Why I'm Not on Social Media?
By Mohajer Ansari
Pasadena, California
Recently, with Zuckerberg’s insatiable desire to invade even deeper into our privacy, I decided to unplug from WhatsApp. Both Instagram and WhatsApp are owned by Facebook. For that reason, I’m not on Facebook. I was never on Instagram. I’m also not on TikTok, Twitter, Parler, Snapchat, Rumble, Gab or on LinkedIn.
My alienation from these platforms would give the impression that I’m dead to the world. As per today’s norms and definition, you may be quite right. I would definitely fall in the category of being at the threshold of a ‘vegetative state’ in a universe that is full of chatter and cacophony. In other words, I’m practically non-existent.
Yes, non-existent: except to a group of very few ‘real’ friends in flesh and blood. They are not mere friends: they are my brothers and sisters - more than my own kin by blood. They are kind of friends that if I asked for the collar on their shirt, they’d gladly give me their neck, knowing well that I’d do the same for them!
I don’t belong to any Yahoo discussion group, think tank or elite enclaves of right wing/left wing political personalities, verbose commentators, influencers or celebrities, either. Which means, I don’t rush to post vain, ill-thought, insensitive or hastily composed reckless comments at any of these popular platforms. That saves me from embarrassment of issuing feigned apologies in the next breath, when faced with backlash due to the impulsive stupidity behind those posts and trolls, in the first place. We all know well the price one pays for the momentary fame on these outlets!
Not having ‘n’ million fans or friends in ‘virtual cloud’ does not bother me. I don’t miss the adrenaline rush with every ‘like’ click to my postings, pictures, video clips, or tweets. I don’t wait eagerly for comments or critiques on my meaningless postings or for them to go ‘viral’. Nor do I callously pontificate on irrelevant topics of the day, that I know nothing about or even care.
Why? Because all these outlets are designed to be used by the self-centered, self-absorbed narcissists dying to insert themselves into the cornea of world’s eye. Not long ago, people used to relish good food. Now, they are eager to sell their intimate secrets and to let others control their lives. It is where incendiary, vulgar, disparaging and maligning posts, and trolls are twice as likely to go viral than the positive ones. In today’s decadent and self-pimping world, this is the new cryptocurrency!
How did we arrive at this slippery slope? Quite simple: in the age of agitprop circus of biased, foul mouthed and vicious people-cancelling ‘news’ channels and social media - that include all the above outlets and many more - lack of empathy and mutual respect has gone way through the roof!
This reminds me of an authentic narration of Rasulullah (peace be upon him) where he characterized the worst of all people: one who comes in the morning and proudly boasts in front of all, the shameless deeds he committed in the darkness of the night! Perhaps, sensing the trials and tribulations of later times like ours, Imam Ghazali had given this advice to people: if you live in the time of great Fitan (trial), confine yourself to your home, remember your Creator a lot and keep away from world affairs.
Heeding to that timeless advice, I’ve kept clear of the raucous debates and discussions on a number of topics. Take for example, ‘wokeness’. Thanks to the teachings of my faith, I was always ‘awake’ to and aware of, the social injustices on this earth since the times known. My Scripture points out with crystal clarity, the root cause of wokeness, and offers solutions to stamp it out. Then, there is a resounding buzz about ‘cancel culture’ - a culture of exerting unjustified control over people, places and events by shoving false, dangerous and abhorrent ideas. What can really be achieved, one wonders, from such an ideology, whose veneer is simply homophobia? Critical Race Theory? Let us not even go there!!
I don’t feign to have vast knowledge of world history or politics, nor do I claim to be involved in building interfaith bridges. I never did (nor do) participate in interfaith dialogues. I know people who have been engaged in such dialogues for 20-30 years. All I have seen during their decades of participation in this futile exercise, is the ever-increasing animosity among people of different faiths. The asymptotic rise of Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, neo-Nazism, QAnon, Proud Boys, white supremacy, and revival of KKK ideology are the antitheses of interfaith discourses.
If interfaith dialogues and the ceremonial ‘breaking-the-bread-together’ rituals were really effective and productive, why crosses are still being burnt in the front yards of African-American residences and churches, why human feces are being dumped in front of synagogues, why heads of pigs are hurled into mosques, why the headscarves of Muslim girls and women are being pulled off on campuses of higher education and in malls and metros, and, why three generations of a family are mowed down by a 20-year old in London, Ontario? Because they were of Islamic faith?
Despite the social, political, racial and other chaos around the world compounded by the pandemic-mediated darkness and disaster for the past 15 months, my ‘real’ friends have given me strength and support. It is because of them that I have remained surprisingly calm and peaceful. Yes, I’ve mourned the COVID-induced deaths in my extended family and in the families of my friends and acquaintances. Whenever and wherever possible, I’ve attended the funerals. When I couldn’t, I’ve tried to eulogize their losses, through shared emotions and memories.
Yet, in these turbulent times, I’ve remained calm, sane and content. I didn’t suffer from stress, anxiety (hidden or otherwise), depression or migraine. No dark suicidal thoughts, no melancholy, schizophrenia or PTSD either. Nor did I have the urge to seek Meth in the dark alleys of downtown LA. How in such a chaotic universe of COVID-spurred isolation, have I avoided binge eating, binge TV viewing, binge texting and binge online gossiping or pontificating, I’ve often wondered.
Thankfully, two month-long cycles of Ramadan gave new meaning to fasting and praying in seclusion. The cocoon of friendship-in-solitude provided the indestructible shield of protection from the false sense of ‘omnipresence’ in the social media. Two pertinent Qur’anic verses served as stern reckoning and admonishment. One, in chapter Al-Isra’ (verse 36) commanded:
And do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge; indeed, the hearing, the sight and the heart -surely, each of these will be called to question.
In verse 116 of chapter Al-An’am, God warns His beloved Prophet (and, through him, us):
(O Muhammad) if you obey majority of those on earth, they will lead you away from Allah’s path. They follow nothing but their idle fancies, indulging in nothing but conjectures.
Idle fancies and false conjunctures, eh? Aren’t these pretty much what is prevalent on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, Snapchat, Parler, Rumble, Gab and many, many others?
