How has social media brought about cultural change in Indian mindsets?

How has social media brought about cultural change in Indian mindsets?

Introduction

Social Media has a wide role to play in changing the mindset and lifestyle of common man. In a developing country like India, such a thing has a deep root in transforming things. Social media has its own positive and negative impacts and it is spreading its territory vigorously as fast as a forest fire. A developing country is always in a state of instability with respect to the changes in the lifestyle, culture and civilization; and they get very easily influenced by the newly emerging fields especially when that comes into play from some developed countries. Social media has got an air to burn its flames throughout the world. Something that has planted its roots universally is definitely highly influential, and Indians are no bar in getting into its whirlpool.

What is Social Media?

Now when we get into the depth of the topic, and check what actually the social media means; not surprisingly majority will come up with the reply of Facebook, and a few may go ahead with more social networking sites. Is that all that social media is all about? Well, social media is much more than these social interactive sites, and contains the stuff a lot more than the mere gossips and sharing some personal pictures.

Coming on to the discussion of the various inclusions within the raft of social media, let’s start with the most popular one being the ‘Social Networking Sites’. The sites like Facebook are used as a time-pass by the majority population, but many intellectuals use this to advertise and promote their small and large scale business as well. People also have much knowledge regarding the blogging sites like Twitter, content communities like You Tube, social news sites like Leakernet etc., but nobody actually links these with the social media. These sites remain on the top surfing sites, still without knowing their utility as social media. Again the collaborative sites like the Wikipedia is utilised to the fullest for reference for all sorts of study and analyses. There are some selective audience sites like the virtual gaming sites and the virtual social world sites. All these have a widespread impact on altering the culture of any community.

These sites have a good volume of useful material which is handy from the day-to-day utilities to the work arena or business block or the sports avenue or for that matter any other field. People from any field, any culture, tradition, linguists or community are not out of its vicious circle. Leaving behind the illiterate ignorant population, every child, every person is already into the trap of this social media. The more people are into the social circle, the more they are prone to serious risks of letting their personal details and information into the hands of the hackers.

Parameters of Social Media influencing the Indian Culture and Mind-set
There are various parameters that influence the mind-set of the common man especially with respect to the alterations in our culture and tradition that has a very special image and respect world-wide. Let us discuss these factors one by one.

•Quality of the Content

Starting with the ‘Quality of the Content’ that is present in these sites involved in the social media. The web content is really of high quality with an efficient lay out and presentation summing up all the relevant details from the core content to the recent research or development on the topic. On the other way round, the material content does not have any boundaries, screening, limitations or censored. These are just displayed without any restrictions which is definitely impacting the mind-set of the youth, who are getting more and more aggressive in their conduct. This is very much appreciated from the present law and order situation of our country.

•Accessibility

Again, the content displayed is available to anyone and everyone. The sites are more commercial and they just want publicity by hiking the undue bits of information. Such exaggeration of the news is not only against the ethics of the news circulation, but it often harms the image and future life of the victim, who is already undergoing immense trauma. This availability of unwanted piece of information like the detailed explanation of the rape cases, is definitely not going to provide any help to the readers; hence just an undue publicity in order to attract many more readers.

The easy accessibility of the content and the bits of personal information like the social profile uploaded in these sites are like a cherry on the cake for the hackers. The critical information gets an easy breakthrough, and people are indirectly digging the pit for their own fall. A simple example like the easy accessibility of the profile pictures could be misused by anyone in any way. This is what India is facing today in the form of ‘cyber crimes’.

•Usability

The easy learning and grasping aptitude of the children is again focussed by the social media by various attractive advertisements being popped up and distracting their attention towards the gaming zones. Even if a child tries to search for the study material, the advertisements popping in are enough to distract their attention. Also the age bar laid on the social media is so vague that any child can pave their way to gain entry to the rubbish contents of the Internet world, as worse as the porn content. With a total lack of security and safety of the content displayed, how can we hope our culture to be moving on the right path? Children do get their minds adulterated with these rubbish contents; being the stepping stones of future India, they are definitely hampering our culture and image universally.

•World come closer

With so many negative points to be displayed, the social media do have some points in their favour. We cannot deny the fact that the social media has wrapped up the world into the hands of the Indians. The world has come closer, with the possibility of interaction anywhere in the world in just a few clicks away. The family can get in touch with their children working abroad, the grandparents can have a regular glimpse of their grandchildren, they can interact, visualize and perceive their growth. Social media is helping to retain our family bond and in fact has made the bond more affectionate. From the business and work point of view, the contents displayed on the social media can be easily edited, unlike the old fashioned articles and journals. This easy editing and displaying the recent and latest updates again have helped to build up the general awareness and contributed in the growth of the Indian economy indirectly.

Conclusion

With a deep analysis of the subject, we can precisely call the social media as a tool that requires utmost cautious handling. This can be highly beneficial if used appropriately. Undoubtedly, the social media can have a very good impact on our culture and can help to spread our days old tradition with immense pleasure and prestige. All that requires is a firm mind, good intellect and a decent approach to the available source, that is social media.