- How valid are our gripes on social media?
We Sri Lankans are resilient people, yes, and that, along with our unbounded capacity to help and support one another, should never be underestimated. But it is also important to note that we as a people do love to complain. From critiquing our loved ones’ weddings to aunties lamenting the shortcomings of their maids and husbands to the spirited political debate between uncles at any sort of family or public gathering, we all seem to love a good whinge. The last year and a half, though, has left us at a bit of a loss because of the lack of social avenues through which to express our woes, and of late, Sri Lankan social media has been overrun with negative reactions to, well, everything, especially any political news.
With the repeated lockdown extensions as well as what seems to be our biggest economic crisis in living memory, a lot of this is to be expected, but just how much of what we see on our social media is a thoughtful response to our many social and political issues, and how much of it is our culture of complaining making its way onto an amplified global platform? Brunch decided to investigate.
Online vs. real life
First things first, we questioned if what we see on social media, especially among English language users, is actually representative of what mainstream Sri Lanka is thinking. Digital media analyst Nalaka Gunawardene explained that as of January 2021, according to datareportal.com, Sri Lanka had 10.9 million internet users, three million of whom do not use any social media (7.9 million people use at least one kind of social media).
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Digital media analyst Nalaka Gunawardene[/caption]
“Out of a total population (mid-2020 estimate) of 21.5 million people, a little over a third is on social media – and it’s they who express themselves in various platforms. We must add to this mix the overseas Sri Lankans who are at least another two million, most of whom are online and on social media. So the expressions we see on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram (the three most widely used social media services in Sri Lanka) are not fully representative of the whole population,” Gunawardene said.
Social and political critic Prasad Welukumbura also noted that while social media currently doesn’t represent mainstream Sri Lankan opinion, it’s on its way there. “We see on social media mostly the opinion of the young generation that lives/works in urban areas. But what they say on social media is influenced by their friends, parents, relations, and the community. So though we can’t say social media is a direct representation of the mainstream public opinion of the country, to some extent, it represents the mainstream opinion of urban Sri Lankans. I believe what we see on social media is how our young generation (aged 18-45 years) sees the world from their point of view,” he said.
Welukumbura also said that different social media platforms are designed to focus on different aspects, which also colour what we see on each platform, with Facebook geared towards general conversation and mainstreams topics, Instagram focusing on lifestyle and day-to-day activities, Twitter geared towards a discussion on news and current affairs, and LinkedIn being more business and career-driven.
With Sri Lanka being a multilingual country, we also wondered just how much opinions differ between different language users, like between English users and Sinhala users, for instance. Data-wise, Gunawardene shared that to his knowledge, there aren’t any language-specific data analyses, but, “since social media generally mirrors our society, we can assume that English is used by a relatively smaller proportion of Lankans who express themselves in these spaces. They are numerically small but some are influential in professional, academic, business, or activist spheres”.
Gunawardene also shared: “Is there a difference in tone and temperament in how citizens comment on government actions across the three languages used in Sri Lanka? I can only speak about the two languages I know – English and Sinhala. There are indeed differences in expressions, but we cannot judge one to be better than the other. Overall, on the same matter or issue, I find that expressions in Sinhala (online) are often more pithy, idiomatic, sarcastic, and vivid. Perhaps Tamil language expressions are equally so, but I don’t know (my limitation). The English commentariat, in contrast to Sinhala, tends to be more cautious or circumspect – and therefore duller!”
Political machinations and public reactions
With the repeated extension of our present lockdown, our economic crisis, and general political antics that include shenanigans like ministers allegedly attempting to break into prisons and officials resigning, which seems to be happening every other day, there is a lot of criticism online of both general politics and the Government.
Is the seemingly eternal negative reaction to politics authentic or a representation of our love to complain? Gunawardene feels this is more simply just the result of citizens – at least those who are online – exercising their freedom of expression that is guaranteed for them in the Constitution of Sri Lanka. Political criticism is very much protected under free speech, and such criticism does not have to be fair, balanced, measured, or polite.
