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Impact of media on society: The two sides of the story.

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When I ask a question to people about why they use social media? The common answer people give is that they have access to interact with their friends and other people. Its important to understand impact of media on society.

Technology bought remarkable changes in human life, they increased communication between people, they found organ donors, and they spread news faster and many more. This technology bought meaningful and positive changes to human life. Nevertheless, we are unaware of the flip side of the coin. Its important to understand impacts of media on the society.

Many people think that Facebook is just a place to see their friend or YouTube is just a source to see videos around the world. What we don’t realise is they are competing for our attention. How it is possible? Let us dig down deeper into it.

Large tech companies like Facebook, Google, Tiktok, Instagram, Pinterest have a business model to engage people onto their screens, to get people’s attention as much as possible and making money simultaneously within that span of time. All that we think is free on the internet is not in reality, they are paid by advertisers. The advertisers pay these companies in exchange to show their advertisement. 

If internet wasn’t a free source, the engagement rate towards it would drop down drastically. As we, don’t pay for the product we have become the product. Where the tech companies are the sellers, advertisers are the customers and the product being sold is our attention.

Every business thinks that if they place an advertisement they will reach their goal of success early. In order to reach the success in that particular business they need to have great prediction and lot of data.

The tech companies whose business model is to make sure the advertisers are successful in that business track your data, all the clicks you have made, all the likes, screen time, almost everything is tracked and monitored. They know everything thing about us whether we are lonely or happy. They even know our personality type.

There are lot of techies in Silicon Valley learnt to use all the knowledge about human psychology that persuades people. They build that into technology. This is persuasive technology, A design technique that can modify someone’s behaviour. Instagram has infinite scrolling feature that persuades people to keep on scrolling until they find something interesting.

Another feature very commonly used is refreshing. You pull your screen down and there will new feed on the top. So the infinite scrolling and refresh feature gives you a reward at a regular basis. When you scroll down there is something new on the screen that looks interesting for you which release dopamine into your body, to get back the dopamine hit you have to keep on scrolling. Now this action of pulling down the screen and scrolling becomes an unconscious habit. This in psychology is positive intermittent reinforcement.

We have surrounded our lives with perceived sense of perfection, we get short-term rewards of dopamine hit through likes, thumbs up, comment etc,. We get a fake popularity that we consider as real. These short-term rewards force us to fall into the loop to do something new to get that reward again. Technology is not only controlling our attention but technologies like social media have changed psychology of kid’s as well as teenagers; they have lost their self-worth through this fake reality. Today’s young generation is more anxious and more depressed.

Processing power has advanced quadrillion times since 1960s but our human brain has not evolved and fundamentally, it would never change. We all think the same that Artificial intelligence will be the destructor of humans in far future. What we need to understand is Artificial intelligence is running our world right now.

The big tech companies have tons and tons of computers stored in a massive room that runs all algorithms from simple task to complex task. However, Artificial intelligence isn’t the problem, it is just like a machine with a define task to do and it learns by performing different experiments to reach the task and gets slightly better every single day.

Famous basketball player Kyrie Irving believed that earth is flat, later when he apologized he blamed to YouTube’s rabbit hole. Basically Kyrie Irving fell into the trap of YouTube recommendation, YouTube’s A.I used recommendation feature to engage Kyrie onto his screen by displaying all the videos that were promoting the flat-earth conspiracy theory, its like the YouTube finds the nearest rabbit hole to dig down deeper and deeper.What we listen or watch on youtube or internet we believe it to be true such is the impact of media on society,

Finally, Kyrie was convinced that the earth is flat because all the videos he was watching sound true to him. When he apologized for believing that earth is flat, few student were interviewed saying “the round-earth people got Kyrie”. The algorithm is getting smarter exponentially today people are convinced by the flat earth theory tomorrow there would be new conspiracy theory that people will believe into.

There is lot of fake news spreading faster than real news; It has increased polarization among people, nations are dividing themselves. Internet has become as market place, a market place where human futures are being sold, a market place where you are just a zombie who look at the screen for a long time. This is undermining democracy, if this goes on for years we won’t survive.

People often say that technology has ruined the world but this isn’t true. It is simultaneous utopia and dystopia, you can call anyone from any corner of the world, and on the flipside, your calls could be tracked to use it against you.

