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The Observer An IIJNM publication
Employees prefer work from home if given a choice between working in office and remotely | P 2
Vol. 21, Issue 7
By Kashish Sharma
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People working from home have to sometimes put up with distractions in adjacent rooms I Courtesy: Rahul Parashar leads to extended working hours and reduced family time, he intold The Observer: “It differs from company to company. We all have a good understanding with our management. There is mutual trust between employees and em-
ployers. Also, the work is systematically monitored. If some day I have to sit a little longer, I won’t mind doing extra work….” Urmila Rao, Anoop’s wife, has a different stance on the situation. “It is always good to have your spouse around; we have more time together now. But the problem is that this type of set-up comes with compromise from both ends. I usually take extra care while working in the kitchen, making minimal sound to provide him with the kind of space he requires to work peacefully. My husband has to sometimes bear with the distractions as it is difficult to make the child understand that his father is up to some serious work,” she said. Work from home has erased distinction between professional and personal lives. It has evoked varied responses from professionals who strive to maintain a work-life balance during the pandemic. Continued on page 3
Banned plastic bags continue adding to trash Reasons: Ban not being enforced, people don’t know By Arshreet Singh
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hopkeepers, vegetable vendors and small restaurants continue to use single-use plastic bags despite a ban on them, adding to Bengaluru’s garbage menace. Plastic bags less than 75 microns of thickness were banned by the Centre in September this year. Under the Prime Minister’s vision, single-use plastic is to be phased out completely by the end of 2022, as per the recently notified Plastic Waste Management (PWM) Amendment Rules, 2021, issued by the Ministry for Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Plastic bags, however, can be seen everywhere in the city. The Observer saw plastic bags in people’s hands, with vegetable vendors, small general stores, and in garbage heaps on the street.
Website: http://www. theweeklyobserver.in
Multiplexes pay attention to the safety of moviegoers, ask them to follow the guidelines | P 3
Maintaining the balance has been tough for moms
from home is so flexible. One can choose one’s surroundings, sit in nature, take a walk in between and have a meal with one’s family which is so important,” Anoop informed The Observer. Asked whether work from home
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Thursday, October 21, 2021
WFH blurs distinction between professional and personal lives noop Rao, who works for a US-based bank, starts his work at 5.30 pm. His mind is clear, not clouded with the unpleasant honking of cars. He grabs a cup of coffee and secures a quiet corner in his apartment. He doesn’t have to make his way through traffic jams, nor is he worried about returning late at night. As he works, he can hear his wife humming and his son babbling in the next room. No longer does he feel like he is missing out on family life. “I am saved from the long hours one has to wait in traffic. The commuting cost has been reduced considerably for me. Working
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Plastic bags less than 75 microns thick have been banned by the Centre I Credit: Arshreet Singh Suryanath Kumar, a vegetable plastic by July 2022. The third vendor at KR Market, told The phase will ban all plastic carry Observer:“Only a few customers bags less than 120 microns thick carry their own bags. We have to by December 2022. keep plastic bags, or else they will Enforcement has been lacking in go to the next vendor.” Karnataka. The state had banned The Plastic Waste Management the manufacture, transportation Amendment Rules propose a and distribution of nearly all sinthree-stage ban. The first phase gle-use plastic items back in 2016, aims to ban plastic bags less than irrespective of their thickness. 75 microns thick by September Though plastic bags have been 2021. The second phase will aim banned for five years now, singleto ban ear buds, plastic flags, ice use plastic items can still be seen cream sticks, thermocol, cigarette everywhere. packets, and cutlery made of “I am not scared of the cops. I
have never been fined, and they never check what kind of bag I use,” said a nearby fruit-seller who did not want to be named. Sharno, owner of Cool Junction , a small eatery in Kumbalgodu, said: “I have stopped carrying plastic bags because of the government ban. Now I use only paper bags.” The Observer however noted that the eatery has used plastic bags on multiple occasions in the past. When The Observer called the plastic bag supplier of the eatery, the man who answered the phone said: “We don’t carry plastic bags” and hung up the call. Vivekananda of Akshay Polymers, a plastic bag manufacturer, said: “Our sales have increased after the lockdown.” Asked what kind of plastic bags they provide, he said: “We have everything thicker than 55 to 60 microns as the government has banned 30 microns thick plastic bags.” The central government however, has banned single-use plastic items under 75 microns of thickness. Continued on page 3
News briefs WHO: Pandemic will drag longer than expected WHO has said the Covid-19 pandemic will prolong. Dr Bruce Aylward, senior leader at the WHO, said it meant the Covid crisis could easily drag on deep into 2022. Less than 5 percent of Africa’s population has been vaccinated, compared to 40% in most other continents. It can be attributed to the fact that poorer countries are not getting the vaccines they need, he said.
