Survival Of The Fittest

By Anushka Dey

Social media - a magical gateway to the land of  bewitching dreams ;

What a shame it houses nightmares , making us wake up with a scream 

Here, everyone’s life is painted picture perfect 

Each moment is uploaded, cropping out the defect 

We  slowly turn into slaves of selfies and status updates

Arguing with strangers; engaging in  fruitless debates 

Hanging out with family & friends? Sorry! I have no time

We lie to ourselves with  five hours of screen time 

In lust of likes and in mad hunger for validation 

We willingly drink sedating , sweet poison of self-destruction 

Emotions get edited and sentiments are scripted for ‘views’ 

Our lives are products today ; privacy is old news 

Thus, Digital-vultures swipe down and begin their operation

Like blood-thirsty leeches , they suck on bits of personal information

Stealthy wolves lurk around in sheep’s disguise 

They feast on insecurities and ruthlessly criticize 

Freedom of  speech is misused as freedom of being rude 

In the name of sharing opinions , unsparing hate is spewed

One silly mistake and next day you are material for meme 

Faceless, fault-finding watchdogs tear apart your self-esteem 

One misleading step, one  touch on an unknown link 

Leave you with an empty account and bankrupt within a blink 

Hence venture  unfamiliar digital alleys with vigilant eyes 

Because cyber-realm is full of tricks and calculated lies 

Under the veil of anonymity , dove feathered ravens remain

trust not their fabricated tales, requests for OTP do not entertain 

Remember dear friends, being uncool is certainly fine 

Than being the next potential prey of a predator online 

Secure your communication with End-to-End Encryption 

Always question and verify to avoid scammer’s devilish deception 

Take cautious steps in this cryptic maze of cyberspace 

Evade phishing hooks by looking beyond the surface 

Patch up the firewalls before it gets too late 

Always keep your softwares and applications up to date 

Add many characters to passwords , to keep the security strong 

Do not  panic ! If  you fall in trap and everything goes wrong 

Fear not ! Lodge a complain to the cyber cell 

Report the issue and things will go well

Spread awareness and educate alike the elder and younger demographic 

Digital literacy is for all; from senior citizens to the youth dynamic 

Knowledge is your power , use it to your best

As the universal law goes, survival of the fittest

By Anushka Dey