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“For most of history anonymous was a woman”- this idea was illustrated in Virginia Woolf’s “In Search of a Room of One’s Own” in context with the suppression of women’s history by men. But for most of the present, who is anonymous?

TW// Sexism, Misogyny, Mention of rape

Social media apps have provided individuals with a way to interact and connect with people who have similar interests, beliefs, or backgrounds. They have expanded social networks and enabled people to connect with people they may not have otherwise encountered in their daily lives. These platforms have also made it possible for people to share ideas and cultures and have given them the chance to learn about other people’s viewpoints from across the world.se

But these positive aspects also brought risks to user safety, such as cyberbullying, online harassment, and privacy issues. With this influx came sexism, culminating in the growth of an online community of misogynists and sexist individuals from around the world who spread bigotry under the pretext of humour.  With the younger generation’s increased access to the internet, these memes may have a big influence on the way individuals think and shape their opinions.

On a regular basis, I come across pages that share memes like “kya fayada itna padh likh ke karna toh kitchen mai hai kaam”. They appear to be harmless, but just look at the number of likes and comments on such posts.”

“I once came across a young kid’s comment under a post promoting the rape on women for taking advantage of reservation benefits. He was just 14 years old. When the Amber Heard case was in the news, social media was a nightmare. You’d think that making jokes about domestic abuse and rape would result in criticism, yet look at the likes and shares. Meme culture is currently nothing more than a weapon used by oppressors to attack a community/minority.” – Anonymous, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University

Instagram, one of the most popular social networking sites, serves as a repository for meme pages. From politics to movies to meme pages of schools and universities, you’ll discover a broad spectrum of memes. Meme pages associated with various school and university groups, such as DPS, DU, IPU, and Amity, often serve as the breeding grounds for sexist and misogynist memes. 

The worst part about these meme pages is that you can’t criticise their content or call them out. You will immediately see a hundred men calling you names and using slurs in the comments section when you call them out for their sexism. They just get away with everything under the pretence of humour.” – Anonymous, Daulat Ram College

University meme pages have become increasingly problematic platforms. These pages frequently demonstrate a troubling tendency of sharing images and videos of women from their universities or elsewhere, accompanied by misogynistic remarks that sexualize and objectify their bodies. This behaviour exposes these women to cyberbullying, harassment, and safety issues. Such behaviours not only contribute to the perpetuation of harmful preconceptions, but also to the establishment of a toxic and unsafe environment for female students.

It is also common in these spaces to record women without consent and upload it on social media with captions like “Miranda ki ladkiyo ko kese patae” (How do we seduce a girl from Miranda?), “aisi classmates toh mai bhi deserve karta hu” (I too deserve classmates like these), “Chalo women’s reservation ka kuch toh fayeda hua” (At least there is some benefit to women’s reservation).

TW//misogyny, sexism

The existence of such sexist memes about students of women’s colleges thrive in these spaces. Such memes pose serious risks to female students at women’s colleges, particularly during the fest when the college opens its doors to everyone. From men mounting the walls of Miranda House and IP and harassing them to men scaling the walls of Gargi College and masturbating, groping, and locking women in washrooms. These meme pages implicitly foster toxic notions, creating an environment that normalises and encourages such vile behaviour while reinforcing the sense that women are nothing more than their possessions.

I’ve seen memes on university pages that propose the idea that women at girl’s colleges like being sexualized by creeps because they allegedly lack “male attention.”  These memes not only propagate detrimental stereotypes about women, but they also encourage a dangerous mindset that justifies behaviours like climbing walls to enter the campus of women’s colleges and participating in predatory behaviour.” – Sneha Rai, Institute of Home Economics

One of the reasons these platforms continue to flourish is because of the way college administration turns a blind eye to such pages set up mostly by their college students, while another is the inefficiency of social media app safety standards. The anonymity provided by these apps provides individuals the confidence to operate sexist pages without fear of repercussions. Building a safe campus is impossible if the administration continues to silence and shackle women instead of taking action against men who make the college unsafe. The increasing number of reports of social media apps profiting from this problematic content makes it hard to trust or rely on the safety policies. It raises the question: does anonymity today still offer a way to stand up to oppression or does it offer a way for bigotry to flourish?

Featured Image Credits: Scroll.in

Read Also: Casual Sexism in Jokes and Not Being a Femi-Nazi

Dhruv Bhati

[email protected]

Long gone are the days when Instagram was a way of connecting with forgotten friends. The contemporary face of Instagram has undergone a complete makeover. Read on to know more.

 A name on everyone’s lips and imprinted on everyone’s mind; Instagram. A social media application that gained enormous popularity in the last decade, Instagram is all what one needs. From thrift stores to connecting with counsellors, this genie from Aladdin’s Lamp grants every wish of yours irrespective of the count. Ask a ‘millennial’ about their contact information and they will drop down their fancy usernames on Instagram. On a personal note, I know most of my followers through their usernames and not their real names. Such is the level of influence that Instagram has done on our lives. As if the sophistication wrapped around in the cloth of our lives was not enough; Instagram added more to the same.