Social media was built to spread love amongst people but the business model of different business. Also,their financial incentives have ruin the fabric of healthy society, and there is no financial reason for the tech companies to change their services. There is no law on the tech companies to regulate data and to use is ethically

We need to admit these bad outcomes of technology are because of our work. We can demand the tech companies to built this humanely and not like an attention extraction source. The very fabric of healthy society depends on getting off the corrosive business model. Its the need of time to use social media to make an impact of media in the society than to pull others down.

if we have built something we have a moral responsibility to change it and make it ethically possible. Impact of media on society is both positive and negative. Its our duty to use it wisely.

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culture

Dussehra: Victory of Good over evil

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Dussehra: Victory of Good over evil, is celebrated on the 10th day of month Ashvina. Victory means Prabhu Rama over Ravana in famous hindu epic Ramayan. Also it means the end of Durga puja and Ramlila. In Ramayan, Ravana kidnaps god Rama’s wife Sita, as god Rama & Laxman cuted of the nose of ravna’s sister surpanakha. So to claim vengeance on them Ravana kidnapped sita. To get back maa sita Prabhu Rama and Laxman faught battle against Ravana with the help of hanuman, Subriv & other Vanar sena.

In this battle Ravana’s brother Bhibishan also helped god Ram against Ravana . At the end of Prabhu Ram wins the battle and rescues Maa Sita. Thereafter this victory is celebrated by burning the statue of Ravan, Kumbhakarn, his son Meghnath. Dusshersa is a climax of long day celebration of Navratri.

Navratri:

           The nine days of Navratri is the time to reflect on oneself, observe silence & practice fasting. Fasting cleanses the body of toxins and silence purifies speech & mind. What does Dasehra means Das means ten and hara means take away. Which came after Navratri means nine nights if darkness.  On each day of Navratri we pray to that form of goddess durga to take away that darkness of ignorance within us. After that on tenth day on the occasion of Dasehra we burn all the evil, bad things, thoughts, bad habits inside us in that fire in the form of Ravna as evil inside us.

Dusshera: Victory of Good over evil

Ravana is not the demon or evil, you yourself are one. In the battele of Ram and Ravana, god Ram had been invoked Durga May to help him win the battle against Ravana. We also should invoked Durga to help us in gaining back our Sita. Sita?  It is awareness inside is which has been traped in maya surround us. To make our soul clean and pure we have to burn the evil in the fire by fighting and winning battle against evil. many evils and negative aura lives within us, we should overcome this with good things. This is what Dasehra symbolise.

It is a supreme festival of Hindu culture with true meaning. Furthermore it also symbolize the feminism as the battle is to bring back maa Sita from the Ravana. Whenever person crosses his limit, go beyond it and try to hurt marayda of stree. She will transform into Durga and will punish that person to death. Rama won the battles and the light and happiness spreaded. its our choice, either we want to be Ravana & get entrapped in the worldly pleasure or want to Rama (A spiritual being).To symbolise and to aware Dashera is celebrated do its called, Dussehra: Victory of Good over evil!

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Interview

Priyadeep Kaur : Published author at 19!

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Priyadeep Kaur is a published author at age of 19. She is the transpiring novelist and her work has been sighted by Shri. Narendra Modi – Prime Minister of India. Priyadeep spent her antecedent days in Shiv Ki Nagari Kashi – Banaras. She is proficiently known as Kashi Ki beti in her hometown. She is awarded with Uttar Pradesh (U.P) Gaurav, Atal Samman 2018, and the title Shaan-e-Kashi. 

More about Priyadeep:

Priyadeep currently is staying in the ‘City beautiful’- Chandigarh. She furthermore worked with a national TV channel of Rapper Badshah. ‘Millions Of Faces in a Face’ is her first book, which received massive love from readers especially from youngsters.

Her second book named Oscar for loving, Grammy for Not! is listed as the best-selling book on the amazon and she grabbed the best-selling author title. Apart from studies she was also highly interested in extracurricular activities during her school days and now Priyadeep Kaur is a published author at age of 19.

Q. When did your journey into writing began? 

Priyadeep: “I am fond of writing back from school days. My grandmother passed away, I found dairy of dad- he had written a poem dedicated to his mom. The poem was very heart touching and emotional. So, I felt like I should also start writing, then I started writing small poems and about things happening around. Then I also started writing parodies on teachers just to express my thoughts. When I was in grade 10, then I started compiling my writings together. That time I use to read novels from ‘Chetan Bhagat’, ‘Nikita Singh’ and from many other novelists too. So, at that time I thought should try writing a book. That’s how the journey started.”

