Ever since social media came into existence,
lots of never heard before voices got a platform to express their opinions. How it has become successful to make or break our mindset is absolutely astonishing. With the growth of internet population, people surely have millions of opinions to like or dislike. Interestingly, social media has become all too powerful and impactful in recent years. It is, surely, more accessible now that everyone has a Smartphone and they can post anything and everything within a span of few seconds.
Be it
a businessman who wants to establish himself as a philanthropist or philosopher by posting quotes which may or may not be his ideas or an actor who, for the sake of his/her reputation, would express opinions with an aim to impress his followers. Then comes the common people who can vehemently say anything about anyone without thinking too much. They’re not in the spotlight, after all. The list goes on. From people having an actual opinion to those following the footsteps of other, expressing your so called opinions is definitely the new cool. Twitter is all too familiar with this concept.
Those people with 20k followers might not be anyone in the real world but they surely have the power to influence a lot of minds when it comes to the virtual world. So, are they using it rightly? Starting a trend, attracting people towards the issue they think is important, Twitterati surely knows how to express their mindsets.
The best example I can quote regarding this is very recent. The death of Pakistani model Qandeel Baloch has surely been shocking. Everyone is expressing their views on the fact that how can a brother kill his own sister without thinking twice? It is honour killing in the worst way possible.
Richa Chadda, a well known Bollywood actress took to twitter to express her views and, might I say, they’re noteworthy. She
tweeted “As foetuses girls die at the hands of fathers, for honour they die at the hands of brothers, as wives they die for dowry #QandeelBaloch. Basically, women in the subcontinent must know that their families love them much less than they love their 'honour'.Our lives are not ours”
Of course,
this didn’t go well with a lot of people and one of them strictly told her not to compare the two countries: India and Pakistan. He went ahead and compared her with Sunny Leone just to point out that the latter wouldn’t have survived in Pakistan. An example of how opinion-oriented can people be. This is, of course, one of the many incidents we come across on social platforms almost everyday or shall I say every second?
So, are we using it rightly or getting carried away with the hopes of getting more likes and followers?
Do we stop before hitting the post button and re-read what we’re about to make public? It might create a huge difference, after all.
Of late, Salman Khan commented on the internet users and said,
“People misuse freedom of expression on internet 100 per cent.”
I wonder how true this statement is!
Written by Priyanka Chauhan
A bibliophile and an aspiring writer who lives with a dream to travel the world.