India crosses 100 cr inoculation mark
India has crossed inoculation of 100 crore vaccine doses, outpacing most countries. The milestone has been achieved almost 10 months after the vaccination drive began on January 16. The government aims to fully vaccinate the entire adult population by December 2021.
IAF aircraft crashes in Madhya Pradesh’s Bhind
An aircraft of the Indian Air Force has crashed into Madhya Pradesh’s Bhind. The pilot was injured in the mishap. The IAF Mirage 2000 aircraft experienced a technical malfunction during a training sortie in the central sector. An inquiry has been ordered to ascertain the cause of the accident, IAF tweeted.
Uttarakhand flood toll mounts to 54
Flash floods and landslides in Uttarakhand have claimed lives of 54 people. Nineteen people have suffered injuries and five have been reported missing. Property has also been destroyed due to the unstoppable rain. Forty-six houses have either been damaged partially or completely.
Protest in Pak against oil price increase
A nationwide protest was launched on Wednesday against the Pakistan government over the rise in prices of petroleum products and edibles. As the Pakistan Democratic Movement began the 15-day protest, protesters gathered in front of the Rawalpindi Press Club.
NCB visits Shah Rukh’s house to probe drug case
Narcotics Control Bureau visited ‘Mannat’, actor Shah Rukh Khan’s residence in Bandra, Mumbai, in connection with the cruise drug case investigation.
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The Observer Thursday, October 21, 2021
Many employees prefer to work from their home post-lockdown Some cos allow WFH, others go for hybrid model By Chhavi Vohra
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any people prefer to work from home if given a choice between office work and remote work. Offices are coming up with ways to embrace a hybrid work approach. Umadevi Rajan, an employee at Wipro, Bengaluru, informed The Observer: “I am happy to work from home. It is easier this way. I like the flexibility. It saves time and money spent on daily commute. I can even structure my days as I like,” he added. “We haven’t been called to the office yet. We are equally productive at home. We still need to finish our work before the deadline. Our company closely monitors everything. Each issue is dealt with utmost care and prudence,” she further added. Employees said they wish to work remotely more often. It is also convenient for parents who can then work whilst catering to their child’s needs. Reshab Shaw, an employee at Infosys in Mumbai, said: “I believe a hybrid model of work is in the best interest of all. I would really relish working from home on some days. I could sleep more, focus on my hobbies and spend more time with my family. All this would help instil a work-life balance.” The pandemic has severely hindered work in some places.
Across the city India International Travel Mart, Bengaluru International Exhibition Centre, Friday 22 October to Saturday 23 Discovering Country Music, Friday 22 October CrossOver Music Festival, Raahi Neo Kitchen and Bar, Saturday 23 October Saturday Live Tribute to Pink Floyd ft. Dark Light, Hard Rock Cafe, Sat 23 October International Students Education Fair, The Ritz-Carlton, Sunday 24 October Mandala Workshop for Inner Connection, Lahe Lahe, Sunday October 24
Quiz How many chambers are there in a human heart? What protein makes our nails? What is the normal blood pressure of a healthy person? Does the heart lie in the left or centre of the thoracic activity? Which blood group is the universal donor? What is the genetic combination for a girl, XX or XY? Which hormone makes us fight or flight? Answers on page 3
An employee attends a virtual office meeting from home | Courtesy: pexels.com “I have started going back to home,” he further informed. work now. The pandemic imNaveen Sharma, a general manpacted our productivity as our ager at Infosys, Bengaluru, said: work demands team effort which “We are not calling anyone to was not feasible during the pan- work. Our employees are still demic,” Shaw added. working from home. There was a Many companies have realized consensus among the entire staff the importance of remotework wherein everyone favoured work and employees’ preference for it. from home.” They are adapting to the new However, work from home is not working situations. accessible to all employees. Shiv Kumar, a sales executive at Nishit Arora, owner of Canyon FuGenX- Mobile App Develop- Belts, which manufactures and ment Company, said: “We have distributes belts and padlocks, started calling our employees to said: “I employ accountants, manwork. We are also planning to agers, labourers and helpers. We come up with a hybrid model of would have loved to work from work wherein some days we allow home had our work permitted us our employees to work from to do so. Our job demands us to be
present at the office. If a company provides service, they can opt for work from home. But if they manufacture consumer goods, they need to be present on-site to ensure that goods have been despatched and quality has been checked. We suffered huge losses during lockdowns. Our factory had to shut down. We have since been working hard to recover the loss,”he further added. A hybrid model, wherein some days involve remote work while other days have to be spent at the workplace, can be an attainable alternative to the older regime. Braja Kishor Pradha, vice-president of Aahwahan Foundation, an NGO that provides employment to economically weaker sections of society, explained: “I don’t think every industry can incorporate work from home in their curriculum. Each firm has its own limitations. Forty to fifty percent of employees can work from home, and the rest can go work on-site. It mainly depends on the nature of the work.” Many companies had decided to make their employees work from home a week before a nationwide lockdown in India commenced on March 25, 2020. They curtailed their operations in view of rising Covid-19 cases in the country. Some even conducted day-long trials and allowed a buffer of two to three days so that issues pertaining to availability of businessrelated data, connectivity and infrastructure could be identified. and tackled effectively by the employees who work from home. chhavi.v@iijnm.org
