Hyderabad: Mankind is just a puppet held by strings of nature. You never know when that string would get tugged at, making us dance to tunes unheard of. This is nothing new.
From times immemorial, mother nature has always pulled up a prank on us, leaving everything around in shambles. That has ceased to change. However, what has changed, slowly, yet steadily, is the way we humans are trying to outsmart her tricks. We’re a long way from the outsmarting bit of it, but we’re decently close enough to deal with it in a better way.
The technology piece of the puzzle is slowly falling in place, making us a generation that’s the smartest mankind has seen so far. The recent earthquake in Nepal tested us. Although nothing can wipe off the tears and fear that we have experienced, yet, the upgradation of technology has made things a lot better.
Unlike a generation that relied solely on official phone numbers, whose lines would be perennially jammed, today, people have taken to social media to gather more information about their near and dear ones.
People are not just using Facebook to post pictures, looking for their near and dear ones, but are also updating with any news that they get, uniting people under the roof of social media. Hugs, prayers condolences, best wishes – all are being sent through the virtual medium, making them no less valuable.
This platform is also being used to share critical information about important phone numbers, people who can be contacted in case of emergency, rescue teams, and rescue materials being dispatched across to affected areas.
This isn’t just helping people get a bird’s eye view of the ground reality, but is also helping people make relevant contributions and suggestions as well. To add to it, Facebook’s new initiative, ‘marking safe’ is allowing people to tell everyone that they’re safe.
Although people need to use it wisely, it’s a great concept and is of a lot of use. The ‘donate’ button is another feature that lets people contribute whatever they can.
Even the government and the officials have taken to Twitter and Facebook to ensure that everyone is kept in the loop in the hour of crisis.
For example, the Ministry of External Affairs doesn’t waste a second to keep its followers updated about the status of rescue operations, with prompt tweets about the number of people rescued and the method used being shared on the micro-blogging site.
Not just has it helped bring about a sense of calm in the masses, it has also helped people set their faith in the government, making them believe that things will be taken care of.
Overall, we have finally began to make use of technology to connect, to help and to educate. Facebook and Twitter in particular and social networking in general have come of age, perhaps, dispelling all the clouds of being trivial. Nature strikes, but networking unites. Â