It is truly baffling to witness the stark disconnect between various digital platforms, especially during a national crisis. Even as the state finds itself embroiled in a military conflict on the frontier, the digital landscape suggests we are living in separate universes.

If one were to rely solely on the often unhinged world of X (formerly Twitter), the gravity of the situation is unavoidable. Yet, a mere swipe away, Instagram operates in a state of blissful suspended animation. And then there is LinkedIn. While the rest of the world watches the front lines with bated breath, the “thought leaders” of LinkedIn are busy extracting ‘synergy’ from tragedy. And on Facebook, people just can’t stop “sending prayers” or “marking [themselves] safe”, sometimes even when they are nowhere near the catastrophe.

To illustrate this surreal divide, I recently looked at how the conflict between Pakistani forces and the Afghan Taliban panned out on X and Instagram. When I shared some updates related to the conflict on my Instagram, the responses were an exercise in profound ‘news-blindness.’

The overwhelming majority asked, "What is this about?" It is clear that, for this segment, traditional news websites are relics of a bygone era. It seemed that Instagram folk inhabit a space where the state’s military involvement was less relevant than a celebrity’s latest divorce or a “slow living” reel during Ramazan.

From Instagram’s aesthetic amnesia to X’s algorithmic hysteria, social media platforms have stripped away the concept of a common public square and have fractured collective awareness

From Instagram’s aesthetic amnesia to X’s algorithmic hysteria, social media platforms have stripped away the concept of a common public square and have fractured collective........

© Dawn (Magazines)