Citizen’s Voice A barbaric act in the name of religion Nihangs have killed a dalit near the Singhu border making religion as an excuse. No religious head appears to have remorse for the gruesome act. No rule of law prevails for them. Going by their cheerful faces on television, they seem to be thinking they have done something good. The killers should be given exemplary punishment. Amit Vohra
Covid is still around, so let us be careful
After facing a dreadful time during the second Covid wave, I had lost all hope of living in a normal world again. As cases have dipped, people are becoming liberal with everything. This is a matter of concern. If people don’t take care now, we could just be staring at another catastrophe. Simran Sharma
Spike in airfares around festivals is unfortunate
Flight ticket prices usually shoot up around festivals. Such hikes come when people are most likely to travel to be with their families for festivals. These spikes make long-distance travel challenging for common people. Sadly, nobody talks about this. Dimpal Gulwani
Bengaluru’s weather not good for hair and skin
Three months ago, I shifted to the IT capital. Having suffered from acne for long, I hoped my skin would improve. I thought good weather is all one needs for clear skin and amazing hair. Bengaluru’s weather had a rather adverse effect on my skin. Kashish Sharma
Nursery teachers, parents dislike online classes By Ayndrila Banerjee
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or nursery children, online education isn’t proving to be the best approach towards learning. Parents and teachers say low attention span and higher dependence on parents are some of the issues that are restricting the process of learning for younger children.. Parents are not happy with online classes.Sindhu M. shared: “Initially, my kid was a little agitated to sit for online classes. But with time he got used to it. However, he always waits for classes to get over to play. I cannot force him too much to sit for classes.” A kindergartner needs constant assistance during classes. Earlier, the presence of teachers made it easier for children to carry out tasks. Now, a parent is required to sit with their child during on. “We have to devote a minimum of three hours…. In addition to getting them ready for classes, we have to sit with them to assist them. This is a huge problem for us,” said Jitendra, whose child studies in nursery grade. Since school is the first social
A child attends a virtual class | Credit: Snehi Shah platform a child is exposed to, online classes cannot replace the classroom experience for nursery grade and younger students. Ramya J. Agnihotri, a pre-primary teacher, said: “It’s a whole new system for kids. It becomes difficult for them to connect with us during online classes. Online classes have separate teachers for each subject, while in offline classes, there’s only one teacher for all subjects.” Interpersonal intelligence – the ability to relate and socialize with other people – does not develop during online classes. Agnihotri noted:“Children don’t have
friends at home. They cannot mingle with other kids in the class. Interaction with other students is more important than academics. A classroom has different kinds of students, so each child is introduced to different characters,” he continued. Another pre-primary teacher, Divya, said online classes can get burdensome even for teachers. “Classes should be interactive. It becomes difficult for usteachers to interact with them during online classes. Nursery students cannot concentrate for more than 45 minutes….We cannot give oneon-one attention to each child during an online class. At one go, we can only attend to five students,” she continued. Teachers say they have to be extra conscious while teaching because they believe parents are evaluating their teaching skills. “It’s like we are teaching both students and their parents. We have to be conscious that parents are watching us. We have to make sure that we don’t make any mistakes,”said teachers. The process of assessing a child’s progress has become more
difficult as most parents do their children’s homework and help them during online classes. Independent efforts by children are nil, which is leading to bigger problems when a student goes to the next higher standard. “During classes, if we ask questions,the parents answer,” Divya told the Observer. Himani Mehta, a child development expert,said: “Online classes have restrictions. You can direct older kids to follow a particular task. But for nursery students, this is the first formal structure that they step into. However, the pandemic has restricted us from giving a child that experience. In online classes, the child has no clue of what a classroom is or how to take instructions from her teachers. Even though we are trying to be child-centric, a lot of external factors are hindering the process of child development.” While some parents like Sindhu eagerly wait for schools to reopen to avoid further complications in her son’s inter-personal development, Jitendra doesn’t mind waiting till next year. ayndrila.b@iijnm.org
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The Observer Thursday, October 21, 2021
Theatres follow norms, movie lovers happy By Anwesha Singh
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pening movie theatres with 100 percent occupancy might have created apprehensions but they seem to be doing their best to maintain Covid guidelines and follow the state government’s directives. Rajesh Kumar (name changed), a manager at INOX, Jayanagar, informed The Observer: “We are happy that the government allowed theatres to run with full capacity. In return, we have taken care that all the Covid guidelines are followed strictly. We disinfect the auditorium before and after a show.
