What’s up with WhatsApp?
Picture this... you are chit chatting with a friend and your speech suddenly goes mute because you have already told the same unverified stuff to 5 friends! This is exactly what WhatsApp is going to do to your messages with it’s latest update. If you are not a rumormonger and all your messages are your own, there is no need to worry. But do you think this step by WhatsApp would help counter viral spread of fake news?
Let's look a little deeper. Gossiping and spreading unverified news is as old as our human DNA and scientists believe gossiping is an evolutionary necessity which makes upto 80% of our conversations! Now if we had WhatsApp like measures in real life conversations, we would be muted 80% of the time.
But if this is something as old as humans itself, why is it such a problem only in the past few years? Technology and global platforms. Never before in history has our human race have so much connectivity and reach beyond our own small communities. Today we can connect with like minded folks half way across the globe, folks who may like the same game you play, same flowers you grow in your garden, same recipes you like, or... same prejudices & biases you have, share your hatred for certain other groups, etc.
What these platforms have done is they have amplified our inherent insecurities, biases, prejudices, to a mammoth scale. Don’t believe me? Check out the sliced and diced versions of Indian matrimonial sites each catering to different castes and communities, there is one for even IIT-IIM match making! To give the founders benefit of doubt, they would have never anticipated at inception that their platforms would evolve this way, but the flocking/herding behaviour is so deeply ingrained in our DNA that all platforms have eventually become segregated. Segregations based on race, political affiliations, religious beliefs and even alumni tags!
So is the problem with the people or the platforms? We as a human race haven't evolved to digest this rapid changes into our DNA yet. Our technology cycles are becoming shorter and we don't have enough time to digest these into our brains. We fallback to documents supposedly written centuries ago for defining our moral compass. Our education system hasn't evolved to encourage healthy debate, tolerance and diversity. This coupled with the mask of anonymity, we have trapped ourselves in echo chambers where we are willing to troll and bully down anyone who doesn't match our narrow point of view.
We are mistaken if we think social media and platforms like WhatsApp are one of the worst things to happen, because things are just getting started. Think of Truecaller for facial recognition, an app on your phone which can tell you the profile and details of the person you are pointing at and imagine this power in wearable glasses. With the advances in computer vision, this is not some dystopian future but a reality in few years. Don't believe me? Microsoft recently called for government regulation on facial recognition saying it is too risky to leave it to the tech industry!
So what is the solution to this situation we have got into? First we need to strengthen our educational system, encourage kids to question, debate and teach them to evolve with times. Break barriers and encourage diversity at work and school, among our friends and colleagues, to understand and empathize. Choose your public representatives wisely, don't choose those who want to build walls or wipe off communities or ban free speech. Try to educate yourself and your dear ones about these topics, know how platforms work, how to leverage the infinite resources available online but stay safe at the same time. Initiate friendly dialogue within your circles to understand the problem and do your bit to nip it in the bud.
Share your thoughts on what you think needs to be done.
