Finding the good in social media
We have seen the corrosive effect social media can have — one is tempted to think it has been worse this year than in any other. Hate-mongers have taken to it to spew venom, spread falsehoods and incite violence. But, amid all the negativity, we ought to remember that social media can be a tool for good as well.
Take this example. This month, a post went viral and changed the lives of two people in India. It started out as a heartbreaking video of an elderly couple talking about the ordeal they had faced with their food stall during the coronavirus disease pandemic. The video touched the hearts of Twitter users and the couple has since been photographed happily serving long lines of customers, their stall newly rebuilt through the modern miracle of crowdfunding.
This story inspired several other posts about supporting small local businesses during the pandemic. It has prompted many — myself included — to visit the small shops that have been hit hardest by the economic crisis.
Perhaps the lesson here is that, amid the flood of negativity, people are eager for hopeful stories: That is why heartwarming videos of babies and animals are often the most-shared posts. By the same token, people are also motivated to help causes involving children and animals at risk.
And maybe that is how David Attenborough, the natural historian and TV personality, managed to get 1 million Instagram users to tune in to his warning that “the world is in trouble” in record time — 4 hours and 44 minutes, to be exact, beating the previous record to the million followers mark set by actress Jennifer Aniston.
But, as mentioned above, social media has a capacity to hurt as well. Take, for example, an Instagram post from back in 2016. Nazer Al-Islam Abdul Karim, a Bangladeshi cleaner working in the Gulf, was pictured staring wistfully at an array of jewelry in a window. Pathos in a frame; there was such sadness in the photo. Yet, instead of the sympathy he deserved, he was initially mocked. One Instagram user wrote: “This man deserves to only look at rubbish.” Remember hope sweeping over the bad? In Abdul Karim’s case, kindness ultimately prevailed. Hundreds of social media users expressed their dismay at the unkindness he suffered. They raised money for him and bought him gifts. Was there a kinder, gentler time before social media? Not really. And, besides, there is as much chance of going back to a time without social media as there is of turning back the clock on the internet. Social media is here to stay, at least until something “better” comes along to displace it. It will continue to spread joy — like wonderful TikTok videos of unadulterated fun — and also inflame humankind’s basest instincts. Regulation is doubtful as a remedy for the bad; and forget trying to fact-check the 4.6 billion people who use social media. Social media is good and evil in an app. Evil flows easily, while we must actively will the good. Do this much and perhaps we can, more often than not, hope to overwhelm the bad.