Passage
There was a time when I saw social media naysayers as the first reviewers of Technicolor movies, who felt the colour distracted from the story, or were like the people who walked out on Bob Dylan at Newport folk festival for playing an electric guitar, or like those who warned that radio or TV or video games or miniskirts, or hip-hop or selfies or fidget spinners or whatever, would lead to the end of civilisation. But now I believe that the evidence is growing that social media can be a health risk, particularly for young people who now have all the normal pressures of youth (fitting in, looking good, being popular) being exploited by the multibillion-dollar companies that own the platforms they spend much of their lives on.
Kurt Vonnegut said: “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful who we pretend to be.” This seems especially true now we have reached a new stage of marketing where we are not just consumers, but also the thing consumed. If you have friends you only ever talk to on Facebook, your entire relationship with them is framed by commerce. When we willingly choose to become unpaid content providers, we commercialise ourselves. And we are encouraged to be obsessed with numbers (of followers, messages, comments, retweets, favourites), as if operating in a kind of friend economy, an emotional stock market where the stock is ourselves and where we are encouraged to weigh our worth against others.
Of course, humans comparing themselves to others isn’t new. But when the others are every human on the internet, people end up comparing themselves – their looks, their relationships, their wealth, their lives – to the carefully filtered lives of people they would never meet in the real world – and feeling inadequate. Abuse is another serious issue. In his devastating account of online entrepreneurs and their values, in the book Move Fast and Break Things, Jonathan Taplin talks of social media’s “Colosseum culture” of throwing people to the lions. “Punishing strangers ought to be a risky endeavour,” he writes. “But the anonymity of the internet shields the person who punishes the stranger.”
To let companies shape and exploit and steal our lives, would be the ultra-conservative option. Reading first-hand accounts by people with bulimia and anorexia who are convinced that social media exacerbated or even triggered their illnesses, I began to realise something: this situation is not the equivalent of Bob Dylan’s electric guitar. It is closer to the tobacco or fast-food industries, where vested interests deny the existence of blatant problems that were not there before. To ignore it, to let companies shape and exploit and steal our lives, would be the ultraconservative option. The one that says free markets have their own morality. The one that is fine entrusting our future collective health to tech billionaires. The one that believes, totally, in free will; and that mental health problems are either not significant, or are entirely of the individual’s making.
We are traditionally far better at realising risks to physical health than to mental health, even when they are interrelated. If we can accept that our physical health can be shaped by society – by second-hand smoke or a bad diet – then we must accept that our mental health can be too. And as our social spaces increasingly become digital spaces, we need to look seriously and urgently at how these new, business-owned societies are affecting our minds. We must try to see how the rising mental health crisis may be related to the way people are living and interacting. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg says that “by giving people the power to share, we’re making the world more transparent”. But what we really need to do is make social media transparent. Of course, we won’t stop using it – I certainly won’t – but precisely for that reason we need to know more about what it is doing to us. To our politics, to our health, to the future generation, and to the world around us. We need to ensure we are still the ones using the technology – and that the technology isn’t using us.
Question for 100 RCs for Practice Questions- 62
Try yourself:The writer believes that all these complaints about innovations are unreasonable EXCEPT:
Explanation
The writer opens the discussion by saying that he had disagreed with the initial negative reviews that were given on social media because he thought they were similar to those on all things that are new, like Technicolor movies or electric guitars. These negative reviews were based on nostalgia and not on sensible evaluation. He finds these reviews flawed.
Options 1, 2, and 4 are implied in the first paragraph, which lists the complaints that the writer finds to be unreasonable. For instance, people who claimed that radio signaled the end of ‘civilization’ are claimed to be unreasonable naysayers. Reject option 1.
The same paragraph also mentions option 2 – the writer does not approve of the people who walked out on Bob Dylan at Newport folk festival for playing an electric guitar – Reject option 2.
Option 4 is incorrect. Refer paragraph 1 “…as the first reviewers of Technicolor movies, who felt the colour distracted from the story.” Reject option 4.
Option 3 is correct. The third paragraph states that “of course, humans comparing themselves to others isn’t new. But when the others are every human on the internet, people end up comparing themselves – their looks, their relationships, their wealth, their lives – to the carefully filtered lives of people they would never meet in the real world – and feeling inadequate.” So, the writer does not consider this to be an unreasonable complaint. Retain option 3.
Thus the correct answer is option 3.
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Question for 100 RCs for Practice Questions- 62
Try yourself:Based on the passage, the author would find which of the following most useful?
Explanation
Option 1 is incorrect. The author believes in the continuation of using social media, but with a deeper understanding of its impact. He does not recommend that one should define the limits to the interactions on social media. Reject option 1.