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Communications consultant Shanuki De Alwis[/caption]
Communications consultant Shanuki De Alwis also commented on what we see online versus real-life mainstream opinion, saying that while what we see online, especially in English, is a fairly accurate representation of Colombo sentiment, the sentiments we see online may not extend to the rest of the Sri Lankan population.
Speaking on an islandwide level, De Alwis noted: “It does seem to be right now though that people are a little more informed on what’s happening and not just exposed to government PR and disinformation in mass media. So because of that, I feel like the conversations happening are more informed and that is why there’s a lot more dissent and opposition to the status quo, but I don’t know how accurate that is to the rest of the country.”
De Alwis did note that some people take to social media irresponsibly to air frustrations that are based on ignorant gossip and disinformation, and this is why fact-checking becomes important, though sometimes, De Alwis said, a lot of people are kept ignorant by the State and other higher powers with an ulterior motive. “Regardless of the regime, our political culture is to keep the public largely unaware of inner workings and goings-on. Lots of people are not exposed to correct and complete information. What they see is sensationalist news or information spin-doctored by the government,” she added.
Adding to this, Welukumbura shared that he feels this negative response to the State stems from a loss of public trust. “As we all know, the majority of the minority communities did not vote for the current President and nothing has been done to win their trust after the election. Yes, there is a strong dissent towards the Government from the minorities, but it was there all along. At the same time, the Government lost public trust due to their actions,” Welukumbura explained.
Has ‘complain culture’ made it online?
With the amount of negative opinions on social media, it’s easy to dismiss the views we see as people complaining or simply being haters, an extension of the hot-headed banter from uncles at a family gathering having found its way online, but the sentiments expressed online shouldn’t be dismissed.
De Alwis attributed our public discontent, in part, to social fatigue. With everything we as a nation have gone through recently, from the war and the follow-ups of the war to the pandemic on top of all the political drama that we’ve been watching, De Alwis shared that she feels a sense of collective helplessness has developed.
“People are very fed up. We have to admit that Sri Lankans have been resilient to a lot of things, but it has come to a point where there is nothing else people can do but complain. Any form of civic dissent or action is immediately punished, under the guise of Covid rules or whatever else. From journalists to civic activists to the public, there is this sentiment that no one is allowed to act against the Government or have a voice. Social media is a space where they can air their frustrations,” she pointed out.
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Social and political critic Prasad Welukumbura[/caption]
Welukumbura too shared that the views we see online are indicative of deeper concerns. “At a glance, social media looks like a nagging group that complains about every decision of the Government. But when you look closely and consider the context, it represents the actual frustration among the young working generation towards the Government,” he said.
“What you call a ‘culture of complaining’ is really citizens expressing their views on current issues of concern. Citizen reactions are an integral part of a democratic society and it isn’t new. Before and after Independence, our citizens have been finding ways to express themselves in various forms – from letters to the editor in newspapers, ‘kavi kola’ (the versification of current concern or incident, usually read aloud in public places), street theatre, or satire. Indeed, at a time like this, it is better for citizens to vent their frustrations online rather than join any physical demonstrations. Also, a smart government can use this as (an imperfect yet useful) barometer of public opinion!”
As in the offline world, Sri Lankans’ expressions online also cover the full spectrum of human sentiments from euphoric to despondent – and everything in between. Since Covid-19 broke out, Gunawardene shared, people have been more worried, anxious, scared, or desperate and these have become dominant sentiments online too. Most of this public opinion is organically generated, i.e. not orchestrated, even though some manipulations may be attempted.
“And it is not all negative or grumbling; for example, enough people are commenting on social media thanking the health services and armed services for their mass vaccination efforts, and Sri Lankan athletes winning medals at the Paralympics in Tokyo temporarily lifted the national mood,” he added.
