I remember when I was young and whenever my grandfather visited us he always began his day with the radio. The 6:00 am morning alarm of the radio still lingers. That was his connection to the outside world though there was Television by then but still he insisted on listening to the morning news and the songs a regular routine.
Those times it wasn’t thought of as social media. But definitely a way to connect to the world outside. Slowly as we grew it was the age of computers and internet…..yes we are not natives to the internet as the generation today. We still stuck to having pen pals and visits to the post office were quite regular even though emails were existing.
Then of course there was a wave of facebook, twitter, insta, whats app……many more……all just ways to connect to the world outside.
Everything became so quick and easy. You can have thousands of friends online and stay connected to all on a very regular basis. It's just very overwhelming.
All this came under social media and now we are at a stage where we can’t imagine life without all this.
Now we celebrate Social Media Day on 30th June. A very important day as our lives depend on social media. We are very easily accessible and easy to trace. But, as this media has got us together and made the world a very small place it is very important for us to be extra responsible. The presence of social media is so powerful that we have the entire world at our fingertips but it is very important to know the proper use of the power as misuse can have very adverse effects on our lives and also someone else’s.
We have emojis to our rescue to express our emotions but those should not make our smiles plastic……and there is always a fine line that needs to be maintained as we have to be sure not to encroach too much into someone’s personal space.
Our children today are natives to the world of information and the web and it is our responsibility to teach them to use this powerful tool that they have at their fingertips very wisely and to experience real emotions and not fall prey to the artificial world and smile only for selfies.
Let’s turn this day and week into a giving day where we can share and distribute good memories, smile in abundance, have empathy towards each other and most importantly respect one's personal life and feelings.
This is a beautiful world and even if we have changed normal now we are going to get back to our regular routines but even if we are in a new normal virtual world lets impact lives and not use it just to impress people.
Let's use this fundamental shift of communication and reach out to people more impactfully and fruitfully by investing in positive thoughts and leaving a smiling happy virtual world.
Happy Social Media Day
Dr. Rupali Dhamdhere
Principal
Trinity International School, Pune