The Great Indian Addiction

“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,

But in ourselves, that we are underlings.”

Cassius

Julius Caesar Act I Scene II

It came on slowly. The first few doses were small and perked your curiosity. ‘Wow,’ you said, 'this is good stuff.'

It was after all a brilliantly concocted cocktail. It had a suicide, alleged murder, drugs, celebrities, nepotism, arrests, whatsapp chats, Bollywood and multiple stars with multiple opinions. It consumed you. You didn’t just wait till your supply arrived at 9 pm, you were addicted all day. You forwarded videos and articles. You tweeted with hashtags and debated with friends. And all along the enablers of this addiction had you begging them for more.

Yet, today, months after this started, you are standing here demanding apologies from the very media houses and anchors who provided you with the supply for your addiction. That is like an alcoholic blaming the bartender for serving him. 

While I do agree that journalism and the media hit rock bottom with this saga, the fact is that as a country we consumed it. We made it trend and shouted from the rooftops- ‘This is wrong, but give me more.’

Content today is driven by data. Whether it be what you are recommended on Netflix, what you see in your social newsfeeds, what you watch on television and almost everything you watch and read on the internet. The providers of content know what you like and they give you exactly that. They see what is trending and jump all over it. 

To take the high road and say, ‘this is not journalism,’ is a bit naïve. With a few exceptions, journalism morphed into sensationalism years ago. Didn’t you get the memo? 

The irony is that today you have more power to determine what is published than ever before. Every time you read, share or tweet about a story you are telling the media house that this is what is interesting to you. The more you do it the more they will write and talk about it. 

So what if in the middle of this saga, for five days straight, every single person who was following it decided not to watch the news when it covered this topic, not read about it online, not share articles, not tweet or hashtag any of it. You just quit your addiction cold turkey. 

At first, they would try and lure you in with Big Breaking News headlines and notifications. If you still resisted, eventually, they would have no choice but to publish things that you are going to read and watch. 

Now, I know that scenario is not even remotely plausible or realistic. But the next time a similar situation occurs, turn it off, close the app, don’t tweet. By watching, sharing and criticising it online you are feeding the beast. By ignoring it you are actually taking a stand. 

Photo Credit https://indianexpress.com/article/india/bombay-hc-grants-bail-to-rhea-says-not-part-of-drug-syndicate-sushant-singh-rajput-death-6711869/