By Ranjona Banerji
The village of Vadgaon in Maharashtra has taken a radical decision: to switch off social media and television sets for an hour and a half every day. According to this BBC article, a siren goes off at 7 pm as a signal that “instruments of addiction” must now be switched off. The signal to restart is at 8.30 pm.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-63169149
One can successfully debate the pros and cons of this apparently collective decision, the ethics of enforcement and the various positions on freedom.
What is harder to debate is whether social media, misinformation and fake news have a stranglehold on large swathes of society worldwide.
The answer is more likely to be “yes it has” rather than an emphatic “no”.
Some in Vadgaon did it because they were worried about their children. Not just that their school work suffered, but that they had stopped engaging with each other and at home.
You could argue that humans behave like humans and you would be right. But we all know that our behaviour adapts as situations change. And the effect of technology on communication has been radical.
None more so than in the media, the way it functions and is consumed. Just as newsgathering has been replaced by “debates” at TV prime time, newsgathering itself has become a collation of life on Twitter. Google gives us the news it thinks we want, and what it is paid to. Facebook pushes the news that it is paid to promote, and it has no interest in whether this news is made up or verified. The shadier the source, the better it seems to be protected. I name only two giants. But all of them hide behind the “algorithm” as an excuse. As if they have no control.
The recent reactions of Meta to thewire.in’s expose on the BJP’s influence on Instagram demonstrate once again how little control we, the users, have on what is fed to us via social media.
https://scroll.in/article/1034872/explainer-why-the-wire-and-meta-are-trading-charges-over-bjps-alleged-privileges-on-instagram
This explainer from Scroll puts forward the cases presented by both The Wire and Meta. But interestingly, almost nothing from Meta counters the charges nor explains why those posts mentioned in the article were taken down. The labyrinth of technology is not easy for the lay person. But the past decade at least has demonstrated that we are vulnerable to mass manipulation.
For instance, the susceptibility of people to believe the messages they receive on their smartphone, usually via WhatsApp is comparable to the brainwashing that cloistered members of a cult receive. Intelligence, age, education, exposure to the outside world makes no difference. Even if the information counters lifelong research and practical experience, people will believe rubbish.
As far as the news media is concerned, rather that counter fake news and misinformation, many journalists, those who masquerade as journalists, and TV anchors, have seemingly decided that it is easier to give in. Give in to your employers, give in to politicians, give in to business interests and give into the vagaries of social media.
One can but sympathise with the people of Vadgaon.
Ranjona Banerji is a senior journalist and commentator. She writes on MxMIndia on Tuesdays and Fridays. Her views here are personal