Option 2 is incorrect. The writer does not refer to, or suggest or imply any benefits of being the ‘thing consumed’. Reject option 2.
Option 4 is incorrect. The writer does not mention that one should exploit the possibilities of new social media and that one should use it for personal growth. Reject option 4.
Option 3 is correct. The penultimate paragraph states, “and as our social spaces increasingly become digital spaces, we need to look seriously and urgently at how these new, business-owned societies are affecting our minds.” The writer believes that social media can adversely affect our mental health and that we need to become aware of what social media is doing to us, to our politics, to our health, to the future generation, and to the world around us.”
Thus the correct answer is option 3.
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Question for 100 RCs for Practice Questions- 62
Try yourself:According to the writer, in order to continue using social media, it is important to:
Explanation
The writer concludes the passage by affirming that he will continue to use social media and that others should as well, if only to know more about what social media is doing to us.
Option 1 is incorrect. In paragraphs 3 and 4 the writer criticizes the ‘ultra conservative option’ which is:”the one that believes, totally, in free will; and that mental health problems are either not significant, or are entirely of the individual’s making.” He is critical of the belief in free will that is said to be a shield against the danger inherent in social media. Therefore, reject option 1.
Option 3 is incorrect. The writer does not suggest participating in the ‘colosseum culture’, in which people are punished in full view of others. Colosseum is the large amphitheatre in Rome-- the forerunner to modern-day stadiums. In one such practice criminals, whose hands were tied, were thrown to hungry lions as part of entertainment events. The writer’s intention, on the other hand, is to make us aware that it is possible to inflict punishment on others on the internet. Reject option 3.
Option 4 is incorrect. In fact, the writer proposes caution and deliberation while communicating on social media. He does not recommend that one should avoid filtering his/ her communication on social media. Reject option 4.
Option 2 is correct. The writer quotes Kurt Vonnegut and states: “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful who we pretend to be.” This seems especially true, now that we have reached a new stage of marketing where we are not just consumers, but also the thing consumed.” He ends the passage by stating: “we need to ensure we are still the ones using the technology – and that the technology isn’t using us.”
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Question for 100 RCs for Practice Questions- 62
Try yourself:The social media has been likened to tobacco and fast food industries for which of the following reasons?
Explanation
The comparison occurs in the fourth paragraph. “Reading first-hand accounts by people with bulimia and anorexia who are convinced that social media exacerbated or even triggered their illnesses, I began to realise something: this situation is not the equivalent of Bob Dylan’s electric guitar. It is closer to the tobacco or fast-food industries, where vested interests deny the existence of blatant problems that were not there before. To ignore it, to let companies shape and exploit and steal our lives, would be the ultra-conservative option.” The one that says free markets have their own morality.” Bulimia is constant craving for food. Anorexia means a prolonged loss of appetite. Option 1 is incorrect because the bulimia and anorexia set the writer thinking and made him realize that the situation was unlike Bob Dylan’s guitar. But reason for the comparison was different. Hence eliminate option 1. Option 2 is incorrect – there may be an implied reference to the addiction as tobacco and fast food are addictive. However, the reason for the comparison is not directly the factor of addiction. Hence option 2 is a possible answer but not the answer. Option 4, similar to option 2 is an implication, which is a rationalisation indulged in by social media companies by transferring the blame to the victims by invoking free will and free markets. So we can eliminate option 4. Option 3 is correct. The comparison is directly attributed to the control exercised by vested interests in both the industries – tobacco and fast food industries on the one hand, and social media on the other – who would deliberately deny the existence of problems which their products create in society.
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Question for 100 RCs for Practice Questions- 62
Try yourself:Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg claims that “by giving people the power to share, we’re making the world more transparent.” The writer considers such claims….
Explanation
Option 2 is correct. The comment of Mark Zuckerberg is quoted in the last paragraph as, “Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg says that ’by giving people the power to share, we’re making the world more transparent’”. The writer reacts by saying that “but what we really need to do is make social media transparent. Of course, we won’t stop using it – I certainly won’t – but precisely for that reason we need to know more about what it is doing to us--to our politics, to our health, to the future generation, and to the world around us.” The writer’s argument is that social media should first make themselves transparent about how the companies commercialise their subscribers and how they influence our politics, future generations, and the world around us. In that respect, social media companies are opaque and their claim to making the world transparent is dubious.
Option 2 best captures this idea. Hence the correct answer is option 2.
Option 1 is incorrect because it talks about Facebook alone, whereas the writer’s concern is not about Facebook alone, but all social media in general. Eliminate option 1.
Option 3 is limited to the commercialisation of data. Though it is factually correct, it fails to provide the complete picture. Eliminate option 3.
Option 4 is incorrect because it does not capture the writer’s reaction to the claim made by Zuckerberg. Eliminate option 4.
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