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piqer for: Global finds Health and Sanity Doing Good
Bangalore-based Rashmi Vasudeva's journalism has appeared in many Indian and international publications over the past decade. A features writer with over nine years of experience heading a health and fitness supplement in a mainstream Indian newspaper, her niche areas include health, wellness, fitness, food, nutrition and Indian classical Arts.
Her articles have appeared in various publications including Mint-Wall Street Journal, The Hindu, Deccan Herald (mainstream South Indian newspaper), Smart Life (Health magazine from the Malayala Manorama Group of publications), YourStory (India's media technology platform for entrepreneurs), Avantika (a noir arts and theatre magazine), ZDF (a German public broadcasting company) and others.
In 2006, she was awarded the British Print-Chevening scholarship to pursue a short-term course in new-age journalism at the University of Westminster, U.K. With a double Masters in Globalisation and Media Studies from Aarhus Universitet (Denmark), University of Amsterdam and Swansea University in Wales, U.K., she has also dabbled in academics, travel writing and socio-cultural studies. Mother to a frisky toddler, she hums 'wheels on the bus' while working and keeps a beady eye on the aforementioned toddler's antics.
Why #deleteFacebook Is A Bad Idea
The Cambridge Analytica fatigue must be setting in already. Sure, it is the story of the year, till now at least, and it needs to be aired, dissected and thrashed about as much as any other blockbuster tale of our puzzling times. But there is also the fact that it has given every writer and his uncle the golden opportunity to talk about the perils of social media on social media. There is a sneaking suspicion in the air that every journalist miffed about his stories not getting enough likes on Facebook is rubbing his hands in glee.
Revenge served hot.
Amidst this barrage is this rather sane piece that argues sharply about why the entire #deleteFacebook brigade is doing a disservice to ‘the cause’.
The author argues that though the #deleteFacebook instinct is understandable, deleting Facebook is a privilege and leaving the service would be more self-harming than anything else. Essentially, she is rooting for fight rather than flight and her reasons are compelling.
In what is perhaps a testimony to how Orwellian the internet is, for many people the world over, 'Facebook is becoming the internet and the internet is becoming Facebook'. It is where your friends are, your community is. So is your business. Reaching out to customers becomes difficult without Facebook, as does keeping abreast of events and lives. However uneasy it makes us feel, the truth is, Facebook has a 'natural monopoly' and if you wish to be part of any social life or political conversation or if you want to promote your work, you have to be on Facebook.
The author makes another crucial point. In countries with lower internet connectivity, thanks to Facebook's Free Basics program, the internet is Facebook. And despite all its problems, the social media site is something most cannot afford to discard.
This is not to say that the company deserves our trust or loyalty. But movements like #deleteFacebook frame the issue rather imperfectly. Instead of going away, users ought to stay and demand a better Facebook.
