Ever since the advent of social media the concept of what is private and what can be made public has undergone remarkable change. Any accident howsoever small, big, ugly, nasty is broadcast LIVE on social media. Gone are the days when one would wait for tomorrow’s newspaper to read what transpired in the city the day before. Anything can be made public and put to public scrutiny anytime. Kashmir valley in particular is full of young ambitious YouTubers and social media enthusiasts who want to take the short route of social media to become rich and famous. There are YouTubers within the valley who earn a six digit sum on a monthly basis. That can be good for marginally resolving the problem of unemployment but the problem is that in all this the privacy of a common citizen gets compromised. We are forced to dedicate a good chunk of our time to guard our privacy from various onslaughts.
Recently in an invitation card that went viral on social media the parents of the bride had made a specific request to the guests not to take any photos of bride or to post them on social media. The parents were forced to do so because people take photographs of the brides and grooms and then recklessly post them on social media compromising their privacy. This is a wise move. The bride’s father has full responsibility to guard her daughter’s privacy. The gap between what is private and what can so easily be made public has thinned out of to say blurred completely.
A lot of people seem to be in a tireless rush to encroach upon privacy of other people. They leave no stone unturned in discussing lives of other people and giving their unwanted opinions on the lives of other people. People are often seeing voicing their unsolicited opinions about all things under the sun knowing very well that their opinions can hurt the feelings of others.
It is high time that we must imitate this good trend and specifically request the prospective guests not to compromise the privacy of the host while uploading their pictures and videos on social media.
Protecting other people’s privacies is one of our fundamental duties as per our religion. We must never ask what we are not told and if a person is uncomfortable in discussing certain aspects of his life we must leave him to it and not prove with subsequent questions.
