E-Paper
In a world of half-baked truths, be responsible
According to a statistical report, a considerable number of internet users in India spent their precious time scanning and skimming social media for latest info and news. The disturbing fact remains that the sources are unauthentic and unverified, resulting in the circulation of fake or spurious information.
Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance. ~Bernard Shaw
This has become a norm of every party, meeting, get-together or an informal chit-chat, people are ready to dish out facts and figures that are rarely authentic or verified. When you enquire about the source, the standard responses are, ‘I was reading about it the other day on the internet’, ‘I saw a video on social media’ or ‘My friend living in so and so country forwarded it to me.’
Over the years, one thing I have learnt the hard way is, never mention your ailments- from the most trivial to the serious ones- in the company of non-medicos. Well, they seem to have a panacea for everything ranging from migraine to diabetes! You are bombarded with suggestions about taking natural/herbal concoctions to an amalgamation of the weirdest substances and are most definitely advised to give up on your medically prescribed line of treatment. Believe me, some concerned souls would actually turn up at your place the next morning with some potted plant or ‘phakki’ in a fit of magnanimity.
According to a statistical report, India has a whopping 900 million internet users and is the second largest online market just after China, with these internet users spending approximately seven hours per day online. While most users watched shows and live streams, a considerable number of them spent their precious time scanning and skimming social media for latest info and news. The disturbing fact remains that the sources are unauthentic and unverified, resulting in the circulation of fake or spurious information.
In comparison, Nordic countries like Finland, Sweden and Netherlands, are so particular about internet usage by their citizens that they teach primary school kids how to avoid misinformation on the internet. They teach them how to spot ‘slippery information’ in order to prevent propaganda, something we all need to learn and make use of.
The worst case scenario, that often pains me the most, is the indifferent and casual attitude of people while sharing information on social media. It takes only the click of a button to share misleading and false information, but years to pacify the emotional upsurge and furore caused by it. Very few people realise the importance of reading through and reading in-between the lines of the half-baked truths propagated by the social media universities, let alone think objectively about the whole thing.
This inadvertently reminds me once again of what Shaw has said, “Two percent of the people think, three percent think they think and ninety-five percent of the people would rather die than think.”
Therefore, more than often when such discussions are going on in a civil company, I prefer to hold my peace as well as reserve my opinion. The other day, a colleague vociferously recommended that such and such treatment, about which he had read in a social media post, had miraculously cured him of his existing ailment and therefore, I too should try it. I gracefully recommended him to share the said treatment with the medical practitioners who were definitely in a better position to heal the world. I still wonder why the colleague has stopped responding to my greetings both in person as well as on social media!
