Would Social Media Have Helped Mahatma Gandhi's Struggle For Freedom?

History Paper: Would social media have helped Mahatma Gandhi’s struggle for Freedom

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Social media has become a tool of communication through which a message is conveyed to the target audience in a few seconds. It helps in sharing information on different social sites and at present social media has become one of the great sources through which awareness is created among the people. Social media has become a source of reaching people and is being used by people belonging to all the fields of life. Specifically, leaders are using social media to make their point of view approachable to higher number of people. At present, leaders are using social media and it would be interesting to think that how would social media would have helped Mahatma Gandhi?

According to Nipun Mehta, social media serves as a platform for bringing changes in society. Experts claim that Gandhi was never an anti-technology and change hating person rather he loved to do things as per the demand of the time. Gandhi was one of the leaders who knew how to accept changes that occurred with time. Nipun claims that as Gandhi was a revolutionary man, he would have used social media so that he could have reached more people and let them know his ideas regarding the concept of independence. If social networks were around, he would have used them for his revolutionary purposes.

According to V.S Gupta, Gandhi would have used the support of available sources that serve people and work in their favor. Gandhi himself was a great communicator and pays great respect to journalism. Journalism is now directly linked to social media. In the old days, the newspaper used to serve the same purpose that today is being served by social media. Gupta claims that Mahatma Gandhi was not only a great leader, social reformer rather he was a great communicator as well because he used all the available resources of his time in order to better communicate with his people. He used sources of communication that were common at that time as he supported the notion of using technology for spreading his message, so it is believed that Gandhi would have used social media if it was present during his time. One of the most prominent use that social media serves is communication and Gandhi more than anyone else recognized communication as the most effective tool for shaping one's opinion and mobilizing popular support. Gandhi had been one of the most successful and influential leaders of India because he was skilled at communication.

Experts claim that Mahatma Gandhi was the key figure of India who directed his people for independence from the British rule. He smartly united the neighboring identities and ideologies but if he would have access to social media, he could have achieved his aims in lesser time. Undoubtedly the battle and struggle of Gandhi for the independence of India would have turned out differently if there was social media back in those days. Clamor factor is the recognizing factor in Gandhi's strategies and the present-day online networking. Social media is helping people in knowing the fact and social sites have been instrumental in running different administrations by revealing the facts of damaging intentions. Gandhi would have used social media for creating awareness in his people as today social media indicates how impacting an activity or step could be, so likewise Gandhi would have used social media in his struggle for freedom for increasing the impact of his marches, walks and message as social media helps in creating an impact on a greater level. Social media would have helped Mahatma Gandhi in his struggle for freedom bypassing his message on to the places where he had to go personally.

Social media could have cut short his hustle of going place to place by conveying his message too far off places and gathering his people and comrades at one platform. Social media could have helped him in spreading his message to those who are out of the country so that he could keep them updated about the condition within the country. Mahatma Gandhi could have used social media to reach the international forums as at present; mainly social media is used for making people aware especially to those who are not living in a country that is going through something worse.

Taking a look at the role social media is playing today, it could be concluded that social media could have helped Gandhi in many ways. He could have used social media for passing on his message to far off places and making those people aware about the struggles he was doing for getting the freedom for his nation and people through regular updates. Taking a look at the ways how social media is used, it could be promulgated that Gandhi could have used social media for gathering his people who were supporting his freedom struggle. So as a whole, it could be promulgated that social media could have been used by Gandhi for communicating his ideas and motivating people for increasing their efforts that they were putting for getting freedom from the British rule.

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