Facebook and mental health

Facebook is a digital medium. It uses digital technology and has multi-mode of transcription and communication. In the 21^st century, having a Facebook account has become the norm. Old or young, all of us have Facebook accounts. Different people create Facebook accounts for different purposes. Some look for friends- old and new, some to pursue hobbies, for news, to find like minded people with whom they can communicate without any qualms or hesitation. Different groups in the Facebook provide individuals the opportunity to find people with the same interests. Although it started in a very simple way and we were fortunate enough to find long lost friends and acquaintances, gradually Facebook has become a platform where impressions of social kind are created. These days instead of sharing our tears we are moving into a space of psychological trauma to keep up the public image and avoid people from identifying the sufferings we might be undergoing at that moment. Initially considered a formidable platform for academic exchange, these days Facebook feed have become a triggering concern with each and every trying to outshine the other by deliberately posting success stories. I wonder if life is all gay and no tears. Is it ever possible? Hence instead of being a platform for interaction it has become a platform for no interaction or little interaction. People have become more isolated and alienated even in the crowd with no one to share their thoughts, pains and ideas. Importantly, although the young can still get some friends, the old people are many a time left with no friends and no likes. How important these ‘Likes’ are can be understood by someone who has posted and not received as much likes as he/she expected. The like-culture is detrimental to general well-being of an individual. Facebook, I feel isolates rather than bonding.

I do not have a twitter account. I had a Facebook account which I have deactivated as I did not find it useful enough. I seemed to have 500 friends and acquaintances and in reality, no friends at all. The few friends that I have, stuck with me through thick and thin and I am regularly in contact with them over WhatsApp, there is a mind connection wherein I have no qualms of calling them up at any moment, the flexibility I could not expect from my Facebook friends. However , there are certain things which I no longer have access to and feel bad about. One of these, is the participation in different hobby related groups. I learned a lot from the experiences of learned people whose posts I followed. It helped me in a way to think of newer ways of literary appreciation and research possibilities. Facebook is a very easy and fast mode of communicating to a large number of people.

I have a blog site to which I contribute irregularly :). The literary experience that I receive from it is immensely satisfying. The target audience of the blog is the students. I have received appreciation from anonymous readers and that have helped me to grow positively. Visual image along with the post goes a long way to cast an impression and this is true from my experience as well. Plagiarism is something that should be completely avoided.

I personally follow several blogs which has helped me to widen my thoughts, gain access to newer ways of research possibilities and come across books from different corners that have encouraged the curious soul to explore further. I have been able to guide my students. Even a single proverb or thought have tingled spiritual and intellectual imagination. Such is the power of literature.