The Dark Side of E-Socializing in Nepal. The rates at which internet usage is growing in Nepal has skyrocketed in the months that have just passed, and when such powers of digitalized interconnection fall into the hands of everyone, the possible repercussions are very thought-provoking.
It is undoubtedly true that the use of social media has allowed people and society to enter into an utterly new realm of dynamic interaction, but the very post-widgets in our news-feeds that give us these little dopamine hits every time we run our fingertips over them oftentimes also prove to be detrimental in many ways.
Spread of False Information and News, as well as Biased Political Ideology and Propaganda
The inability of the general consumer in the internet space to distinguish fact from fabrication and the reluctance of authoritative bodies to take stringent actions against the channels and platforms where misinformation is proliferated, these are the two main reasons for why this is such a huge issue. When one’s eyes go through headlines like, “The situation outside the Parliament as mournful as in war-affected Syria”, “Nepal to be sold with the Millenium Pact”, “COVID-19: A New Hoax to Starve the Poor”, it’s not only that societal order and harmony is left shattered, but it might inflict violence and havoc, even.
From damaging the reputation and image of innocent people victimized by crime, to hampering the investigation of crimes, such things prove to be hurdles even in many legal proceedings of national concern. The circulation of out-of-context videos, edited screenshots, tampered voice-mails, etc. aimed at influencing the electorate during the elections is also not a new thing.
The damage that the hate and bias spread by false narratives can make is immeasurable. Let’s not forget that it was propaganda with its prime potentials that eventualized a World War, having garnered so much German support for Adolf Hitler, and that was back in the 1930’s. So considering today’s advancement, influencing hundreds of thousands of minds with false ideologues isn’t very difficult. So, we suggest you take full control of what you hear, who you hear it from, and what you decide to believe.
Cyberbullying, Harassment and Exploitation through Online platforms
Not surprisingly, the terminologies like stalking, defamation, sexting, sextortion, and many more aren’t unfamiliar to us, quite contrarily, they’ve grown to become the unfortunate norm. The leakage of explicit pictures of people by their ex-partners in the form of revenge, threatening of people with the aim of swindling money, character assassination of someone via pseudo accounts made with the victim’s identity, all have become common news for us.
According to the Cyber Bureau of Statistics, the cases related to cyberbullying, along with other IT-related finance crimes, had increased to the margins of 2,500 just last year. In addition to this worrying statistic, it is also true that many victims hesitate to come forth and report about what happened to them in the first place because they’re afraid of being shamed for it.
Even recently, an incident involving Anju Chhetri from Galkot, Baglung regarding scam attempts from a pseudo-account created with her identity shows how prevalent such trends have become.
Next time that a suspicious looking account slides into your Instagram DMs and declares you the winner of some 500,000 lottery that you didn’t even partake in, and asks you to disclose personal information in order to “claim” this prize, or forwards explicit photos of who-knows who and asks you to do the same, make sure you report such an account and block it that instant.
Data Exploitation and Unethical Manipulation
For those unfamiliar, targeted ads are the ads that make you feel that your service-providers in cyberspace know more about you than you know about yourself. These ads are hyper personalized, in the sense that they operate on the digital footprint you leave behind, i.e. they’re shown to you based on a very intricate evaluation of what you’re likely to buy, based on who you are, where you live, what your friends and other people you interact with buy, etc. According to figures, when you’re shown just the right ads that resonate with you in this way, you’re 91% more susceptible to get swayed into buying the product, and oftentimes, without due thought.
This certainly ensures that at times, the right product manages to reach the right people, i.e. the targeted audience, which also means that investors get a better return through effective advertisement. But this imposes a question right at the core, to what degree shall platforms be allowed to use our behavior as data, because if there are no limits on this, isn’t it likely that huge groups of people will become vulnerable?
What about us? Are we okay with letting websites track our personal preferences, location information, search history and what not knowing full well that it would be a privacy issue we cannot overlook, and that too without our explicit consent?
In addition to everything above, the accumulation of all this data in vast databases creates security risks, as cyberterrorists are more likely to want to gain access to such data and exploit it in whatever way they can. Consequently, on the 8th of April, one of the most popular Internet Services in the country, Viabet, got hacked, with reported leakage of customer data involving at least 160,000 users.
Social and Psychological Impacts
The views, the likes, the dislikes, the comments, the shares, it’s become so easy to get hooked into these meaningless virtual things in today’s day and age that it wouldn’t be wrong to say that people have forgotten the way to live in the real world. Infact, many distinguished personalities hold the belief that if any average person aimlessly scrolls Instagram feeds, as millions of people do every minute, it is inevitable that they’ll end up depressed. Let’s use our mind for ourselves, if we were to see people in Lamborghini’s, people enjoying their vacations in Luxembourg or the Maldivian Islands, it’s certain that that’d create a sense of envy, and a sense of despise even for our perfectly normal lifestyles.
Social media has changed the Social dynamic to an extent today that people don’t travel places for experiences or fun, because in the back of their minds, they’re thinking about the angles at which they would have to position their camera so that they look the most beautiful. This is probably evident to many, or many could even relate in first person. The swing in Dashain, is no longer for the swinging, it is for people to take out their phones and let out a few made-up “Ha-ha-ha’s” in front of the camera, in order that people only think that they’re having fun.
Over and above that, all of this is really really addicting. The instant gratification provided by the dopamine hits can no longer be fulfilled by normal pleasurable activities, making people more vulnerable to constant need of more and more stimulation with a person within the closed walls are anxiety and depression.
Conclusions
Despite all of the cons of being a social butterfly, people still choose to entertain themselves with vast experiences that social media provides, in today’s world. So, All that remains in our hands is how to Stay safe, How to protect ourselves from Predators. And for that, present and forthcoming generations need to be aware of the ways the scammers and bullies operate. People need to be aware of the anonymity portrayed behind the keyboards and keep well within one’s own boundaries. The famous saying in the real world “You can move your hand as much as you want until it touches another’s nose” applies equally to the reel world.
Also read: Traditional Nepali Foods for a Healthy Diet
