In the early 2000s, social media platforms like Friendster and Myspace emerged, soon followed by Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter (now X). Initially, focusing on instant messaging and photo sharing, these platforms were seen as another means for people to stay connected. Instead of mailing photos to friends and relatives, users began sharing them on their timelines. The 'like' button provided a sense of sharing immediate feedback, creating a feeling of being seen and acknowledged. As these applications evolved in the 2010s, they became more complex, allowing users to share videos and real-time updates via stories.

Traditional advertising soon shifted to these platforms, which offered targeting options based on demographics, interests, behaviours, and real-time data. Advertisers could create highly personalised campaigns tailored to specific audience segments. Apps now have the ability to detect interests—for instance, if someone is looking to buy a lipstick, specific brand ads will appear in their feed.

"I realised I was buying a lot of things. It was suggesting the point about being on that platform was where I became curious to spend more and more. It’s so easy; you see something, and then it may become something you want, something you desire, and you just have to go on the platform, which can take your orders. It was getting too much, so I thought I would go off it and reign in my desires to buying online," says a professor at a top management institute in the country. She has now left Instagram.

"Largely, what I am missing out on is all of the recipe reels I saved, which I wanted to cook," she adds. "I don’t feel like I am missing out on anything; in fact, I feel better not having so much information about people. They are representing a life on social media which I am not privy to, and I am fine with it."

During the pandemic, when everyone was confined to their homes, influencer culture began to rise. More people started making videos—whether dancing or creating easy recipes like Dalgona coffee. At that time, it made sense to use social media as a substitute for human interaction and communication. Now, even though we are out of the pandemic, we continue to stay glued to our phones. In fact, today, more and more people are trying their hand at creating content and becoming influencers.

It only makes sense for people to use readily available platforms that are also free. Unlike in the past, when only one in a million people would manage to become a famous celebrity, you no longer have to go through the traditional struggle: moving to a big city, trying to make ends meet, and going for auditions in one's free time. The Hindi film industry and regional film industries had a monopoly over creating celebrities and selecting and promoting the talents of a few, but social media has democratised that process. Now, anyone with a smartphone who has anything to say or show can go ahead and do so, and users are in charge of who they think should be popular. @Rambaiomprakash on YouTube is a husband-wife duo that predominantly posts videos of dancing, mostly featuring the wife. She recreates hook steps of songs. Her reel of her dancing to 'Yimmy Yimmy' has 93 lakh views on YouTube. Her dance reel became popular due to its use in different meme templates.

It's great that authentic content is being celebrated and finding a platform, but the pressure to consistently create engaging and unique content to maintain an audience must be high, especially because we are living with an overload of content.

In June, a video shot near Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Pune’s Jambhulwadi went viral. In the video, a girl is suspended in midair, holding onto a guy's arms from the rooftop of an abandoned building. The video was titled 'Grip Strength Check'. In another incident, Aanvi Kamdar, a travel and lifestyle influencer known as @theglocaljournal on Instagram with 325K followers, died after falling into a 300 ft gorge while recording a video near the Kumbhe waterfall in Mangaon, Maharashtra's Raigad district. On July 16, she slipped and fell into the valley while capturing footage of the surroundings and taking photographs.

Both of these incidents showcase how much content is specially crafted or staged, with people pushing their limits. This urge is also reflected in the content created by people we know; everyone is trying to highlight the extravagance of their lives. People tend to share their best and happiest moments such as pictures of trips, gifts, meetings with friends in beautiful places, and promoting expensive things.

“When I saw posts from friends and peers who were earning well, going on trips, or enjoying themselves, while I was confined to a room studying 10 to 12 hours a day, it sometimes made me question whether I was on the right path. It made me worry about what I was doing and whether I was doing it right or not. That affected me, and that was the reason why I left,” says Adarsh, who left all social media platforms two years ago. He left social media to prepare for the UPSC exams and currently works in public policy research.

“I stay informed through newspapers which cover everything I need to know about current events and my surroundings. Also, being away from social media provides me with mental peace, as I’m not constantly exposed to updates about other people’s lives and activities”, he adds.

Author and academic Cal Newport critiques the impact of social media platforms, “This is my main concern with large attention economy conglomerates like Twitter and Facebook: it’s not that they’re worthless, but instead it’s the fact that they’re engineered to be as addictive as possible.” He adds, “An endless bombardment of news and gossip and images has rendered us manic information addicts.”

Social media has its problems, much like anything else that is overused. However, it has helped to mobilise the masses for political resistance or provide support to the affected during times of climate disasters or wars. The 2011 revolution in Egypt, which led to the ouster of then President Hosni Mubarak, is a significant example.

On the morning of January 25, 2011, Salma Sabahi, an Egyptian singer-songwriter and activist, uploaded her song 'Al-Sha’b'. By the evening, the video had gone viral, and the streets were filled with protesters. The song incorporated a famous line from the North African revolutionary poet Abu al-Qasim al-Shabbi: 'Idha al Sha‘b yurid rada al-Hayat, fa-la budda ann yastajeeba al Qadar' ('Fate has to give in when people choose to live by the will of life').

Recently, when traditional media failed to depict Israel’s war on Gaza accurately, social media became a tool of resistance. Many Palestinians used social media to record and display the atrocities of the war, sharing information about their living conditions, the death toll, requesting funding and petitions for a ceasefire.

However, Human Rights Watch recorded more than 1,050 instances of content removal and suppression on Instagram and Facebook between October-November 2023. These instances involved posts by Palestinians and their supporters, many of which addressed human rights abuses. Of the 1,050 cases examined in the report, 1,049 involved peaceful pro-Palestinian content that was either censored or unduly suppressed.

The internet found a way around it too, and people started using the watermelon emoji to symbolise support for Palestine. The fruit and emoji bear the colours of the Palestinian flag: black, green, red, and white. The curbing of social media posts that promote mobilisation reflects the changing nature of social media from what it was before; it is now trying to control things for us. However, the resistance shown by people using the watermelon emoji depicts the shift in how social media is being used. A large number of people are trying to be mindful while engaging with social media.

Do we need freedom from social media? It may be too radical a statement, but we certainly need to take a step towards digital minimalism, where we use social media mindfully and remain in control of it rather than letting it control us.

(With inputs from Sushmita Barik)