Caught in the Net : a Tug of War

    There used to be a time when children used to play outside their houses, friends used to spend time at coffee shops, watching games, gossiping and discussing politics. It was also the time when individuals did not need the approval of the whole world for their attire before going on a date, or constant reassurance from strangers on how good they look. The world was once a better place considering human relationships and genuine warmth. Where has all that gone, you ask? Social networking might just be the answer.

It is completely unfair to say that social networking has not made life easier for mankind, no, in fact it has increased connectivity across the globe, skyrocketed marketing and logistics for businesses, brought people closer to each other and much more. So what is it that makes social networking a platform for anybody to wreak havoc, intrude into privacies, celebrate crimes and do just about anything twisted or straight the human mind can extend its imaginations to? 

A little less than a decade ago, social media or the internet was not something that was accessible to allof the world population (it still isn’t for people living in Igloos, though). Skip through the Y2k and all that hype, when people did not really realize the potential power that internet held, come the era where Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Pinterest all found their purpose. When social networking sites finally lost their true purpose, they have now ended up being the ultimate arena for mindless activities and perversions of the kind unimaginable. 

It is a fearful thing to admit that a generation is in the making that finds it impossible to live without social networking, smartphones and selfies. 

The spread of internet is so wide and so deep that layers of internet exist that lie beyond the normal eye, to the average mind. 

In these deeper layers that are accessible only to those who know how to do it safely, lay the most disgusting and inconceivable amounts of perversion, illegal trade, human trafficking channels, sex rackets and terrorism. If the internet is dug slightly deeper, a dumbfounding amount of paedophilia, necrophilia detrimental fantasies in real life and gore can be found.

The deep web, deep net, invisible web, or hidden web are parts of the World Wide Web or, put simply, the internet, whose contents are not indexed by standard search engines for any reason.

A darknet (or dark net) is an overlay network that can only be accessed with specific software, configurations, or authorization, often using non-standard communications protocols and ports. Originated with the higher purpose of protecting users’ privacy, these various layers on internet are also abused to the extent of cybercrimes, illegal file sharing and sale of restricted goods etc.One of the most famous browsers that support access to deeper layers of internet is Tor. 

Terrorism, the age old practice of using violence, mass murder, threat and coercion to achieve a political aim, has in the last decade been strengthened by the easy availability of social networking and social media. 

Facebook and Twitter have become the haven for real-life people to turn into online masked personalities to show who they truly are, express their violence and perversions to a world that is certain to listen. Fake profiles on Facebook number up to millions. In 2014, Facebook reported that 5.5% to 11.2% accounts in it were fake and the number has been on the rise. Men posing as women, women pretending to be men, stalkers, murderers, children posing as adults, pages with sexual content and extreme sexual fantasies, etc. are not strange to the Facebook population that counts over 1.59 billion active users.

Babies of this time are born into the lap of technology and they grow up believing that it is an integral part of being. Children and youth of this decade have trouble believing that a mobile phone was only used to make phone calls and nothing else. Women and men often are compared to unrealistic beauty standards and they struggle to catch up with the rapidly changing trends. Mental health of the user is affected by addiction to social media and where communication and trust must be used, stalking and suspicion is deployed.

There is no doubt that if social networking and internet are used with a right mind and with genuine purposes, it can take people to heights that were once farther than the sky. Internet is the ultimate weapon for those who want to use it as one, and for others, it is a deep ocean of knowledge and sharing and an aid to building relationships. While all of this is true, there is a side of social media that stays dark, and even though we know it, we choose to ignore it. Is the government spying on you through your Facebook or WhatsApp? The average mind will never know. Is social media taking over billions of lives? Yes, and it has been the reason for lives being taken as well. May a time come, when human beings are healed of their twisted minds and false belief that they are too superior to be humble. Social network will prevail, whatsoever, but let us hope for a change, for good.

Al-Qaeda, the terror group headed by the now-deceased Osama Bin Laden, used the full potential of internet and connectivity to spread his rants and speeches to threaten the world.

Internet is used by several terror groups such as Boko Haram, Taliban, Jaish-e-Mohammed and the countless destructive masses to recruit young and old potential terrorists, celebrate their leisure time activities in front of the world such as beheading victims, shooting them, and sending hostile messages to the world leaders. 

Websites and news channels such as Al-Jaseera and LiveLeak.com has hundreds of blood-curdling videos sent out by these terrorist groups to sow the seeds of fear in the minds of the watchers. 

With easy and affordable accessibility social networking is everywhere. Because of its friendly and simple yet versatile user interface and effortlessness in creating accounts from anywhere in the world, Facebook steals the prize for the most used social networking website. 

As with any other social networking website, Facebook eventually lost its true purpose of spreading connectivity and simplifying human relationships, to becoming an enormous part in shaping a civilization that constantly looks over its shoulders for stalkers and danger, “follows” celebrities and powerful leaders, squabbles over topics such as politics and religion in never-ending online sagas, and most of all, loses the warmth of genuine relationships and trust.