SOCIAL OR ANTI-SOCIAL?

Facebook Death ! Twitter Suicide ! MySpace Murder ! YouTube Killing ! Sounds bizarre I know. What have such negative words got to do with social media platforms ? They are made for entertainment, for communication, for connecting, for interaction. They are definitely supposed to enrich our lives making us more social and more popular.

Unfortunately, this is just a myth, the truth is somewhat different. Can you believe that a crime is reported on FB every 40 minutes ? Facebook was referred in investigations of murder, rape, child sex, offenses, assault, kidnap, death threats, witness intimidation, and fraud.

1. A normal teenager of 15 murdered his dad when the father banned the kid from using MySpace, the reason being the kid was posting suicidal notes. After the murder, he removed his father from his Top 8.
2. A guy was frustrated from his x wife and her attacking Facebook posts, made out of anger about his child support payments. He became aggressive and beat her up using a hammer, doing every painful act to his x wife and left her body which was discovered the next day.
3. Two childhood friends, both aged 22 were best mates before the arrival of one girl who made these two buddies fall for her. They exchanged heated arguments on Twitter for some days because of this girl and due to the impact one of the friends shot down his best friend and Tweeting immediately after that “RIP MY FRIEND”.

These are merely several instances, there are so various crimes taking place that prove teenagers and youngsters are driven by social media in a morbid way. I read such stories and wonder why status on FB and Tweets have become an ego issue for us. They are just done for fun, what is there to take them so seriously that you decide to end a life, be it yours or theirs ?

Not just deaths by murder but bullying that leads to self-destruction is an equally worrisome issue. Today all kids have PC and a good bandwidth internet connection. But do we identify how and for what they are using them ? They could easily be using to harass that best friend who visits your home often from a fake ID they made just to stroke ego.

Ever heard the term “Death by Selfie” ? No ? Well, let me tell you it is something that is plaguing social media today. We all like to change DP, we wanna use the one where we look cutest, sweetest, sexiest, and what not. But has it ever come to you that it could lead you to Death? We all know about the Pakistani girl, Qandeel Baloch famous as “Pakistan’s Kim Kardashian”. She is famous for posting provocative selfie’s and videos of herself on social networks. That is how she reached the heights of fame. But she also reached gates of destruction when her brother killed her, after repeatedly warning her to stop posting embarrassing stuff on FB. She was killed by him in rage, in the name of Honour Killing.

Cyberbullicide is the term used to define suicide due to having indirect or direct experiences with online aggression.  Cyber bullying and cyber harassment are two prevalent ways to lead to pro-suicide behavior. Phoebe Prince, a recent Irish immigrant, hanged herself after nearly three months of routine torment by students at Her High School, via text message, and through the social networking site, Facebook.

Social media platforms, such as chat rooms, blogging Web sites (e.g., Tumblr, Reddit), video sites (e.g., YouTube, Vimeo), social networking sites (e.g., Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Google+), picture sharing sites (e.g., Pinterest, Instagram) as well as e-mail, text messaging, and video chat, have transformed traditional methods of communication by allowing the instantaneous and interactive sharing of information created and controlled by individuals, groups, organizations, and governments. But that does not mean we will use them as a source to spy on family and friends. Relationship status is not meant to hurt other by changing them back to being single. Our Display Pictures don’t need to make us look like Katrina Kaif or Scarlett Johansson. Friends and Ex’s whom you aren’t comfortable with mustn’t be bullied but Unfriended and blocked. Troublemakers should be dealt with prudence, report them. Last but not the least, never spread rumors on social platforms.

Be Social, not Anti-Social !