the premier government agency responsible for the issuing of Aadhaar or unique identity cards to its citizens to the effect that the toll-free number in question is not a valid one and that the UIDAI has not asked or communicated to any manufacturer or service provider for incorporating any such facility in the phones did not assuage the incensed public.
Now with Google admitting to having ‘inadvertently’ coded the 112 distress number and the UIDAI helpline number into its setup wizard for Android way back in 2014, the whole controversy over the ‘unauthorised access’ situation has apparently been laid to rest.
However the ‘culpability’ of a technology company considered a giant specialising in internet-related services and products does raise questions over the prudence of the present generation’s over-dependence on the net for information and other related searches and accepting the furnished information as the gospel truth without authenticating its veracity.
The most irritating habit observed in today’s robotic world is the instantaneous turn towards the net for solutions no sooner an individual is posed with a problem.
This contemptible trend will soon negate the need for competent individuals in various fields. A situation very much akin to what a world full of ‘jack-of-all-trades-and-master-of-none’ would present, ultimately a global disaster would be the only outcome.
‘Feeding misinformation’ as a weapon of comprehensive ruin more potent than a thousand nuclear warheads put together can only be counter-balanced by deciphering news and decoding information for its true value.
Over the last one year or so, the social media has been coming in for some scathing attacks for contents warped to give subjects that lie in the realms of improbability and disbelief colours of authenticity.
The appalling reports of mob violence and lynchings that have been rocking the nation are but natural consequences of a sustained campaign to disseminate misinformation and mislead the public.
Well so much for the propaganda and half-truths that feature as essential aspects of the social media!
Notwithstanding the innumerable likes, comments and shares that have virtually turned into the online jargon which set apart the new generation for its modernity, the recent viral fad sweeping social media has escalated into a worrying trend.
Drawing parallels to the ‘Blue Whale’ challenge that terrorised the world, a disturbing new game sweeping WhatsApp has parents and authorities concerned over the rise of another equally terrifying social networking phenomenon.
As a similar style suicide-game, the ‘Momo’ challenge threatens to revive shocking memories of ghastly deaths that swept the globe in the wake of the killer-game last year.
The social media in fact has been prominently used as a global platform by cine stars and celebrity singers to promote their films and albums.
The antics of Instagram comedian ‘Shiggy’ over Canadian singer Drake’s song ‘In My Feelings’ from his album ‘Scorpion’, is the new social media sensation with people tagging each other to take the ‘Kiki challenge’.
Can a ‘death wish’ ever be called a song promotion!
The challenge which has now gone international dares one to move out of a slow moving vehicle and dance to the song when the car is still in motion, and then get back into the automobile to complete it. All the while someone from within the vehicle should film the whole sequence.
Given the dangerous repercussions, with many of those ‘accepting’ the challenge meeting with serious accidents – not to speak of the perilous conditions the bystanders are exposed to – youngsters have been exhorted to kick against ‘Kiki’.
The risks involved in taking the dance challenge on the road are manifold. Yet, the latest internet obsession continues to consume more and more youth who surprisingly are not mortified by the prospects of courting disasters in their craze for being recognised as trend-setters.
What is the compelling incentive to repeatedly pursue a typical behaviour in spite of understanding the detrimental consequences that drives youngsters today!
Bestiality is at the core of human psyche these days. After having reached the highest stage of evolution as the most intelligent of God’s creations, the propensity to return to its primitive mannerisms threatens mankind even today.
If the global unrest that threatens world peace is not enough, the ‘war of faiths’ has endangered the harmonious relationship between various communities. But it would be wrong to attribute the spate of mob lynchings which have been making headlines lately to this contemptible trend.
Blame a hyperactive social media for all the sickly acts brought about by misleading and provocative posts that is costing innocents their lives. The series of premeditated extrajudicial killings by angry mobs cannot be justified in any way, especially when crowds are incited by vague and unrealistic posts in the social media which fail to substantiate its claims of such a crime having been committed.
Although the view by the apex court that the Central government should consider enacting a new legislation regarding lynching and mob-violence does merit a thought, it is difficult to comprehend how any new law pertaining to lynching and mob violence could be framed without understanding the mob-culture that prevails in the country today.
And what about that motley crowd of voyeurs who always make their presence felt on all such gory scenes engrossed in their act of ‘forwarding’ the macabre ‘events’ no sooner they have happened!
Plastic rice, and now eggs, the crazy conspiracy theory that China is selling the world fake provisions and food items has already given the country an ominous status.
But on second thoughts, with the western world feeling threatened by China’s ascent to global dominance as an economic power, couldn’t the spread of such malicious ‘gossip’ hurt China!
The effective use of the social media to sow the seeds of doubt in public minds assist the new corps of trouble-mongers to spread a reign of murder and mayhem in the country.
The social media misuse needs to come under the purview of stringent laws to deter such uncivilized acts in future.