Monday, 30 December 2013

The Advent of "Disposable Social Media" – Yay or Nay?




There was a time when we kept records of only official papers and now we can even keep intact what we said on a particular day or time on social media. Social life is not limited to face-to-face conversations it has grown and secured a place of itself. You mind may not be able to recall what you said at a certain point of time, but these Social Platforms remember each and everything. Sometimes this proves to be a nasty thing and the other times a blessing. A smooth life can go upside-down when someone referring to these social records says in anger, "Oh you said this that day"! Same thing later fills you with grief, if some day you again come across it. We still find old posts of ours on Facebook and recall the old memories, what all good or bad happened; even others can also look back in our Profiles further interpreting the updates we make guessing out, "oh this may be happening in his or her life". Social Media has become a behavior interpretation tool. People peep into our minds and try to infer what’s happening in our lives; this is an inherent trait of humans, only they have got a proper tool now.

In this age of total dominance of social record platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, some other novice apps emerged with a totally opposite feature. Apps like Snapchat and Poke are based on the idea of not storing any Chat Conversations. Means you move only towards future leaving behind the shadows of the past; isn't that good for us? I've myself realized that many times I regret something I had posted, i still do have option to delete it but the post had already done its work - people have viewed, formed perceptions, interpretations and circulated in the circle. It’s all done. The thing is like protecting all your past, whether good or bad, coming across it in your present; we are actually not moving on.

I liked the idea of Snapchat, say whatever you want to and it vanishes after a few minutes. Leads to more freedom of speech, a carefree mindset and a liberty from past. It’s always good to live in your present and think about your future than living in your past. No over exposure of our personal lives, no retrieval and reuse, only new creations. Isn't that something awesome for our social health? Moreover, when you know it's going to be there only for a short amount of time, you will pay attention to it. Many a times it happens you are with friends or family taking out pictures and suddenly one would say "Don't Post them on Facebook"! And you are all thumbs down because you wanted to share them with people. People at times don't like to post on Facebook like platforms because they know that it will be there always giving out room to continued forming of perceptions and interpretations, which can be injurious to one’s life at any point of time. But the Disposable Social Media self-destructs whatever is shared, and you are free. This seems to give rise to a sea of new applications.

So what you opine, still Traditional Social Media or Disposable Social Media, is healthy for our lives?

Deeper thought would be, you want to always keep your past intact or be only in present and move on towards future... 


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