Hand-santizers, QR code scanners and social distancing ensure safety | Credit: Anwesha Singh No two people are allowed to sit together. Social distancing circles are made at the premises so that social distancing is followed in a proper manner.” The Observer noticed people using hand sanitizers placed at different locations. They were pa-
tiently listening to the instructions given by the staff on maintaining social distancing. An employee of PVR Cinemas located in The Forum Mall, Koramangala, said: “We ask for a vaccination certificate while booking tickets. However, it’s not possible if a person books online. Even while giving entry, we ask people to show us their vaccination certificates. Wearing masks is compulsory. During the interval, we make sure to send our staff to the auditorium to take orders in order to avoid crowding.” Staff at the gate were seen asking for vaccine certificates. People waiting to go inside were standing at a distance from each other and were wearing masks. Employees of the theatre often showed up between shows to ask people to wear masks. The Observer interviewed people at the theatre. Bhargavee Inguva shared: “Initially, I was a bit nervous about going out for a movie, but when I came here, I was happy to see the situation... Vaccination certificates were being checked. The staff actually declined a person from entering when he was unable to produce his vaccination certificate.” Kadapagunta Sandhya, another visitor, said: “It’s not always possible to maintain social distancing and follow Covid guidelines, but I appreciate the staff who tried to make sure that people follow the guidelines. They checked out if people were wearing masks, and had a QR code scanner.” Asked about the impact on the health of people who have started visiting cinemas and other public places, Dr Anil Roy, a medical practitioner, said: “Going out is fine, but one should carry sanitizer and wear a face mask. Even after getting vaccinated, one should maintain social distancing and practise habits like meditation, exercise, eating healthy and (maintaining) hygiene.” A report published in the Deccan Herald said Covid-19 experts sense a third wave of Covid-19 is unlikely due to high sero-prevalence and the speedy vaccination. anwesha.s@iijnm.org
Plastic ban not enforced Continued from page 1 avid S.R., founder of ECure Charitable Trust, an NGO based in Bengaluru, said: “People don’t follow the government ban because there is no fine and no enforcement. Another reason is that people are simply not aware. This is why we go out in the community to create awareness.” The NGO has been working for the local environment for 12 years.
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Their goal is to plant two crore trees in Bengaluru by 2025. Besides adding to the city’s garbage menace, plastics are nonbiodegradable — which means they can stay in our environment for hundreds of years. The market controls all supplies. If citizens demand plastic bags, they will continue to exist until a cheaper and environmentfriendly alternative emerges. arshreet.s@iijnm.org
This Day, That Year Alfred Bernhard Nobel, the Swedish chemist and industrialist, who invented dynamite and passed on his fortune to establish the Nobel Prize was born on this day in 1833.
