Responsible use of social media: Let’s not cannibalize our own reputation
This open letter has been written as a response and a request to the students of IIT Kharagpur, for the recent events that took place on Facebook in the Indian context and how the students responded to that in a manner that confused and shocked a lot of people.
Poonam Gupta is an alumna of the 2017 Batch from the Department of Agricultural & Food Engineering and this letter has been published verbatim from her submission.
We all have been through that immense sense of pride the moment we saw our JEE results and when we got enrolled as a student in IIT.
Speaking for myself, I loved the attention that people in my neighbourhood started showering on me. Suddenly, I was not the talkative rebellious girl who didn’t listen to anyone but an example to be given to the rest of the students in the area. I was promoted from being a not so obedient girl to being the inspiration for people around.
Most of us have experienced this sudden shift in our treatment by people and enjoyed the celebrity status we got in our hometown, school and among relatives but as they say, with bigger roles comes greater responsibility.
For the same people, we are the representatives of IIT Kharagpur and anything that we do, even in our personal capacity, is in some or the other way associated with the name of our college, whether good or bad.
When any one of us has done anything scandalous/objectionable or has done anything praiseworthy, the headlines always read, “An IIT Kharagpur graduate….”. If a company comes for the first time for placements and hires one student from campus then whether the company will come again or not and how many they will hire the next time, depends largely on the performance of that student.
So you talking about curtailing my freedom and individuality??
Make no mistake, I respect the individuality of people and their freedom. I strongly agree with people that we shouldn’t be forced to carry the honour of our families on our shoulders and should be allowed to live our lives as individuals. But whenever we roll in the outside world, always trying to make most of the brand name of our college and alma mater, we also carry the responsibility of making our reputation even stronger or at least not tarnishing it with off putting actions. The outside world will judge our institution based on our conduct, whether we go for an intern, job or a competition. We all are the brand ambassadors of IIT Kharagpur.
Cannibalizing our own the reputation
It saddens me as an alumnus to see that the irresponsible use of social media has become a fad amongst the students. They don’t realise that singing an ostentatious song in a personal setting or sharing it as an individual is different from gathering in a large group as the students of IIT Kharagpur and then shouting out loud a song which is disrespectful to a particular segment of population and then some students went a step ahead and posted it on social media making it the headline in some newspapers.
I am not sure if you realise it or not, but doing such activities and spreading them on social media with such vigour taints the standing that IIT Kharagpur has garnered over the years due to the incredible work ethics, innovative streak, creativity and skills that our alma mater has exhibited in various countries, companies and universities under highly adverse conditions.
Umm… but I want to be cool. How do I do that?
An institution which has “Dedicated to the service of Nation” written in bold on its main building should not experience such unpleasant activities performed on the campus in the name of cool.
Spreading derogatory and distasteful content on social media and sometimes sharing the contents that perpetuate hate and disdain among people is not cool. Cool is being well aware of your responsibilities as a student, as a citizen and as a human and using powerful tools of social media to serve these responsibilities to the best of your ability.
I am not saying, FB, Insta and Twitter are not meant for fun. They are. I am myself an ardent social media user and post all kinds of random things I do with my friends and otherwise but there is always a fine line that I make sure I don’t cross.
A humble request from an alumnus
As an alumnus, it is my humble request to students of IIT Kharagpur to be more careful with the use of social media. Your activities should not hurt the prestige of the institute that you will have to use time and again in future and which thousands of extraordinarily talented people have built over more than six decades. You will have to defend the actions of your friends, juniors, seniors and maybe your own too if you indulge or let people indulge in repugnant activities but on the other hand if your college is in news for all the right reasons then you will be benefitted every time you say, I am from IIT Kharagpur.
KGP ka Tempo High hai!
Jai Hind!
Poonam Gupta
Department of Agricultural and Food Engineering
Batch of 2017
