Social media; a fake and confused social existence?

WhatsApp and other similar platforms have heated up the social scene, everywhere. I thought that it was the beginning of a new world order. I thought wrong.  What is really happening is more harmful than good. Masses are not using these apps to communicate like they normally would -- like people. They are playing up or hiding behind a new persona of being more informed, well read, deeply religious and with a [often morbid and borrowed] sense of humour.  There is not a conversation going on, but it is more like a shouting match. Everyone is receiving and sending all sorts of things every day. It is not a zero sum game. It is taking away the innocence of an entire generation that is growing up on it. In fact, it is leading us down the path of self destruct.

First it was telephone and telegraph. Regular postal delivery services always co-existed and was essential communication for every individual, government and business. Next telex. It was always in corporate and government communication. Then the advent of facsimile on the back of telephony remained popular for quite some time. Regular postal service started to lose prominence. Soon Internet hit the world and email was the communication of choice. All of the above didn't do much harm.

Next came smart phone and email has since been relegated for mostly receiving junk -- for the common man that is. A new wave of applications empowered the users of these phones. WhatsApp and other similar apps started to appear on those. All hell has broken lose.

American Presidency is an apt example of what went wrong with social media. It is a Twitter presidency and I want you to be the judge of how good or bad it has been thus far.

As for me, I have lost a lot of good people, to death, Facebook and now to the likes of WhatsApp. I am going back in time. In this age of smart phones making fool of smart people all of the time, I am perhaps a not-so-smart fool.