The positive side of social media

http://www.cybervictims.org

There have been lots of discussions on negativeness of social media. Children and women are considered as most vulnerable groups who can be targeted through social media and I completely agree with these views. But all is not always bad. Today completes exactly one month since I received my doctorate degree certificate from National Law School of India University, Bangalore on 1 st September, 2013. When my name was called by the Vice Chancellor and I marched towards the Hon’ble Chief justice of India who would be giving me the degree certificate, I realised that my time in the social media for past three years for almost 6 hours every day was not at all a wastage; for I built up my entire thesis on the social media and how it is being misused targeting women, how the laws are falling silent in front of the sharp abusive words that describe the victims in filthiest words and why  all is not well in the social media. A few principles that I followed to protect my digital identity were learnt from earlier researches, hugely read blogs and from my own experiences and these include keeping those information private which I never wanted to share with the world. I had a very bad experience of being stalked. Social media had nothing to do with it though, but keeping this in mind, i wanted to explore the social media and what i got in them was nothing but gems.

        Social media, as they promise, can bring  old friends back.  When I searched in Orkut, I got a whole lot of friends who were my best time buddies in the school. There were these two particular girls whom I never met since I was 12 years old. I got them back through Orkut and later got well connected through Facebook. We exchanged our phone numbers and talked for hours. They were not ‘fake avatars’( I coined this in my paper Halder, D. (2013). Examining the scope of Indecent representation of Women (Prevention) Act, 1986, in the light of Cyber Victimization. National Law School Journal, 11, 188-218)  They were real and I understood this when both of them shared particular incidents in the school that only we know. I got to know my seniors from the law college where I did my law under graduation course and each of them gave moral boosting to become what I am today. I searched for my classmates from the law college in the ‘groups’ and found out the whole gang after nearly 13 years of leaving the college. We still have virtual hang outs. We grew up together for five years and we were fresh from the high schools. Orkut and Facebook took me back to those golden days of young adulthood when almost all of us were running to the same dream: to wear the black gown and fight for justice. However, Facebook found us more matured when we would discuss about legal points, share our advanced knowledge and also grow our professional network. During my leisure time, I love  to watch the group behaviours in the social media. I actively participate in many group discussions and this has taught me the difference between ‘good talk’ and ‘bad talk’. I agree, if I had not experienced the ‘bad talks’, I would never had understood what are ‘good talks’. I still stay in many groups to learn many new ideologies of law. One such group proved to be extremely beneficial not only for my thesis, but also for my own understanding of practical aspects lawyering. I met some legal stalwarts and I was literally pampered by them when I wanted to clarify my doubts which arose while reading their works. Yes, Facebook brings you more close to your virtual professors and the ‘in- box’, if used properly can give you more than a ‘most sold’ book. Nonetheless, social media gave me opportunity to grow myself and read more current affairs. Believe me or not, i use Twitter to read the breaking news not only from one news channel, but from more than fifty domestic and international news channels, which are further shared by many Tweet- handles whom I religiously follow.

I am a Ph.d degree holder now and I may not apparently need to be glued to the social media anymore like before. But this addiction is for positive gain. This is especially so when one knows how and when to stop the virtual window and use the knowledge gained from it in real life.

Nonetheless, use social media for good and you may reap more than you sowed.

Please Note: Do not violate copyright of this blog. If you would like to use informations provided in this blog for your own assignment/writeup/project/blog/article, please cite it as “Halder D. (2013), “The positive side of social media”

October 1, 2013, published in http://debaraticyberspace.blogspot.com"