Social media is bad for me though I will not completely turn them off because I do get useful information from them. So, I had limited myself to read social media when I'm completely bored or during those times I find myself idling. For instance, I was at IJN yesterday to visit my other half's brother in law who was readmitted in HDU (high dependency unit). While waiting for the visiting hours, I found myself scrolling through posts and reacted to one 'dyon' post, which I thought was strange but later I thought that I did not really know the context in which the post is made and regretted I made a remark there. Social media has really made us reactionary, many times egoistic and even make personalities turn to the dark side. Here is a pic that I posted yesterday during the ait (more stories of the visit in forthcoming post).
The following is a draft post I made more than two months ago about why I prefer not to go into social media too much. I hesitated to post this but here goes. I made a knee-jerk reaction to a post I was reading (I can't find that post anymore). It was about giving benefits to those who kept themselves healthy in response to those who are not but receiving medical benefits. It might sound logical but if one examine the argument in a larger context, it seems to assume that we are in complete control of everything. If one carried the argument further, will one say that the sick/diseased is rather undeserving of the benefits that they get because they can't keep themselves healthy (even genetically)? Maybe I say this with my own predicaments in mind; no one wants to be sick voluntarily. Actually, I have seen this kind of argument in many other places. For instance, once I have an acquaintance who speaks about being initiated on uplifting one's economic status. This may sound sensible. Just like before, if one carries this argument through, one could simply blame poor people for not doing enough. However, one should realise that not everything is within our control and every outcome (success or even failure) is by the grace of God, a confluence of right factors (not really at our own disposition). Opportunities do not come uniformly even if one attempts to impose as such. Throughout my life as an academic, I saw these too; with many of my efforts being unfruitful and even ridiculed.
This brings to the main thrust of this post: the knowledge that (we think) we possess. It's easy to think that the knowledge attained is purely a product of one's own efforts. In-built, in the Muslim psyche, knowledge comes with the Grace of God. Even when one has knowledge as such, the Muslim knows that it can be taken away easily. I have always mentioned this to my students: remember the moments that one simply forgets a Qur'anic ayat due to probably a deviation of utterance of a word or the moments that one forgets the raka'at of a prayer due to sway of one's attention. That's how easy it is. Even if we take a not-necessarily-Muslim viewpoint, we barely understand how our mind really works (many theories, of course). It is again the confluence of opportunities that helps us understand knowledge as we grow. It is thus disappointing to see students and colleagues become arrogant as they begin to accumulate knowledge. Much 'debate' online tend to demonstrate this and those who are on the receiving end of mockeries will quickly adopt fight or flight response (it is rarely 'want to know the truth' stance for whichever side). I will probably do the latter mainly because at this age, I would not want to waste my energy. Hence, I tend to be more quiet these days, ignoring most of the viral issues and focus only on things I know well and those I can really take effective action.
I say the above not to say that I'm wiser or cleverer or more religious. Far from it. I consider myself as an average person with plenty of ups and downs. I am neither an angel nor a satanic demon. The only thing that I can say is that I will always try to be a better person irrespective of the many failures and weaknesses. May Allah help me be the better person I want to be, away from fitnah and be granted husnul khatimah.
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