As the title suggests, I am not here to elucidate and throw limelight on the good side of Instagram. I would not dare to state that it is completely absent. It is very much alive and kicking but let us keep it for some other article, shall we? Today, I am here to focus on an aspect that mostly hides itself under the tag ‘beauty’. An aspect that strives to be perfect but it is not. The aspect of toxicity prevailing in the current Instagram trends.

Wouldn’t the world be a better place if the social media trends were for mere fun and not people recklessly trying to prove themselves better?

–says Sayantani Singha from St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata.

When it comes to myself, out of the 12 months in a year I am only active on Instagram for about a month if you could count the total number of days. This inactivity doesn’t arise from inborn dislikeness towards social media in general. The plant of dislike grew over time; getting nourished whenever I opened up my account. The dislike has turned into hatred now, if I have to be more precise. All thanks to Instagram’s recent brainchild, reels. Reels are those short 15 second clips that an user can upload for promoting their talents, delineating an amalgamation of scenic pictures from a trip, etcetera. It came in more like a substitute to another platform known as TikTok or Musically.

I don’t have a problem with reels in general. They are fun, I agree to the core. The problem arises at my end when it comes to certain trends that are spreading faster than fake news. Let me first talk about a current trend : “How did I go from this to this?” While some users are using this trend to show their artistic progression over the years, be it in the field of dance, music, make-up, etcetera; some are portraying puberty with the term ‘glow up’. If you ask my mother about the changes in my body or face, she’ll reply bluntly stating about puberty. But, the above stated trend degraded to such a level that individuals have started using their childhood photos and portray their so-called ‘glow-up’. Learning how to dress yourself better and apply cosmetics to beautify oneself does not mean glow up if we compare it with the times when we didn’t even know how to comb our hair.   “Doechi, introduce yourself to the class” can be termed as the first trend’s sister. While some use it to portray the vivid makeup skills they possess, many are indulged in this puberty transformation itself.

There was a time when social media was a platform where we used to indulge in our free time, but now times have changed. Nowadays we free our time to indulge in social media. There is a recent trend that we can frequently see in our Instagram reels, that shows people’s transition from Anjali in kuch kuch hota hai to Poo in kabhi khushi kabhi gham. However in our real lives,this transition might be very opposite from these virtual glow ups we often see. We often suffer from body images of being too fat,too skinny or having bad skin and social media and its glorification of glow ups further worsens these issues. For I say,people evolve or grow up,we adapt to various external factors-we adapt ourselves to recent fashion trends,learn how to present ourselves in a proper manner and this isn’t a part of a glow up phenomenon but rather an adaptation due to growing up

says Mridusmita Barman from Cotton University, Guwahati.

If the definition of glow-up is restricted to wearing fashionable clothes and make-up, I beg to differ from the same. For a person like me whose hands tremble due to nervousness while applying eyeliner, it’s difficult to relate with such trends. Also, not every individual grows up to have flawless skin and body. For some, their puberty comes with other uninvited guests like recurring acne problems, body issues, etcetera. I won’t be wrong if I say that my skin was much better during my childhood days even though I possessed zero fashion senses. I was better at a stage when insignificant things like Instagram did not make me feel inferior to my peers.

With unrealistic beauty standards introduced by these trends, Instagram is becoming a toxic platform. The stereotype hourglass figure of 36-24-36 inches, crystal clear skin where flowers might grow, a pointed Roman nose and what not. My hatred for Instagram comes from these reasons. Imagine how strong these influences are for teenage/ young adults like us that many even go for surgeries at this age itself. Certain instagram models and influencers have also ingrained their so-called perfections of stereotyped ‘beauty’ into the minds of young individuals to a large extent.

These days people are faking everything on Instagram just to keep the trend and meet the standards or so. I know one girl, she even got her eyelid surgery during 9th standard and now she is trying really hard to be like the perfectionists and all. However, this made her mentally depressed also. It’s very hard.

— Anonymous

As I scroll down and down through my Instagram feed, I realise that most of the individuals are living the life of their dreams. I get jealous, I won’t deny. Perfect bodies, perfect jawlines and the list goes on. But, as I delve deeper I realise this perfection is nothing more than a mirage. A facade as the title suggests. This is what one of my contacts shared and it goes like this : “Do you feel your body is fat, ugly, imperfect? Girl, this body of yours is keeping you alive during a deadly pandemic. Respect and love it.” Instagram is just a social media platform, don’t let it become your life.

 

Watch This : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDAGWy4s1Z8

 Read Also :  Social Media Depression

Assumed Authority of Men : A Presumed Privilege of Patriarchy

Featured Image Credits : Jerk Magazine

 

Himasweeta Sarma

[email protected]

Do you feel the pressure of getting good pictures clicked for your social media accounts? Read on to find out how many of us do.

