The young generation has lost the inner strength to prove itself , thanks to social media abuse : By Vanita Sriniwas.

Recently a college girl fell into the swirling Arabian Sea while clicking a selfie off a rocky part of the Mumbai beach. A youth plunged into the water to save her, was also swept away. In a similar incident in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district, an attempt to take a selfie atop a fort proved fatal for a youth as he fell backwards and died. A couple of months back, a 14-year old schoolboy, who was trying to take a selfie on his cell phone atop a stationary train wagon, was electrocuted and died in Mumbai.

These are some of the incidents that tell us the story of youth dying in vain. Certainly the purpose of selfie was never so great to lose life. However vain, it may sound to us but a search on photo sharing app, Instagram,  retrieves over 23 million photos uploaded with the hashtag #selfie, and a whopping 51 million with the hashtag #me.

Veritably, we all are vain to some extent. It’s an inseparable facet of being human. As per the principle of social psychology, we are constantly evaluating ourselves in relation to other people. Some comparisons make us feel better and fortunate while few others beget regret and remorse in us. These days comparisons through various platforms of social media are just a click away. Every moment we are updated of our friends’ statuses. Not only, has the virtual interference in each other life events increased manifold, but it is also having undue influence on each other’s life style.  In a race to impress others or to bestow glory upon ourselves we tend to buy and pose in high end designer brands. Today, the social networking sites are full of selfies and self glorified photographs, shamelessly inviting likes and comments viz ‘Awww’, ‘pretty’, ‘kewl’ etc…

Are we not heading towards a vanity prone zone? Why is this generation, especially the youngsters, crazy posting the pictures and then yearning for likes and the comments? Do such likes and comments make them feel alive in the society?  Such compliments will gratify and pamper the ego but in reality it entraps us in a bubble of fake fame.  If this is true, then the generation has lost the inner strength to prove itself. Indulging in false pretences will definitely head us towards a social impasse. Languishing for false joys is detrimental to our personality and society.

Vanity is empty pride. No matter how inflated it is, one day it will surely fizzle out filling life with hollowness. We should not let vanity override sanity. Let’s learn to love ourselves and our identity. There is a sane purpose for every life. We should understand the objective and give our best. Nothing in life is more satisfying than being modest.