Story Brunch
In today’s world, social media has become an integral part of people’s daily lives. People are spending more and more time on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok. Social media has become a source of entertainment, information, and communication for people. The average person checks their social media accounts several times a day, often in their free time or during work breaks. Many people use social media to keep up with friends and family, stay informed about current events, and follow their favorite celebrities and influencers.
A closer look at the social media phenomena will tell you how the ever-increasing penetration of the internet and usage of social media is also leading to the ‘dumbing down’ of society at many levels.
Why did your parents send you to a particular school?
Why did you compete with millions of others to get into a good college/university?
Apart from getting a good education, one of the reasons is that parents want a decent circle for their children from the same ‘intellectual’ hierarchy. Schools and colleges are institutions designed to provide education and opportunities for personal and intellectual growth. These institutions help students broaden their perspectives and promote interaction and engagement with people from diverse backgrounds. But in schools and colleges, we are aware of the person’s personality in totality. The choices we make in deciding our circle is based on many factors of which we are well aware, unlike people on social media.
There are differences in the intellectual level of students in a school, but the fact remains that all of them are being served the same quality of education. One’s friends circle is shaped by one’s own status within the school/college ecosystem. It takes years of filtering through interactions, academic performances, and judgment of others’ behaviors before you choose the people you are going to surround yourself with and hang around with inside and outside the campus. Some of the relationships outlive your school/college duration and last as long as your life.
Some of the considerations one makes while choosing his/her circle of people-
- Those who can stimulate you intellectually,
- People who can make you laugh, share your joys and sorrows,
- People who can help you with exams, career and life decisions, etc.
These are the people you know personally, with whom you discuss and debate topics and come to conclusions, upgrade your mind and heart.
Social media, on the other hand, brings people from all intellectual and socioeconomic strata in direct contact with your mind. You spend time arguing and debating with people whose educational qualifications you are not even aware of. Forget education, you do not know even the name and designation of the profiles/ handles you interact with.
One follows handles and interacts with them based on political, cultural leanings, ethnocentrism and one’s own confirmation biases. In real life, a Professor or a Scientist/ Doctor/ Engineer may not argue with a bike mechanic on nation’s economy, international relations, or diplomacy or on a new startup in the market. But when active on Facebook or Twitter he will end up spending hours debating with the same bike mechanic or a school dropout as he knows nothing about the profile. He may approach a topic from his level of intellect but the person on the other side may not be competent enough to even understand it. Another reason may be that the person has his own biases and will not see through reasons and rationality behind arguments.
More concerning in case of Women
This becomes more concerning in the case of women. A man desires proximity to a woman. Social media platforms give ample space and opportunity to come close to many women who may be ‘out of reach’ for men in the real world, due to differences in intellectual, economic, or looks strata. One may fear complimenting or commenting on a woman’s looks while traveling on a train or at a bus stop, but he won’t hesitate a bit while doing so on Facebook and Instagram. Such small interactions often make way for short to long-term relationships, albeit online, without knowing about the person in detail. The real intention of the person cannot be deciphered from online conversations.
This is why parents need to be more careful about the online engagement of their teenage children.
Engaging in long conversations will gradually bring you to the intellectual level of the person on another side, after all, a person is no more than the average of the people he/she surrounds himself with. This may result in a decline in one’s intellectual elitism and hence a downfall in intellectual capability and in life goals in long term.
It’s not that the dumbing down happens immediately after a conversation or the IQ score drops drastically, but it starts reflecting in your life over a long duration of interaction. By the time one realizes, the damage is already done.
After all, there is a reason why we do not entertain and engage with all and sundry in the real world.