Cameras play an essential role in our lives. Students document beautiful moments of their day, share pictures with their friends, send them back home to their parents, and upload them on Instagram and make Vlogs. They also share the details of their bad days through pictures, videos, and stories.

However, many of us undergo a slight pressure to conform to the aforementioned millennial practice because a section of the student body is camera shy. A student from Jesus and Mary College said, “My friends get pictures clicked almost every day and it is always fun. But, I don’t get myself clicked because I feel this pressure to look pristine in pictures that are shared on social media.” She added that the compulsion to look great in pictures gives her unnecessary stress.

Being camera shy becomes a liability at times. One feels excluded from their friend’s shenanigans and feel insecure about their body image. It becomes an activity which they don’t want to be a part of. Another student commented, “There is envy attached to pictures. A feeling of the other person looking better and more put together than you do. Shying away from camera becomes second nature to avoid the scrutiny of looking too tall, too short, too fat, etc.”

On the other hand, many students embrace their camera shyness by clicking pictures of other things, people, and animals. Gaurvi Rustogi, a student of Shaheed Sukhdev College of Commerce shared that she clicks the pictures for her friends always, while another student added that he loves clicking pictures of the sky, dogs, squirrels, tall trees, and anything aesthetic that comes in his way randomly. According to them, “Memory documentation doesn’t always involve you clicking pictures with you in it. Clicking pictures of things around you will make you remember that day, and bring peace.”

Recently, filters on social media applications have become another new trend for the students. A teacher in class once condemned these filters and said that “They have ruined the sanctity of photography.” But the students call them light and easy fun. Applications like Huji Camera and filters on Snapchat have become very popular among the youth.

Another aspect added by the editing apps that they remove blemishes off your face or makes your skin tone lighter. This also helps to uphold the unrealistic and unhealthy beauty standards already prevalent in society. While, a few argue in their favour by saying that they make one ‘feel good about themselves’ the counter opinion supported by many, including me, is that no one should need to remove a pimple off their pictures to feel good about themselves.

Even a daily millennial practice like clicking pictures comes with its stereotypical politics. People think that the girls who post more selfies want to grab attention while those who don’t are boring, those who use make-up are faking their beauty and those who don’t are just too simple. These gimmicky stereotypical narratives also push students to get out of their comfort zone- to get dressed and pose for a photograph.

Camera shyness isn’t easy to handle. It comes with its own problems but that is just the way some of us are. And, the real victory over it is to accept it rather than making efforts to look better or pose better, and conform to millennial norms of the era we live in.

Feature Image Credits: Chahat Singh for DU Beat

Sakshi Arora

[email protected]

A brief look at the Ministry of Human Resource Development’s (MHRD) letter to all higher education institutes to link all student accounts to the social media accounts of the institutes, and the ministry and the reactions of college students.

A letter sent on 3rd July 2019 by the MHRD to all higher education institutes requesting them to identify and designate a faculty/non-faculty member as the “Social Media Champion” (SMC) whose duty it will be to get all the students of the college to connect their Twitter/Facebook/Instagram accounts to that of the MHRD and the educational institution by the 31st July. This move has already received a lot of backlash with the AISA saying on 9th July, that this step was aimed at curbing the freedom of expression of students. While the MHRD has replied that this step is completely voluntary for the students and they will not have any access to the student’s posts or data if a student follows them on social media, this move is still a cause for concern among the student community.

A copy of the MHRD’s letter sent to all Higher Education Institutes
A copy of the MHRD’s letter sent to all Higher Education Institutes

On talking to several students, it was found that some students felt the very act of asking students to follow certain pages was wrong, even though the MHRD ministry claims that it will just use this as a way to promote good work done by them and the educational institutes. Srijan Vaish , a first-year student from Dyal Singh College said, “The MHRD ministry is run by the government which is run by a  political party with its own particular ideologies, in this case the Bharatiya Janta Party  and the ideology of ‘hindutva’. So if students are compelled to follow their page, as young students, we can fall prey to the ideas that the central government is trying to promote. I feel that this manipulating the youth and not giving us the right to think for ourselves.”

While most students disagreed with the idea of following the MHRD, there was some who felt that something more sinister was going on behind the scenes, and felt that this would be the first step to monitoring students, their posts and their data. Prachi Johri, a second-year student from Indraprashta College for Women said that this could open the door for the government to “invade the privacy” of students. Prachi went on to say that if the government does take this extreme measure, it would “make the minorities, Muslims, LGBTQIA+ community, tribes and people with ideologies against the BJP lives very hard to survive, as the government will probably bully or lock them up for speaking against the government. It’ll disclose a lot of things to public which a student might not want to share. This will create a sense of fear and will stop students from pursuing higher education.”

In conclusion, while the MHRD might have good intentions and want to share their good work with students, perhaps connecting social media is not the best way to do it as lots of students are against this step, and additionally, feel that “sharing good work” is not the real motive of the government behind taking such steps.

