If you are not paying for the product, then you are the product.

Why this Article?

Over a decade ago Facebook entered the market and revolutionized the lives of people by virtually connecting them with people far away, and many of them even found back their long lost friends and family members.

As time passed by, the market was flooded with apps like Instagram , Snapchat etc and our lives went through a complete overhaul.Let’s spare a moment to analyze what social media has done to our lives in the past 10–15 years :

Digital Addiction at an all time high:

All of us are familiar with the act of scrolling the social media feed endlessly without a particular reason or agenda in mind.This compulsive use follows a classical pattern how a person gets addicted to drugs.In fact 7 out of 10 pick up their phone to check notifications before starting their routine.

There are only two industries that call their customers ‘users’ : illegal drugs and software- Joe Tuscano , the author of the book ‘Automating Humanity’

Moreover, Social media is a YES man which acts as a digital pacifier every time you feel low or stressed, thereby taking you away from reality and weakening your coping mechanisms.

Rising Mental Health Issues:

Human beings have evolved to seek reassurance and approval of others.The problem is that mind confuses the 100’s of half-strangers on social media as real friends, and any negative comment leads to a feeling of inadequacy.This leads them to post more photos and videos,try out different filters and what not,thus making it a vicious cycle and decreasing self-esteem.

People who view these pictures come develop a feeling that everyone else is happy when they are dragging through their miserable lives.

Buying stuff and products that we rarely need:

Shosana Zuboff, author of the book “The age of surveillance capitalism” describes that this is a win-win situation for businesses.She states “This is what every business has dreamt of, that if it places an ad, it will be successful.They sell certainty”. Before we even realize, the ads convince us that we need the product and we end up buying and accumulating tons of useless redundant stuff.

Misinformation and Conspiracy Theories:

Just open your family whatsapp group and you’ll find home remedies to cure chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension and infact the more deadly ones like cancer.The older relatives in my family come up with a cure for everything,leaving me fuming and wondering why i spent 10 years of my life to learn medicine.

A prominent yoga guru in India came up with a treatment for corona,which later had to be banned by the government.

And if that’s not enough.conspiracy theories have become a part of social media feeds.People in UK even started anti-mask and Anti-lockdown campaigns on Facebook.

Some folks in India believed that coronavirus is a scam jointly propagated by all the governments of the world and doctors are a party to this.Sounds foolish now, doesn’t it?

The many faces of truth (and lies):

The Artificial intelligence used behind these algorithms is extremely powerful.They analyse the thought-process and personality by tracking a large amount of data, including religious beliefs,political opinions etc

They then exploit the vulnerabilities and voids and show the content that the person wants to watch, thereby subtly altering the belief system of a person

With time, the system built on your screens becomes completely personal and becomes your truth, which in most cases is not the real Truth

We are likely to argue and hate each other if we are lead by ideologies and information, which only different, but usually pitches us up against the other.The motive is mostly to prove the other person wrong.

Ever wondered why you hate to use media on anyone else’s phone even if it has better specifications, camera etc…

Research also shows that false information spreads 6 times faster than true news…

So do you still think the social media is free?

Are we falling into a trap?

Are we the last generation which knew how world was before social media?