HOPING FOR BETTER DAYS: A woman sells artificial jewellery near Church Street. She, along with her son, awaits customers, hoping for better sales this Diwali season. She suffered during the pandemic, but now looks forward to a better future I Credit- Apeksha Priya
Working mothers find it hard to work from home Continued from page 1 rmila, who has worked for an India-based company in the past, said: “Most of the Indian companies have managers who believe in micromanagement as there is an inherent mistrust towards the employees. They have a notion that it is OK for employees to work overtime as they are working from home and must be taking frequent breaks. I had to quit my job because of extended hours as my family life was being ignored.” Working from home has created ambiguity around lunch breaks and closing hours; it is difficult for employees to draw a line. Manan Singhal, who works for an MNC in Bengaluru, shared: “Currently, I am working from my hometown. Due to continuous work, sometimes I have to skip my lunch. My mom keeps waiting for me and asks me to have food again and again.” Another downside of working from home is there are no clear metrics for determining productivity. As a result, if a person is not working for the specified number of hours, their work comes under scrutiny. For some, it is the number of hours one puts into a task, whereas for others, it is the final output that is of a higher importance. Om Mohanty, who works for an IT company, said: “Everybody has a personal laptop now, and since all work is virtual, there is a notion that everybody can be present virtually all the time….” For mothers, maintaining the balance between work and the family has become extremely difficult. Children demand a lot of time as they are dependent. Manjiri, a working mother of triplets, said: “Workspace and family time must be separate. For married women, it is very difficult to make the family understand we need space to work and can’t be involved in household chores during those hours.”
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Quote of the Day “Perhaps my factories will put an end to war sooner than your congresses: on the day that two army corps can mutually annihilate each other in a second, all civilised nations will surely recoil with horror and disband their troops.” - Alfred Nobel
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Employees have a hard time concentrating when working from home | Courtesy: Yogita Dhanwani Manish Arora, the business head of Mahindra and Mahindra, Vadodra, said: “Work from home will never overlap with one’s family time if one maintains discipline; like getting dressed in formals, finding a quiet, secluded space and keeping the track of time. One must try to think that they are in the office, and distractions will fade away.” Dr Pallavee Walia, a psychologist and occupational therapist, said: “A lot of my patients who are working from home are having low concentration span because the family is always around. They are physically with the family but the mind is torn between work and (their) loved ones.” According to a study published by The Guardian, Bloomberg and The Economic Times, working from home has led to a more than 2.5-hour increase in the average working day of employees in countries like Austria, Canada, the UK and US. kashish.s@iijnm.org
Maximum temperature: 28 °C Minimum temperature: 19° C Precipitation: 19% Humidity: 60% Wind Speed: 8 km/h Forecast: Scattered thunderstorms are expected with a 90% chance of rain. Maximum temperature will be 28°C while minimum temperature will be 20°C
Quiz answers 1. Four 2. Keratin 3. 120/80 mm Hg 4. Centre 5. O Negative 6. XX 7. Emergency Hormone
Cinemas insist on distancing, mask wearing
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Team Observer Editor: Chhavi Vohra Reporters: Anwesha Singh, Arshreet Singh, Ayndrila Banerjee, Kashish Sharma, Chhavi Vohra Copy Editors: Anwesha Singh, Arshreet Singh, Ayndrila Banerjee, Kashish Sharma, Chhavi Vohra Page Layout:Anwesha Singh, Arshreet Singh, Ayndrila Banerjee, Kashish Sharma Supplement: Kashish Sharma, Saumyangi Yadav
Virtual World Dating apps: A utopian idea of love in India 4
The Observer Thursday, October 21, 2021
SUPPLEMENT
Welcome to a dream world where love comes and finds you with a snap, with just a right swipe, writes Kashish Sharma
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adya Basu, a 21-year-old woman, decided to find true love in the middle of the pandemic. Coming from an all-girls school, she wondered what real love would be like. Then she found this great app that could get her a soulmate in a swipe. “ In a fair full of potential lovers,” she thought “I can make the first move.” She felt happy as well as empowered. Then began the hunting game of swipes. “It felt as if one has to keep up with the speed. Then, there are so many options. If you don’t step up in the game, you will lose the guy or the girl because nobody is waiting just for you. Just a happy trade.” She met her boyfriend a year after, in college. And, it happened without any kind of swipes. Dating apps like Bumble, Tinder, OK Cupid et al, are said to be changing the way young Indian men and women meet and socialize. Yet, one cannot but wonder if such apps are game-changers or just show a rosy, utopian concept while only serving the privileged. “Dating apps are a good way of exploring one’s sexuality but sometimes you are at the risk of
A new era of love | Credit: Kashish Sharma outing yourself to someone who is not genuine and trustworthy,” says Mrunmaye , a member of the LGBTQ community. Tinder, which started the swiping game back in 2012, was considered the most tolerant to race,
