Why I removed my Details from the Social Media?

A few days back when my aunt called me to inform that her daughter’s marriage was fixed, I was thrilled at the news. After a 30 minute long conversation, I came to know that the groom was a software engineer in Pune. I asked his name and was contented with the information I had received. In not more than two minutes, I was ready with all the necessary details and enough pictures of the groom. My source- you may ask. Facebook, will be my reply. See, how easy it was for me to look up the details of a person just by using his name and location! Not only did I find out about his friend circle, but also got to know about his interests, political views and favourite groups.

The world is evolving at rocket speed. With our personal information just a click away, the perils of being a part of the digital world are plenty. I have been reading articles on the breach in the privacy guard and only recently, I realized the severity of the issue. When we were kids, the social media was not the master of the ring. But it is now. Consciously or unconsciously, we have become a part of the world that promises to build bridges and helps us become well aware of our surroundings, but it also exposes our vulnerability to the dark web. This might not come as a shock for many but it does pose a threat to the well-being of the children as well who are now very active on social media, irrespective of their age limit. Right from the proclamation of pregnancy, the life of a child is like an open book. At times, I feel that urgent need to advise the parents to stop posting the pictures, but then at the same time I do not want to be the one to interfere.

Relationship with Social Media is similar to our relationship with food. The food of choice is supposed to be eaten carefully and in measured amounts. Most people find it very difficult to cope with bulimic. Similarly, addiction to Social Media can prove out to be toxic, for people to log in to the accounts to log off from their real lives. Here are some points that will make you rethink the amount of time you are investing in gazing, admiring and sharing the details of your life with the far-away friends:

1. Internet Censorship
On 26 January 2012, Twitter released an official statement stating ‘Starting today, we give ourselves the ability to reactively withhold content from users in a specific country- while keeping it available in the rest of the world.’ Twitter explained further that any content that expresses disputed ideas will be held back in that specific country. This news took the cyberspace by storm as it muffled the idea of Internet Freedom. Internet Censorship is a trending activity now with the majority of the countries filtering the information in varying degrees. This not only jeopardizes our personal information but also restricts us from accessing the information that we ought to know.

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