An Instagram reel on 'Algorithms' one morning by Rohan Joshi (@mojorojo one of my favorite comedians) got me laughing on how we are recommended content that we should follow. It’s a funny reel and introspective on what we consume on social media. And last night the movie Don't Look Up accelerated my neurons further on how ideologies are polarised in a digital world ! But before that, remember ‘Gram Panchayat’?
History & Civics – a subject that introduced most of us to this concept; talks about Gram Panchayat (GP) being introduced in the early 1900s, scrapped and then brought back in 1992 for local self-governance. The government was unable to deal with local matters at a national level. Adults of the village elected members to the panchayat focused on development/growth, public works of the village, constructing libraries, enabling co-operative societies and most importantly a unique judicial system with no lawyers.
Fast forward, we have these Panchayat online. The InstaGram Panchayat or the ones on FB, Twitter, TikTok, WhatsApp. The processes may be different from that of a GP but the objectives are funnily the same. There is no election here; the admins elect themselves and form groups for social and local issues, enable sales for local businesses like a co-operative and most importantly have an instant Judicial system…you get judged immediately for what you post!
A Gram Panchayat needs you to be 18 years of age to become a member; InstaGram 14 and you are in! Gram Panchayat requires one tenth of its members to be present to adjudicate and on Insta, damn quorum doesn’t matter, likes can be bought! To ensure effective participation in a Gram Panchayat members should be formally and compulsorily informed in time. Here our Insta Stories & Insta Reels pop in ‘meri marzi’ and the world follows! Then Insta actually recommends content that they think you should follow!
The economic benefit of this centralized platform went to a large corporation who controlled this flow of data. A lot of Influencers made a genuine career out of it. Internet became too big to be controlled.This Instagram panchayat has realised that it can grow continuously and increase wealth only by adding users. Who could be their next most gullible audience; enter kids. I am not in alliance with this move, because the adult in me says it will expose them to the ugly belly of human consciousness and digital life too soon. But guess what, the Instagram panchayat thought of people like me too! They are planning to introduce a feature which will alert kids if they have been swiping content for more than 3-4 hours and asking them to “take a break” from the app.
For those who know the dopamine kick of this social media and how drugs work, we know this feature will do no good. The little rebel in a 14-year-old will feed on it, be unconsciously addicted to its features and play into the hands of the this Insta Panchayat.
Interestingly, China, took a bold step even in this Digital space. They have enforced a rule that kids can access social media/games only on weekends and it is programmed into their devices. ‘Take a Break’ or a ‘You HAVE to take a break’ – what is a better choice? Well if we had an answer we would know if capitalism or socialism is better for us. But, we don’t! Maximizing time spent is the main hook for digital companies, whereas life is about time well spent in whichever medium. That’s the misalignment.
I wonder how the Instagram Panchayat (or its versions) will be in Web 3.0, which is about Immersive experience.
Our kids have been living a Beta version of the Meta experience in virtual games for a while now. If you don’t understand what’s Meta, you should probably ask your kid “Beta what’s Meta?
(Too much world play I know. For a non-Hindi reader; Beta is Child and for a Non-techie; Beta version is an early version of an application, ok read the above line again now ☺)
While Web 1.0 was about searches, Web 2.0 is about Interactions. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok Your searches, your interactions, the products you desire, the communities you want to be a part of, the people you wish to be with, all were bought on to platforms. The world opened up. We got connected, entertained, educated, shopped et al on platforms. Lives moved online.
Meta is our real shift from the Physical to Digital world. On a twitter thread I read, only pooping will happen in the real world, everything else in a metaverse! Exaggerated yes, but you get the drift!
Our shops, our friends, our community, our money (crypto currency) your investment in art and content, events all of them in an avatar world. Zara, the Spanish clothing giant has already collaborated with South Korean Brand Ader Error to create AZ, a virtual clothing collection for your personal avatar in the metaverse!!
Scary or Exciting or Whatever?
At the onset, a lot of us might find this idea of a metaverse threatening, invasive, disconnected or just plain ‘different’ and we could get protective about our friends, kids, family entering it; try remembering the times we were told mobiles are evil, will destroy productivity. Getting into this metaverse might actually be addictive; Fact check, our parents use FB more than us or our kids.
Yes, the framework set to invite us into that realm will be different, one either adapts or changes it to suit one’s current comfort framework. Our young gen already lives a large part of their lives in Metaverse courtesy gaming; the pandemic jolted older adults into zooming, gamification and now the thought of in person office 5 days a week feels too much! We already ARE in a Metaverse.
With Web 3.0, the Instagram panchayat and its avatars will be more exciting. In a metaverse, there will be a sense of presence created of you as yourself or as an avatar. The groups you are part of, where people troll sitting behind a laptop will get real, your real avatar, your voice will be part of the group discussion like Clubhouse/Discord. An AI version that reads your mind and dictates, we might be simulated into a real get together rather than chat on a thread. Will this bring more connection, accountability or will it add more layers of cowardliness, laziness and people losing touch with reality? Like I wrote in March 2020 Blog We are in VR, our avatars will get more glorified, we will be more connected and will get disconnected with reality.
Like a gram panchayat, we will create digital book libraries, we will meet up as avatars in a digital space, disputes will be resolved by avatars punching each other and not for real! From a panchayat under a tree in a village to us supporting or trolling social causes from behind a mobile to us creating a simulated environment where we meet as avatars to feel real again, the metaverse is the latest version of us. I personally would love a world where you can seamlessly move between a real and a digital world without getting addicted to either one of them. Just like how we work in the cities and move to weekend homes in the beaches or mountains. We can co-exist again in a Metaverse.
Future is always unpredictable and Evolution mandatory. New realities are conceptualized, new frameworks introduced, panchayats formed; that’s the evolutionary reel!