Feature Image Credit: The Quint

Prabhanu Kumar Das
[email protected]

 

On 15th May, 2019, a girl named Paridhi (@the_centaur on Instagram) posted a series of stories, revealing the cyber harassment one of her friends faced while applying for an internship on Internshala.

Internshala is one of India’s largest website providing students with ample opportunities for internships at different companies across the country. As of 2018, the platform has 3.5 million students registered and 80,000 companies associated with them.

On 15th May 2019, a girl named Paridhi uploaded stories talking about the kind of cyber harassment one of her friends underwent with regards to an internship offer from a company named Zvaari.com. Paridhi’s friend went on Internshala to look for an internship, and was contacted by a person from the aforementioned company, who made claims about working with graphics for Nike, Facebook, and Apple. But, to her, these did not add up to the information present on the website. The person also asked her for a deposit of INR 2,400 to provide her with a secure laptop for work purposes, claiming that the money would be refunded. After realising that this offer did not sound safe, the girl decided not to go for the internship.

Thereafter, she received explicit and inappropriate images and messages on her WhatsApp. After multiple such complaints were reported to Internshala, they mailed applicants an advisory note to inform them that they have blocked the company from using their platform as the company “violated their policies”. Unhappy with such a response, Paridhi used her Instagram account to post her disgust for this issue and she gathered support from her followers to repost her stories so that Internshala would take some concrete action.

Part 1 of the stories shared by Paridhi. Image Source: Instagram account of Paridhi
Part 1 of the stories shared by Paridhi.
Image Source: Instagram account of Paridhi
Part 2 of the stories shared by Paridhi. Image Source: Instagram account of Paridhi
Part 2 of the stories shared by Paridhi.
Image Source: Instagram account of Paridhi

Paridhi’s stories garnered an immediate outrageous reaction and Kavya, a worker from Internshala, went ahead to message a private apology to her. She updated her on the situation and told her the actions Internshala is willing to take to further strengthen their verification procedures, in order to avoid anything like this in the future.

When DU Beat contacted Kavya, she responded by stating, “This is a very unfortunate incident and no student should have to experience this. We deeply apologise to the students for the extremely poor experience. We have a huge sense of moral responsibility towards our students and while we are handling this issue, we are also looking on ways to strengthen our internship authentication process further so as to avoid any such issue in the future.” She also went on to elaborate the verification procedure undertaken by Internshala, and added that in this particular case, the employer had registered from an official email address, had provided a functional website link, Facebook page, and his phone number was verified via a one-time password (OTP) so that he could be traced if required. Kavya went on to add that Internshala has acknowledged the student’s complaint and, as per the standard operating procedure, has blocked the employer account on the platform and sent an advisory email to all the other applicants of the same internship. She also stated that given the gravity of the situation, they are also exploring possible legal actions that can be taken against the employer and have informed the student about the same. She stated, “We are deeply pained by this incident and are committed to providing all necessary support to the affected students.”

This form of cyber bullying and harassment has increased over the years. Girls receive explicit images, texts, and even rape threats on their personal mobile numbers. For it to happen via a seemingly secure platform, popular among the youth, like Internshala speaks a lot about the lack of cyber security, as well as the sexually violent and frustrated mindsets of men who feel safe enough to harass girls under the veil of technology. Such acts of oppression against females are examples of power struggle and hypermasculinity girls all over the world are fighting against.

Social media, in such cases, has turned out to be a boon in some cases by empowering the violated ones to speak about the problems. These people, or their well wishers, have fortunately come up, sharing their stories of such unfortunate instances on their social media platforms and garnered support from people. More power to these young women who are not shying away from taking a stand, going out there and telling their stories. It is a jarring world and support does change things.

Feature Image Source: Instagram account of Paridhi (@the_centaur)

Sakshi Arora

[email protected]

“Guys, suggest a funny caption for my picture na!” What are some Instagram lies we are all guilty of?

Spontaneously Funny Captions

Yes, you did not send that picture to your three friends and ask for their advice on the caption. You’re just naturally funny.

But, after you sent the best pictures to your friends or sibling, to choose which one to post, the next thing you said was, “Okay, now suggest a caption.” Something funny or self-deprecating (or both at once) is the latest preference in the caption business. “Me looking at food like” or “find yourself someone who looks at you the way I look at food” are some captions we have all used or at least seen being used around us. The seemingly effortless jokes took the combined efforts of many.

IMG-20190504-WA0056
Food photography has become a common       display trend on Instagram. Image Credits: Damini Mehta

Food Porn

The image of that perfect cheesy pizza, that fancy breakfast at a hotel, that chocolatey heaven of a dessert making others crave is but one part of a carefully orchestrated effort, and is not practically real. What if we posted the pictures of what we actually ate? Imagine that greasy roti, with bharte ki sabzi, moongi ki dal, and achar.

