Editor,
Technologically speaking, our modern everyday life relies on social media for almost everything, from news to entertainment. We have moved from being uninformed to being fed up with excessive information. From beauty products to concert tickets, everything finds a place on our everyday home feed. Our everyday home feed feels like the notice board we used to have in school and college, where all kinds of content are displayed.
But beyond all these techie tidbits, what is notable is the introduction of the “Haha” button by Facebook in 2016. It has created a kind of vague habit where people use it indecisively, especially when they don’t like or don’t agree with someone they interact with online. For instance, if a person from another party posts his party manifesto, others react with laughter simply because it does not align with their own views. When it comes to religious groups, a person may laugh at the preaching of a cleric from another sect or religion just because it is different from his own beliefs. In the same way, a nationalist may laugh at the national matters of another country just because they are rivals in many ways.
In this way, something very small begins to reflect a larger pattern. Social media was initially meant to be a tool that connects people and brings them closer together. I can cite an example from my own usage. I met and made friends through Facebook when I started using it around 2012, and I have known them since then. At that time, I was using a Nokia C1-01 with a small but decent app supported by the now defunct Java OS. That app did not have the overwhelming feed we see today, and there was no “Haha” reaction whatsoever, only a simple Like or Unlike button. Some fellow millennials may describe that time as being “peaceful back then,” and in some sense, that is quite true.
At the same time, it is also true that we are already living in a divided world, a world with different thoughts and opinions. However, social media platforms like Facebook have further widened this gap, even with something as small and seemingly harmless as a reaction button. We no longer read to understand. We react to dismiss. Instead, we open a post or image just to laugh at thoughts that are different from our own. This is more harmful on a psychological and social level than it may appear. If we are not careful enough, we may slowly lose our humanity. The “Doom Haha” can damage it for good, without any doubt. And if we lose our humanness, what is left of us?
We are already living in a stage of time where both social media and the AI bubble are about to burst. In 2025, social media demographics suggested that around 5.24 billion people globally, roughly 63 to 64 percent of the total population, were actively reducing or quitting social media due to various reasons, mostly because of fatigue from algorithm driven feeds and not so exciting new developments. This point to something important. We need social media to socialise, not to divide and mar ourselves as a global community. The future of humanity still lies in our hands. We can only make it better than what we have now. The factors that divide us, if possible, must be eradicated today, so that our children can live in peace tomorrow.
Sunrise Pohtam
Via e-mail
