Scrolling Through the Soul: My Social Media Safari

How do you use social media?

Scrolling Through the Soul: My Social Media Safari

Once upon a time, conversations were held over cups of tea, letters carried emotions across continents, and photographs lived in albums with crinkled corners. Fast forward to the 21st century, and we find ourselves living double lives—one in the tangible world and the other in the bustling, buzzing world of social media.

As for me, my voyage through the social media jungle has been nothing short of a safari—part thrilling, part bewildering, and occasionally exhausting.

Social Media: A Window and a Mirror

To begin with, I don’t “use” social media so much as I “navigate” it—like an old sailor studying the stars while sailing unfamiliar seas. Platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, and WhatsApp have become both my compass and my telescope. They help me stay in touch with old students, respected colleagues, and distant relatives, and occasionally discover new voices that echo my own musings.

Yet, social media is a double-edged sword. On one end, it gives me a platform to share my thoughts, verses, and educational philosophies. On the other, it often whispers in the ears of youth (and adults alike) the intoxicating lies of popularity, likes, and virtual validation. I’ve learned to tread carefully, like a gardener walking barefoot among roses—enjoying the fragrance but mindful of the thorns.

Facebook: My Public Drawing Room

Facebook is where I don my philosophical hat. I share blogs, poems, memories, and at times, life lessons that I believe might strike a chord with someone somewhere. It’s less about showing off my breakfast and more about sharing a slice of my soul. I avoid the comparison trap and refrain from scrolling endlessly. One could call me a “selective surfer” in that regard.

WhatsApp: The Digital Living Room

WhatsApp groups are, frankly, like Indian joint families—noisy, nostalgic, and full of drama. I appreciate the meaningful forwards, but the barrage of “Good Morning” messages with sunflowers and doves sometimes feels like a classroom where everyone talks but no one listens. Still, it keeps me connected to my former staff, my extended family, and cherished friends from Nepal to Ludhiana.

LinkedIn: A Suit-Wearing Stranger

LinkedIn is the most formal of them all—a place where people seem to always be ‘honoured’ or ‘humbled.’ I use it sparingly, mostly to share my consultation work and to inspire educational institutions to look beyond textbooks and timetables. However, it often reminds me how the world values youth over wisdom, and speed over depth—a bitter pill, but a real one.

YouTube and Instagram: Occasional Flirtations

My interaction with YouTube is primarily musical. It’s my jukebox, my evening retreat, my partner in solitude. Occasionally, I share videos of me playing the harmonium or keyboard. Instagram, however, is a territory I tiptoe into—more observer than participant. The fast pace and fleeting attention span it demands doesn’t sit well with my reflective temperament.

The Soul of Social Media

At its best, social media is a bridge—a way to cross time and space, to connect, to console, to celebrate. At its worst, it’s a stage for vanity, echo chambers, and mindless noise. I try to keep it sacred, using it as a journal of ideas, a scrapbook of gratitude, and a tool for sharing my legacy with the next generation.

Final Musings: Use It, Don’t Be Used

The golden rule I follow: Be the master, not the minion. Use social media without letting it use you. Take a break when it begins to steal your peace. Speak when your words can bring warmth, and scroll with purpose, not with passivity. After all, we weren’t born to merely watch others live—we were born to live, and if possible, inspire.

So, while I scroll, post, like, and comment, I also pause, pray, reflect, and disconnect. That, to me, is how social media becomes a source of light rather than noise.