This brings us to the second type of images we see. It has become extremely common to see people at restaurants clicking pictures of each meal. Food bloggers have made a profession and money out of this, cafes and bakeries are now marketing through this, celebrities are being paid for posting such images and unique food items (like the black ice-cream you saw at fests) are also becoming trends because of this. With Huji to help us, we can make any picture look aesthetic!

Image Credits: Shradha Dadhwal
Stories depicting a beautiful study table are often staged. Image Credits: Shradha Dadhwal

Exam Season Study Table

Beautiful handwritten notes, pens kept diagonally on the notebook, and colourful stationery – the picture showing 3 A.M. is given the perfect touch with a cup of coffee (seconds before we have an emotional breakdown because so many chapters are left).

As exams get closer and sleep schedules worsen each day, we see more of these late-night study table pictures, with colourful pens, sticky notes, ear-plugs among other things. In reality, no one studies that way; majority of the kids are too flustered a night before exams and simply mug everything. Handwritten notes begin and end on the first day of college; the actual notes are shamelessly saved in our photo galleries. The coffee also gets cold by the time you click this picture.

Throwback Picture

When you could not post too many pictures from the one day you got good pictures, your friend suggested, “Yaar, #tbt karke daal dena (Friend, post it using #throwbacktime later.)”

Let us be honest here: it was that one day when you not only wore a great outfit but also your friend was clicking “Insta-worthy” pictures for you. So, you went home and sat down to choose what to post but even after one story, there were two pictures you just could not choose from! You simply let a few days go by, added a throwback (tb) caption like “tb to good hair day” or “tb to when college life was not a mess”, and posted the next one.

Side Profile

Look at you- standing in front of a wall or a bush of bougainvillea looking towards your side (whichever profile is best, of course).

The trend of selfies and smiling straight at the camera is gone and even feels self-centred; the trend of side profile in front of a view is on the rise! Let me paint you a word picture: you looking side-wards or glancing at something perfectly intensely, when your jawline is looking fine, and it seems like you totally did not intend on getting a picture. Other variants include fixing hair, fixing pallu or tie for farewell pictures, couples smiling at each other, etc.

Candid Laughter

No one:

Person in the picture: starts laughing

Things get funnier when people are getting pictures, and their pictures come out with this almost-candid laugh. We see this almost every day, especially in group pictures. The words ‘candid’ and the oxymoronic ‘staged candid’ are now used synonymously with pictures, where people say, “I want a candid there!” This trend is super common and here to stay.

Featured Image Source: Instagram

Shivani Dadhwal

[email protected]

TRIGGER WARNING- A certain video is discussed in this article which might be disturbing for some.

 

On 30th April, a video showing just another instance of judgemental remarks based on sexism and misogyny went viral. The video was shared by Shivani Gupta, on her Instagram, showing an elderly lady saying that she (Gupta) will get raped if she continues wearing short skirts. When Shivani’s two friends arrived at the scene to their friend’s rescue, the lady went on to say that these two also might get raped just for being rebellious.

These are the parts that the woke and conscious side of the internet shared mostly. However, towards the end, we also see the young women yelling at this lady, asking her ‘Have you been raped?’.

A few hours later, Instagram took this video down and this is what went down amongst people.

One school of thought feels that sharing this video online was the right move, and this would embarrass the ‘bullying’ woman, and set an example for people. Yes, misogyny is ingrained in Indian society but now it’s high time we get done with it.

On the other hand, there are also people who feel this was an extreme move and they are troubled with the latter parts of the video. They say ‘Bullying the bully isn’t the right thing to do’.

Yes, I do condemn that messaging mean texts to that elderly lady and commenting remarks like “You yourself should get raped.” However, staying silent and having the normalised attitude isn’t going to help anyone.

This instance isn’t in solitude. It can be attached to tons of other incidents where women in India have been subjected to mean public remarks. Yes, the video might be nothing new as such casual sexism is common. Still, does that mean we should just see this incident as nothing and turn a blind eye towards it?

Today, I, being in the capital city, being a student at the University of Delhi, can have opinions on anything and everything in our country. I can even talk on problems that rural women face but I can hardly do much, from my privileged safe space in this city. However, I can still be vocal about the indecent behaviour that the inhabitants of my city are facing. Sometimes, being calm just does not help.

If people are sharing this video, they aren’t just sharing it for the sake of it. They are sharing it to show that this is a part of the bigger picture and we all need to collectively condemn this negative picture. It irks me when I see friends and peers pass comments like “The girl is just an attention seeker” and “yeh toh hota rehta hai” (Such things keep on happening) when such cases are brought in the mainstream. Unfortunately, I cannot even call them out right now as that will be categorised as unethical journalism.

There have been viewers of the video, who are somewhere on the middle ground, too. “I agree, the aggression and the boldness are required so that no one can come to a woman and tell her that she should get raped. At the same time, we need to think twice before we reveal someone’s identity, body shame them and potentially ruin their life,” says Shania Mohapatra, a student from Cluster Innovation Centre (CIC).

