A DOUBLE-EDGE SWORD
Bollywoo unfollowe everyone on Twitter, excep eight handles.
Ad guru Prahlad Kakkar explains what social media toxicity entails. He says, “I’ve stayed away from social media because there’s a lot of negativity, and trolling. It has empowered a lot of useless people with an opinion, without any repercussions.” Filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar, 51, calls it a “double-edged sword”, especially for public figures wherein if they comment or post, or even if they don’t, nasty feedback comes their way. “Social media is toxic. You get rattled mercilessly, even a spelling mistake gets one trolled. You post something and think ‘maine barabar kiya na?’, and check again, because you fear being trolled,” he says.
Kriti. When you are close to somebody who passed away, you’re not in the frame of mind to say anything, you lack words, and want to mourn. People expect you to tweet, that becomes validation of the fact that you grieved.” that you don’t need to add to the chorus. I really don’t give a damn about what people think. I don’t write or post anything to garner a reaction, or to become part of the hashtag club,” she says. Actor Amit Sadh, 37, on the other hand, feels social media also has parts that are not toxic. “Unfortunately, as human beings, when we’re engaged with provoking and uncomfortable things, it’s human psychology to want to shut the door, and call it toxic. You can always decide what part of social media you want to engage yourself in,” he says.