”The very meaning of culture is manipulation.” Social Dilemma

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Human evolution can be divided into four seminal eras, each altering the course of history permanently. Namely, tribal era, literate era, print era and finally the electronic era. One key factor that led to major shifts across time was the changing relationships between human senses and communication technology. Marshall McLuhan, a media professor, spoke about how media act as extensions of human senses and have always been the primary cause of social change. It can also be argued that it is the change in the rate of flow of information that separated these eras from one another. The extensive technological advancements that humanity has witnessed over the past couple decades especially has completely changed the course of human communication. The most powerful contender in this race of capturing human minds has undoubtedly been social media. With the ways in which technology is rapidly advancing, the day is not far off that human beings become cyborgs, with social media systems playing a big role in creating a harmony between the mind and the machine. Social media has been both, the most prominent outcome of the 21st century as well as the phenomenon that inturn is shaping this century. It has completely changed and deeply influenced the way we function and engage with society. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Youtube, Twitter, Telegram, Tumblr, Pinterest, Tik Tok etc. are the prime social media platforms that are the most public and the most private aspects of one’s life- at the same time. It has impacted not just the way people communicate, socialize, interact, access news, form worldviews etc. but also the way they shop, trade, work, protest, campaign, manage events , organize businesses etc primarily by discarding the notions of time and space. As with anything, this cultural phenomenon too has both good and bad aspects in its stride- the question is, whether the good can ever substantially surpass the bad.

 

We witness the several merits of social media in our everyday lives. It is a space that has democratized conversations, given agency to marginalized communities, made authorities slightly more accountable etc. It is a platform where all its ‘users’ have the right to speak and be heard- even though it's an algorithm that’s curating it all. Anyone with something of value (or none) has the platform to put out a tweet, a post, a video, a story or a reel. This opportunity has been encashed by millions of creators ( 21st century substitute for artists ) around the world to put out a variety of content ( 21st century substitute for art ). Over 300 hours of video is uploaded on YouTube per minute while almost 5 billion videos are watched on a daily basis. It has given rise to a subculture of information generation and sharing of all kinds. Be it cooking channels, homemade recipes, book/ movie reviews- there’s all kinds of content being generated. A byproduct of this has been the creation of the ‘Influencer’ strata. It stands for a person who has the power to influence potential buyers of a service or product by recommending it on social media. So be it fashion bloggers, food bloggers, technology/ gadget reviewers, video makers etc. all have something to sell. Here, the number of eyeballs you gather determines your price and rate in the industry.

 

Instagram’s design and algorithms went through a drastic change that converted it from a small photo sharing platform to a place for all sorts of endorsements and trade. Products ranging from accessories, make up, self care, bags, purses, clothes, sportswear, bedding, decor to plants, cakes, vegan products, edibles etc. can be bought and sold through social media. Today one can start a business solely with an instagram page. The app’s Insights service provides one with all kinds of information about its users so that one can conduct their activities accordingly. The structure of the medium is completely changing the way we function, rather than it being the other way round. Data analysis and social media have a very tricky relationship. The fine line between usage of data for  service provision rather than systemic manipulation has long been crossed. As it is rightly quoted in Social Dilemma, a documentary, ‘If you’re not paying for the product, then you’re the product.’ These algorithms are intricately designed to not just collect, analyse and respond to data, but to also sell it to third parties. It is argued that in today’s economy, data has more value than oil. Undeniably, social media is a strong proponent of capitalistic and consumerist value systems as well as practise. It has the potential to convert everything available on the platform into  ( an aestheticised) commodity ready for consumption. People today are brands whereas brands are value systems you stand by - a lifestyle, an identity you give yourself. Playing your part in the loop that  sustains the hyperreality that is our cultural space today.

 

The most hazardous of all however, is the employment of social media as a means for propaganda. Political material is the most heavily engaged content on social media. It is provocative and fosters a ‘cult’ mentality- things that go very well with the algorithms. Social media is all pervasive. Across the globe, Facebook has been accused of rigging elections- by providing the personal data of 50 million users to a data analysis agency Cambridge Analytica that manipulated users into voting for the Republican while influencing the Brexit issue in Europe and it got called out for not taking action against hate speech being spread by BJP pages in India. It is also said to have played a great part in political campaigning, manipulation and mass polarization during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. We find ourselves in a Neoliberal economy amidst an increasingly conservative society fuelled through social media, adversely influencing the culture of our time. While they are a democratic space, digital platforms increase divides between the people by cocoon-ising the discourse, formally known as the Echo Chamber Theory. Your ideology dictates what you consume, what you consume in turn amplifies your ideology. These platforms work in a way that only shows similar views on a person’s feed to a point that it leads one to believe that it is only their own views that is the ultimate truth. Their tolerance to other viewpoints drastically decreases- leading to extremist value systems over a course of time.

 

Social media is one of the biggest assets as well as a dilemma for our time. A cultural phenomenon that emerged from technology now  deep rooted in politics and holds the potential to lead to data wars. It is something that cannot be done away with, but must be definitely regulated, held accountable and used judiciously.