While yes, hatred should not be propagated, but people should also understand that we can’t stay silent with our thoughts bottled up like we’re living in an Orwellian society. After some stubbornness, even I agree that the lady’s face could have been blurred before uploading the video. In the video itself, one can hear the girls saying that the ‘problematic aunty’ deserves to be raped in those kapde (clothes) itself, which again is equally rude and problematic.

One day later, mainstream publications shared the video obviously as it’s news now. And it does sicken me when people are posting comments like “Yes, these girls deserve to be taught a lesson. If we don’t check, they’ll dress in bras in public.” At the same time, I finally gave up my stubbornness and had a gloomy look as I read comments from the other side, comments like “Someone should attack the aunty just for that double chin and eye bags.”

“The one thing that is bothering me about the video and the subsequent criticism it received is that the blame of cyberbullying of the “aunty” is being put on the girl who shared the video. Saying that the girl is responsible for the mental harassment of the lady, sounds like victim-blaming,” Niharika Dabral, another CIC student took a different stand. “Besides, in this case, the girls and the aunty had the same power equation,” she adds, “…as they both spoke English and looked like they belonged to the same class, so it’s not as though some powerful person is going after a smaller one.”

Whatever be your viewpoint, this instance can’t be ignored just because it’s normal, as a few are doing. Following the same mentality, we shouldn’t even talk about the innumerable individual cases of creeps staring at women in the metro like it’s their birthright. Why? Because this keeps on happening, right? This isn’t a call for being an extreme vigilante but this is just a call for being vocal.

Whether you feel Instagram made the right decision by removing that video or whether you feel sharing this video with some sense of rebellion was needed, you need to be vocal about it. Yes, almost every social discussion ends up having multiple views but we need to be vocal in discussing these views to come to a solution – if there’s a solution.

 

Image Credits: sunkissedshitzu

 

Shaurya Singh Thapa

[email protected]

Extraness is a prized practice, and nothing gives you wings, not even Red Bull, as does a finsta account.

All tales that make sense will tell you this: nothing is as sweet as liberty. Simply because it allows you to be yourself. Social media is highly glitzy and glamorous, and the epitome of all elitism  seemingly reflects on Instagram. And in all that is glitter, the most promising gold is a finsta account. In the aesthetics and outfit of the day posts, a finsta account is really a wild, wild country of your own. The ‘close friends’ list was definitely helpful, but it is another thing to have a close friends list on your finsta.

A screenshot depicting a finsta user. Image credits: Kartik Chauhan for DU Beat
A screenshot depicting a finsta user.
Image credits: Kartik Chauhan for DU Beat

Nowadays, connectivity is supplemented by the exchange of Instagram handles. As a result, in a sea of ‘followers’ and an ocean of ‘following’, the users are left to fend for personal glory, presenting the most refined moments of their life. It makes no matter to most, but as many of us shying sheep will agree, self-consciousness and number of followers are directly related. Quality of the followers, factors in secondarily. For instance, if you have a lot of followers from a serious organisation you once interned with, you are likely to be more hesitant before you post a picture of yourself in your truer, and crazier element.

Image credits: Instagram screenshot by Kartik Chauhan for DU Beat.
Image credits: Instagram screenshot by Kartik Chauhan for DU Beat.

“Analysing my Instagram feed made me realise that despite its aesthetic, it did not suffice to please me. It felt strangely mechanical. It was then that I opened my new account. And although I initially started posting (or spamming) my crazy pictures, 15 posts later, it felt truly liberating. That I could share my crazy days with my own select few crazy people, and not be judged about having fun, that truly felt just the opposite of mechanical.” said a third year student of literature from Hansraj College.

Many people would argue that our need to create a finsta account is really derived from an unhealthy habit of self-criticism and consciousness. Consciousness is really derived from the deeply internalised sense of insecurity that we have been made to feel, by the regression of our surroundings. After a while, it just becomes a part of you, this insecurity and uncertainty about your self. You do not wish to seem too eager, or too enthusiastic, or too pretentious. All our social insecurities are put to test in a space that allegedly aims to ‘connect’.

Image credits: Instagram screenshot by Kartik Chauhan for DU Beat.
Image credits: Instagram screenshot by Kartik Chauhan for DU Beat.

Undeniably, every post on social media is subjected to discussions. But the consciousness that hogs our decision-making, that shadows our identities, it becomes a challenge. And though this problematic obligation to present the best on social media is worth our concern, it is irrefutable that finsta accounts have offered a wondrous respite.

It is as Avnika Chhikara, a student of literature from Maitreyi College says, “The way I see it, your finsta is a state of mind. It’s your own aesthetic. There are good, bad, terrible photos and videos. Where would they go, if not for others to get ‘spammed’?” Having said this, and being a pro at suggesting the best hacks, Avnika owns the idea of finsta when she says, “I say replace finsta with the first letter of your name and there you go, personalized to your taste.”

