JOIN USToday, the cluttered walls of social networking sites are where most youngsters get their news from.
Be it celebrity death hoaxes that are invented by the internet or the news of a favourite actor, musician or even world leader like Nelson Mandela being no more, there are enough news-related links and status messages to spread the word.
These can be viewed as ‘informative’ to some extent but who is monitoring the authenticity of this news?
More importantly, how sincere are the condolence messages when people start ‘Liking’ such news in keeping with the herd mentality?
Grieving together
Mili Nair, second-year BBM, Presidency College, shares, “Recently, when personalities like Paul Walker or Philip Seymour Hoffman or the ‘Glee’ star Cory died, fans worldwide resorted to social networking sites to share their shock and grief. With every celebrity death that one hears about come the mourning, Rest In Peace (RIP) hashtags and remembrance posts on social media. By posting such messages, a person feels connected to them and it gives a sense of community bonding to those grieving together.”
No privacy
Neena Hamees, second-year BBM, Presidency College, says, “Unknown people commenting about the death of a celebrity might not go well with their friends and family. Plus, there are many rumours and hoaxes that do the rounds on social networking sites, with many people acting insensitive uploading Photoshopped images of fake celebrity deaths and things like that.”
Unhealthy relationships
According to Florence MJ, second-year BBM, Presidency College, the seriousness of important issues is lost on social media. “Social media does trivialise big issues, which are forgotten after just about one ‘Like’ or ‘Share’. Some people just put up status messages for the sake of getting ‘Likes’ and feeling popular. It has become a trend these days and there’s no secrecy or privacy left. People are more than happy telling the world about their personal lives and want to know what’s happening in the lives of others. I don’t think this is healthy for true relationships,” she says.
Sane voice
Syed Ashfaq, second-year BBM, Presidency College, says, “Social media is a good platform to be informed about the happenings around us. But while there is some amount of emotion involved in a status update after a famous person dies, most of the comments and statuses are posted without much thought.”