Students debate pros, cons of social media

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, March 25

Social media has become a way of life today as a lot of knowledge and information is disseminated through it but it has also become a bane of youth as it is being misused. This was the crux of the inter-college debate organised by The Tribune on the topic, ‘Life in times of social media’, here today.

In all, 28 contestants from 14 colleges participated in the debate. Speaking for the motion, students were of the opinion that social media had become a major job creator and had turned the world into a small village by providing connectivity. One can get information on the click of a mouse, get in touch with old friends and it can also be used as a rescue mechanism in times of crisis.

Social media has influenced our life so much that the idiom “Neki kar, dariya mein daal” is now converted to “Kuch bhi kar, Facebook par dal”, said one of the participants in the competition. Quoting an example, another participant said one could not measure the happiness of a grandmother staying in India interacting with her grandson living in America on Skype which had been made possible only due to internet and social media.

Expressing their views against the motion, the participants said social media represented an idealised version of reality and was responsible for increased stress and depression among the youth. Cyberbullying, harassment and trolling were increasing on social media which was leading to suicides in some cases. Social media also provides a platform to terrorists and anti-social elements besides opening doors of pornography for young and immature minds, the students argued.

Addressing the participants, Prof RS Chauhan, Pro Vice Chancellor of Himachal Pradesh University, who was the chief guest on the occasion, talked about the changing face of media and said the Communication and IT Ministry had become more important today than the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

Principal of Government College, Sanjauli, Diksha Malhotra, who was also the guest of honour on the occasion, said social media had become a distraction for students as they spent most of their time on WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

The judges for the contest, Prof Meenakshi F Paul and Ravinder Makhaik, opined that ‘sanskar’ blended with technology should be the approach adopted by the youth addicted to social media. They said the problem with information circulated on social networks was that it was difficult to differentiate between truth and lies.