So get on with it. Embrace that wild side. Channelise your inner wild/philosophical/ditzy self, and rule the spam, because being extra is not everyone’s cup of tea.

Feature Image Credits: Study breaks magazine

Kartik Chauhan

[email protected]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Digital poetry has taken and given a lot from conventional art forms when it comes to shaping the poetry of the 21st century, let us see how…

The modern or twenty-first-century poetry has seen a drastic change from the poetry in the preceding centuries. While modern poetry or the poetry evolving in the twenty-first century has adopted a more favourable style towards free verse and a greater emphasis on artistic expression, it has evolved with features like disrupted or unkempt syntax, irregular stanza structure and lacking rhyme schemes.

Free verse poetry has gained a big following over the following years. While it has been considered synonymous with modern poetry, it dates back to hundreds of years. New popularity for poetry has been achieved through big portals on social media platforms which have seen a big fan following, giving new artists and writers a space to showcase their work. Social media, one of the biggest boons for a lot of businesses in the twenty-first century, has also been a big platform for many poets and writers as well as other artists to showcase their work and achieve fame. Poetry has evolved to become a highly appreciative art form.

Online or Instagram poetry has become the biggest source of artistic influence on social media. It all started back in 2012, when the poet, Lang Leav started publishing her works online on Instagram. She stands with approximately half a million Instagram followers and four published novels, becoming one of the most sought after and famous instagram poets. Canadian poet, Atticus is also an instagram celebrity poet, with a constantly growing fan base. He started publishing his poems online since 2013 and has gained a lot of appreciation, but even more among his fans for his mystical appearance. Instagram poetry was once again revolutionized, by the Indian origin Canada based poet Rupi Kaur, who became a big success with two publications and two world tours. Her poetry focuses on the diaspora, the brown values and love loss among other things. Other prominent names include Pierre A Jeanty, Nayyirah Waheed etc. among many.

It is a pleasure to see the poetry conventions change. I have always loved the works of Coleridge or Wordsworth, so for me, moving on to a newer base of poetry is a tough call, but surely worth a try. It is amazing to see that poets today have so much liberty and so many different platforms to write upon. But the olds, the classics, nothing can beat them.” Comments Heena Garg, a second year student of Maitreyi College, pursuing English Honours.

Digital poetry is freer and more liberated than ever, and nowadays a lot of young and new poets do not pay more attention to the literary conventions. Modern day poetry is deeply symbolic, but literal at the same time. The concept of rhyme schemes and heroic couplets, as well as other parameters, have been set aside. Modern poetry is also a break in and a waiver for a new form of poetry. Its recognition will take a long time, as a majority of literary critics are not a big fan of the modern day poetry. The major debate lies in, whether the social media poetry is destroying the convention and idea of poetry or reviving it. The viability to a large audience makes it easier for the poet to assimilate the tastes his/her readers acknowledge and in lieu of that similar works are produced. However, upon close introspection, modern poetry does not prove to be very “intellectually pleasing” to the soul. Being garnered and taught nature and romantic poetry of the earlier centuries, school curriculums have forced children to have dual opinions on poetry. While poetry of the earlier times, is more tedious to understand due to historical and contextual symbolism along with the archaic style of writing, modern poetry provides an ease to the students. There is a pride and pleasure attached to reading canonical literature, one may interject so, however, the subjectivity of poetry makes us argue whether the content of online poetry is indeed high art or literature.

Pragya Achantani, a final year student of English honors from Maitreyi college states, “ its not all good, but its not all bad also. You need to find the right poets, the right handles for that matter.” She further adds, “ simply saying that its shitty because it is on social media and liking higher art is also not fair. That being said, since poetry is so subjective, it is possible one might not like anything. So, to each their own!”

The topic of interest in poems has also changed. While feminist and nature or romantic poetry still lives and is evolving, there are newer themes attached to poetry. War and peace has always been a key theme in epic poetry as well, and nowadays this theme is being represented in newer lights. The themes of environment, sexual harassment and empowerment are things which were absent or very faint in the poetry obtained from previous generations, however, are now being written and published in abundance.

Poetry for such a long time has always been interpreted from the eyes of the poet. But for a reader as well, a good poem can be something which may be reflecting exactly what he or she is thinking. For me, after a hectic day at the office, I might run through my feed till my eye catches a poetry verse. I find it quite relaxing. I am not a writer, so maybe I do not go knee deep in interpretation, but it is something which gives a ‘feel good factor’ whole reading it, and that might be the appeal it presents to others as well.” Comments Arpita Chhikara, an analyst at KPMG.

