The Social Dilemma

Hey guys,

Yesterday, I watched a documentary film on Netflix called “The Social Dilemma.” It just blew my mind away. We all know about the impact social media has on us and our daily lives, but the truth about it is very dark and spooky. Let me ask you a question: How many times do you check your Instagram or Facebook or Gmail or any other social media application in a day? You don’t need to answer this to anyone except to yourself. Don’t think (or pretend) your mind is under your control; It’s under THEIR control- the social media groups. Do you liked be controlled by anyone about your daily activities? Definitely no, right? No one likes to live like that. But the horrible truth is we are all living like that. There is someone watching us secretly and controlling our mind. For example, in the Lord Of The Rings series, just like how Sauron’s eye is watching and controlling Frodo, we’re being watched by the eye of ‘social media’. They say, moms know best and have eyes on the back of their heads – meaning they know everything about us. However, these days social media seems to be the mother of us all. It seems to know more about us than anyone in this world. Actually, we can say that it knows how our brain works. It knows when we feel happy, when we feel low, what videos or photos we like looking at, what news captivates us, whom we like, whom we stalk everyday, blah blah blah… Ultimately, social media created a replica of us on the other side and we are puppets in their show.

Can I tell you a truth about us? We love attention. We love being appreciated by others or even if we don’t have that intention in mind, we just blindly follow what others are doing, like a tradition. Do you know how much impact we have on our relationships because of this social media? You don’t need to wonder if siblings start hating each other without having a valid reason or if a couple breaks off their relationship which they once name it as ‘forever‘. I don’t need to explain how this is affecting our teenagers whom we refer to as our future generations. Sorry to say this, but literally they are all f’d up right now. We can ask what parents are doing about this. What if I said it’s out of their control even when they want to take charge on this issue or what if they are also got stuck in the hands of this evil?

Do we know what we really like? I guess no. Because we are doing things by observing what others are doing in social media. We started imitating others, but do you know who those others are? They are just another puppet in the hands of social media like us. The social media groups are making money by playing with our minds. We don’t know what’s happening behind these applications. We just know how to upload a picture, post a story or liking posts. We think we chose to do that, but NO. Social media trained our minds to do that unconsciously. We forgot what our real passions are, instead we started impressing others. We think looking at a funny meme or video which makes us laugh is not wrong. But, we don’t see that we are not stopping at just one meme/video. We are thinking that these are teaching us new things, however, we are not realising that not everything we see is useful. Sometimes we are so caught up with the picture we see on our screens, that we forget to look at and appreciate the bigger picture of nature around us. It’s weird, right?

If there are single people out there, ask yourself a bold question “When was the last time you went on a date with a person who is around you all the time instead of waiting for a text message from a person whom you never know who they’re with on the other side?” Do you know what’s funny here: Our adults used to say “Relationships are made in heaven” but we should start saying “Relationships are made in SOCIAL MEDIA”. At least now some of us are meeting people outside of these applications. But it will become a big joke if we expect this from our future generations, thanks to apps such a Tinder, Hinge, Bumble, etc. I am not commenting on meeting our soulmates in social media is wrong. We don’t know when and where we will end up meeting them. But what we are doing is searching for a person in the wrong place using wrong techniques. Tell me one thing: Do you like to hold the hand of a person who is walking in your path with you or do you want to search for a hand of a person who is walking in another path? Listen kids (Yeah, who don’t see this as a problem are kids to my eyes), stop this nonsense and see the reality going out there. Don’t worry about the person you like. If he/she really loves you, they’ll not lose you so easily.

Let me ask you another question: Can you tell which news is true and which one is false in today’s world? Please admit the truth that it’s tough to differentiate them from the fake ones’. We think that sharing a news or post is not a big deal, but do you know people are blindly believing everything they see without knowing the actual truth. The coronavirus pandemic is the perfect example of the impact social media is playing in our lives. We don’t know the truth of its existence but we are just gossiping, gossiping and gossiping. Is it the right thing to do by creating more fear among us while many people are losing their lives? Looking at the big picture, this coronavirus is a small thing compared to other things happening right now – the war is happening among us because of politics, religious beliefs, environmental issues, international relations, racism and so on. Do you know why this is all happening? Because of the changes that happened with our thought process and is continuously changing. We stopped thinking and listening, instead, we are shouting, fighting and damaging the peace of our planet. Is this what our forefathers dreamt of and created this society for? Is this what we really want and are still patching our broken society with paper for our future generations? For how long it lasts in future?

This will die only when we kill what is controlling our minds, made us like this, makes us stop thinking and makes us live in a lie. We should take charge on our mind and should stop social media from laying it’s hands on our thought process. We should do justice to our lives. After reading all this, you may think I talked too much and also wonder “Whether is she doing anything about her own mind?” Yes, I did and I am doing it. I won’t say that I was not using Instagram, but at least I can say that I am not addicted to it. I can understand, we found some great relations with people around the world through these social media applications, So we don’t need to abandon them, instead we can find alternatives to be in touch with our friends, such as by meeting them in person, talking on phones or video chats. It’s not an easy task to control being on social media, but we can control the time we are spending on them. But, we must promise ourselves that we are not going to fall for their bait again.

Please go and watch the documentary, The Social Dilemma, featured on Netflix. Because you’ll see the bold truth about social media. If you don’t have Netflix, then at least do some research about this issue. After all, you are doing it to save your own life.

Take care guys. Thanks for reading this long post but I guess it’s a useful one for all of us. Hope you all give it a thought. Bonne journée!