Q. When did you realised that you should be a writer and your writing should get published?

Priyadeep: “Actually, as soon I completed my first book writing, actually I started writing that book when I was in the 11th grade. So, I at that time it was bit hard for me to get things done in a commercial way to get my book published and it took lot of time for that. Then I started doing research how to get book published and I also mailed my work to many publishers. So, I got few replies and with one of the publishers I got my book published. And soon it was available for reading.”

Q. What was the most surprising thing you learned while writing novels?

Priyadeep: “I learnt my things from my novels and one thing I want to mentioned is – there is very slight difference between the things we imagine and things which really happen. I think people who are into writing are a kind of overthinkers, they think a lot. They think from different perspective and try to create an anonymous situation out from it. Being writer, I imagine many things but they are not into real life. So, its very important to keep imaginary world and real life separately and keep the things sorted.”

Q. A person can’t be a writer if he/she doesn’t have strong emotion, what are your views?

Priyadeep: “I would not agree on this personally, but a person can be a writer if they are not good grammar, even if they are not having a particular knowledge of language and to portrait things. Emotions are necessary for writing; we need to feel the situations in that particular way. Although very body has emotions it’s not necessary that to be a writer you should have strong emotions, with time and practise you can achieve it. I agree emotions play a vital role in writing and every one of us have emotions and everybody can write.”

Q. What was your childhood dream?

Priyadeep: “I wanted to be singer actually, that was my childhood dream. When I was 4 years old, my dad introduced me to pandit Anurag dixit. He uses to conduct my classical music classes and I was fond of performing in school and at many other places. So later I started to go in shows and started performing at very small age. I also used to sing local songs at that time. Since 12 grade I started performing- singing and also recorded few songs. At that time, I was also busy into writing and getting book published. So, writing made me feel somethings, like that’s what I want to be. So, I continued by writing.”

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CUVXka7BAPL8t8aO0QVrxEfSI52cUc5lfAPuq00/?utm_medium=copy_link

Q. What are the techniques and strategies you keep in your mind while you are writing?

Priyadeep: “Actually I try my best to justify the title, which I have given to the book. I think title should be always justifying. Then draft your story accordingly so you can keep the track of it. So, I make the points and draft and then start writing the book, so it’s easy for me if I need to add on few things in between. Mainly I focus on the words and vocabulary add it accordingly. I prefer to sketch the character and his nature, so its easy to maintain and build the story.”

Q. Generally how long does it take to complete a book?

Priyadeep: “My first book I completed in six months. And it took lot of time to complete my second book, because I have joined the office and started working at production house in Chandigarh. Now I am launching my next book, so it took me around 3 months to complete it, which I stared writing during lockdown. So, it’s in pipeline and will be out soon. Although it depends on the time and story to complete a book, it may differ from writer to writer.”

Q. How was your experience working with Badshah sir as a creative producer?

Priyadeep: “It was a very nice experience; I had a wonderful time with the team. We also shoot few songs and I learned lot of things about real life and reel life. I determined the people are so much different in real life, then we usually see in reel life. Specifically talking about BADSHAH sir, as we see his personification in songs, he is completely different in real life. He is very sweet, innocent and humble person. In real, he is not much interested into parties. He is very hardworking and fully dedicated to his work. The whole team was amazing, I got few friends too and the overall journey was awesome for me. I learnt many things from them.”

Q. Can you tell us about the moment when you meet Shri. Narendra Modi (Prime minister of India) and you and your work recognised by him?

Priyadeep: “It was an awesome moment for me, I am very grateful for that. Talking about my family they have framed the photographs and pinned to wall everywhere in my house. For them it was a very proud moment. For me it was a very happy and different kind of adventurous moment. I wrote a letter to PM office randomly and unexpectedly I got response to launch my book by him. I think that was one of the best moments as of now in my writing journey.”

Q. What are your future plans?

Priyadeep: “My next book is coming in November and I am also doing a freelance work in Chandigarh right now, it’s a project of 6 months. So, need to go to Ahmedabad for that work. I have completed two more books in lockdown so I will be planning about there editing and publishing. Due to covid I have many projects pending, so when things will settle need to complete the projects and shoots.”

To know more about Priyadeep Kaur published author at 19- journey and about her life. And some intresting facts- Watch full Instagram interview session with her on IGTV – Paradox India.

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