Poetry in the twenty-first century, especially the online versions are slowly moving into the popular or formulaic literature. With an increasing audience, these poems have now become ‘trivial’ art. The aesthetic merit of poetry is declining when compared to the contemporary works. While this may be defended as the coming of a new age of poetry, the market research analysis shows how instagram poetry has become commercialized, with main focus rising on piling up the copies or reaching the best sellers’ shelf. Online poetry, as seen through the eyes of poetry traditionalists, has been reduced to something some may consider being unsophisticated. Like the previous times, it no longer functions solely to cater to the bourgeoisie sentiments, but instead has now become a topic of ‘high-low brow’ literature.

Modern poetry also faces threats of plagiarism, repetitiveness, being cliché’, transient and a pathway to future lawsuits. A majority of online writers are fairly new and young, thus formulating another debate on how technology can be seen as a source of corrupting a literary art, whose simple motive is to gauge the attention of the readers, a sort of a cultural detritus. Permanency is also a factor in poems. Will they last or will they ever transform into something canonical, decades later, thus a shade at the new demographic of this form of poetry.

So what are your views on modern poetry? Can it also be converted into a political fiasco, with traditionalists on the one hand and modernists at the other? It is a matter of time, and to misquote baseball player Todd Helton, “time will tell but we definitely have the talent….. the more experience everybody gets, the better we are going to be”.

 

Feature image credits: Rupi Kaur 

Avnika Chhikara

[email protected]

 

 

 

 

Change is the basis of this world. It is the only constant in life, after all. But needless to say, change is seldom readily accepted. This statement gains an elevated opposite meaning if we consider the Social Media Transition and Succession of Instagram over Facebook.

To start off with some numbers:

  • Flourishing nascent advertising business of Instagram: The mobile app which had 30 million users and zero revenue when Facebook bought it is expected to reach $10 billion in revenue by 2019.
  • Record User Additions: In 2017, Instagram added 100 million users to its existing 700 million users in less than 5 months. More than 800 million people use Instagram now. With 800+ million users, it’s in a virtually uncharted territory.

A very important question to ask, then, is how has Instagram become the new Facebook? With the introduction of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg gave birth to a community. It was a community of people wishing to know each other and develop deep and meaningful relationships through the medium of Facebook. This pure idea gained rapid root in the human minds of the early 21st century. For 6-8 years, Facebook was invincible. But it was in 2012 that Facebook tumbled for the first time when Instagram silently crossed over from being one of those ‘tech’ things that some people sometimes did to one of those ‘tech’ things that everyone you know does every day. Hence, in its truest form, Instagram was an escape from Facebook.

A survey conducted by a Web portal in USA quoted various users of Instagram. “I just think it’s a nicer place to be,” a 28-year-old blogger from Littleton, Colo., says about Instagram. Someone else said that on Facebook, “everything feels like an advertisement or an argument.” Whereas Facebook was about having an opinion and expression, it soon gained a darker aspect when reports of mental abuse and harassment surfaced frequently. As Facebook posts became lesser in terms of their significant merit, a huge section of its users sought solace elsewhere. Coincidentally, they found this refuge in Instagram, a picture-sharing portal that transcends outright bullying prejudices. It feels as though Instagram is a lot about artistry. A picture speaks volumes for itself than a textual snippet could. Through visual communication, Instagram seeks to solve another of our many millennial problems. It gained ground as an app that essentially works through pictures, raw and real or even fabricated or mystical. It indeed allowed a picture to speak a thousand words.

Things went downhill when the #DeleteFacebook movement gained momentum after the Cambridge Analytica Leaks earlier this year. The breach of privacy worked disasters into Facebook’s struggles. Thousands and thousands of Facebook users went away to Instagram, to retain the little dignity spared by Facebook.

Instagram’s popularity has risen so much that it has become the home ground of various trends and it has become the reason of various challenges-from the Ice Bucket Challenge to the Kiki Challenge. Its appeal is highlighted by its algorithm that targets people’s preferences and shows them the lists they’d like to see on their feed. Unlike Facebook, posts on Instagram are quite filtered that way. To some people, Instagram may also become more personalised if they have a private account. ‘Instagram Bloggers’ is an actual term now, and people who are into travel, food blogging, and artistic expression actually earn money through this concept. The latest offering by Instagram is IGTV that solves the dissatisfaction of the ‘one-minute videos’ design. IGTV has bloomed with a bang and there are web series and stories on it already. It is not wrong to say that our times have become all about trends and hashtags, and Instagram has provided a fertile ground for the same. To the ‘GenNext’, this seems more interesting and lively rather than the usual feed consisting of just photos, videos, and quotes. They feel involved in it rather than just being spectators.

With the advent of good camera phones and a restless human liking for innovation, Instagram gains more and more everyday-be it in terms of users, brand sponsorships or advertisements, revenue, or goodwill. But then the next question would be—how long until Instagram becomes the next Facebook? Let’s hope this doesn’t happen anytime soon.
Feature Image Credits: MediaBuzz

Kartik Chauhan

[email protected]

Gurleen Kaur

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