If Facebook were a country, it would reportedly be the third largest country in the world, with more than 900 million registered profiles. Just a few years ago, social networking started to gain momentum in Kashmir, and today nearly every Kashmiri with internet access on their phones or computers has a Facebook profile. Although Facebook has changed the way we communicate—it also seems to be casting an eerie shadow on the future of Kashmiri youth in particular.
One of the basic ideas behind Facebook was that it would be an extension to our real lives. Instead, it is quickly becoming the only real life for many Kashmiri youth; with physical realities relegated to second base, and replaced in importance by virtual ones. How many “friends” do I have on Facebook? Whose friend requests do I accept? Why did he (or she) delete me from their friend list? How many people like my latest Facebook status? There are a considerable number of pre-teen, teenage and young adults here in Kashmir that obsesses about these seemingly miniscule issues. Many talk to their “friends” online—often of the opposite sex—in ways they could never even dream of, if they were to meet the person face to face. What is happening in Kashmir as a child’s internet usage continues to go unnoticed, or misunderstood; is something that will be shaped and seen in the years to come.
Just a year ago, an American psychologist who had been studying the effects of technology on people for more than 25 years came out with his findings on how social networking sites affect children. In his research, Dr Larry Rosen found that teens and young adults who logged onto Facebook constantly were more narcissistic. The social network feeds into a narcissist’s mindset perfectly, by allowing people to “broadcast themselves 24/7 on their own terms,” he says. Among users of all ages, the more people use Facebook, the more they were to have antisocial personality disorder, paranoia and anxiety. When Rosen and his colleagues observed middle school, high school and college students for 15 minutes while they studied for an exam, they found that most students were only able to focus for two to three minutes before turning their attention to “less scholarly matters,” like text messages or mobile phone apps. Not surprisingly, the students who checked Facebook while studying did worse on their exams than those who didn’t.
If proper research is done, findings of Facebook usage amongst Kashmiri youth would perhaps not be much different. Any technology can be used to yield positive or negative results. What happens often though is that our young, easily influenced minds quickly grab on to something and immerse themselves in it completely before fully realizing what it is all about, and what its possible consequences can be. But of course, that is part of what being young and restless is all about—making mistakes, and learning from them.
