In today’s time when all of us literally have the world in our hands, a dangerous effect of the same chases us.

We are living in times when information is floating all around us. We are all surrounded by a plethora of data that envelops us in its grasp. With the coming of the ‘smart’ phone and development of plenty of applications, individuals often find themselves at the centre of this ever growing storm.
What is truly scary is the fact that the phrase ‘little knowledge is dangerous’ is too much in play in our present context, especially in this generation which relies heavily on phone applications for information. What we, sadly, don’t realise is that the information that we gain from the internet is not always authentic and that the applications that condense news in a few sentences can at times have harmful effects.
One of the worst effects is that our knowledge gets too limited. And with this limitation, the retention of data/information in our minds gets lower. We read less and we remember even lesser than that. It doesn’t have to be a negative thing necessarily but considering how most one of us aspire (or claim) to be ‘aware’ citizens, the phenomena definitely has the scope of pulling us down. A third-year English honours student from Daulat Ram College goes so far as to say, “I personally don’t like to go through newspapers. It takes a lot of time. So I choose which kind of news I want to see and read about it on my phone.” Fair enough. You choose what you want to see. But is that enough?
The misinformation effect, which results into an inaccurate account of a past event due to post-event memories comes into play as we swipe/scroll over the screen of our phones while reading news. Most of us prefer to filter out stuff that we want to see/read about. But this effect would make sure that our memory remembers things only haphazardly, and in pieces and bits.
To be ‘aware’ citizens, therefore, it is important to dive deep into the waters of information and news and though it might not be possible for everything we read, we might at least try to read whatever interests us in depth. Floating on the surface can lead to burning under the sunrays.

Feature Image Credits: Research Live

Akshada Shrotryia
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