A Digital Sisterhood

The Indian Express     12th November 2020     Save    

Context: A critical analysis of the necessity of social media for the present generation.

Problems associated with Social media:

  • Increased isolation:  It rips apart our communities and “tribes.”
  • Social media is full of predators and fakes: There are predators and fakes in the real world also.
  • Social media is often considered as a substitute for physical networks: but social media tribes can never be substitutes for family or childhood pals.
  • Fighting arena: People often get into battle mode over politics and religion.

Loneliness not only due to social media: 

  • Loneliness isn’t merely a function of being physically alone: Loneliness is also a function of not being able to find people who understand you. 
  • Globalization: also necessitates the need for connecting beyond our physical tribes.
  • Generation Gap: There is a feeling that the present generation is less connected to their families and communities due to difference in ideas.
  • Women were already facing emotional isolation: women who refuse to bow down to the old world order and refuse to fit in with cultural norms faced isolation.
  • Normative isolation: Isolation was already felt by those individuals  who didn’t conform to normative ideas of social acceptance.

Benefits associated with social media:

  • Connects with people who understand ones feeling: It helps to overcome the perpetual loneliness that is the bane of people whose ideas are vastly different from the physical communities.
  • Helps the independent women: find and forge new solidarities.
  • A supplement to physical networks is good: Genuine and meaningful engagements will make one feel less isolated and acts as a platform to share ideas and emotions (Emotional nourishment).

Conclusion: In a world that is increasingly becoming a mix of cultures, a mix of identities and a mix of selfhoods, we need a mix of multiple tribes to get through life that can be achieved through social media.