sex and gender. It came with a lot of features. However, most of the features are only for users who can pay and subscribe for Tinder Plus or Tinder Gold. India, where a good percentage of marriages are arranged by
families, managed to become one of the Tinder’s top markets in the world. But the question remains that whether the app is anywhere closer to its social agenda, with 30 per cent of the users already married according to the study published in The Guardian. Tinder projects itself as a harassment-intolerant zone. This claim has come into a question after one of its top executives, Justin Mateen, followed a sexual harassment lawsuit from an employee. As per a US-based study, 57 per cent of female online dating users had received a sexually explicit image which they didn’t even asked for. Tina Freese, 22, recalls her nightmare when her adventure visit to a similar app, OK Cupid, led to receiving some random messages on her Instagram account, from people she had not even shared a word with. Users also see a pattern in the rejections. They say that such apps only work for the privileged who conform to established notions of good looks. For the rest of the users, the experience is not very different from real world. “The app focuses on good looks
and there are many youths, specifically rural, who have no idea about this dating game. They are marginalized,” says Siddhant who joined Tinder in 2020. Anivesh Singh, who joined Tinder a couple of years ago, says, “I just logged in…saw some profiles and then went back to work. On a high note, I don’t have much time for this virtual game.” After Tinder, Bumble came as a ray of hope with its policy of ‘women making the first move’, blurring nudes and eradicating online body-shaming. But, the women-first policy does not seem to have worked for many women. “It goes against my nature as an Indian woman. I don’t know how to initiate a conversation with a random guy. I have never and cannot be a chaser. I can’t go back to Tinder because it makes me feel more vulnerable,” says Yogita Dhanwani who has been using the app since 2018. A dating app in India is like a sweet utopian fiction that takes us to an unreal bubble of love. And unexpectedly, this bubble of love eventually bursts away in the face of harsh reality.. kashish.s@iijnm.org
Disconnected: A day without social media Refresh. Is Instagram back yet? Refresh. It’s been four hours now. Refresh, what has happened to WhatsApp, says Saumyangi Yadav
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roblems with “Instagram, Facebook, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp AGAIN!" said an angry tweet on Friday, as the globe faced its second social media outage in one week. Restless fingers searched for answers on google, “Why is Instagram down?” Another herd of users rushed to Twitter in search of a way out of this ‘virtual isolation’ and soon, #Instagramdown became a global Twitter trend. In just a span of four hours, the social media platforms were down on Monday and people’s lives got dismantled and disconnected. “I was feeling almost paralysed, I had a major FOMO! It was around 9 after dinner and that’s my prime time of scrolling through Instagram and there was nothing. I restarted my phone because I wasn't sure if it was Instagram or my phone that had issues.” Tina Freese, a college student and a regular social media user, said. “I slept at 10 p.m. that night, the earliest in weeks,” she added. Social media has become so ingrained in our personal, as well as professional lives that sometimes, we cannot even fathom our lives without it. Our lives feel in-
Even a slight breakup with the social media can make people restless and worried | Credit: Saumyangi Yadav complete..That is why just a few hours without such platforms can make you feel disconnected from the world around you. Greater Stakes That Monday, October 4, 2021, Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, lost billions of dollars in just a few hours when Instagram, Whatsapp, and Facebook were down. But he wasn’t the only one
who suffered a loss. Hundreds of small businesses that started during the Covid-19 lockdown, thanks to such social media platforms, became the unnamed victims of the outage. Divija Basin, an owner of one such fashion store on Instagram, said, “It (the outage) reduced our sales for the day by half. It is scary since our business is com-
pletely dependent on this platform.” Businesses like Divija’s are dependent completely on social media platforms for marketing and sourcing products to engaging with customers and getting orders from them. Priya Uniyal, who runs a small business called Elysian Resins on Instagram, said, “I faced a lot of problems that day. I was in the
middle of a conversation with a customer and due to this outage, I lost the customer. I also lost a huge deal with a seller.” Small businesses based on social media platforms are, naturally, insecure. When, in May 2021, reports emerged that platforms like Twitter and Instagram could shut down due to non-compliance to the new IT rules, Jutesmart, an Instagram-based store, set up its own website. The company had posted, “Even if Instagram shuts down tomorrow, we will be shipping the orders that have already been placed. But we will not be able to take any orders from now until we are able to develop a website, which may take a few months.” Almost six months later, the company still hasn’t launched a website. Social media started by connecting people all around the globe but gradually, the social media has seeped into almost all aspects of our lives, personal and professional. Today, social media presence in our lives is so great that just a few hours of its malfunctioning is quite enough to disconnect us from this giant and modern world of technology. saumyangi.y@iijnm.org