Pen, sword or keyboard?

 Or 

Today, a strong media to communicate with the world is on the palm of our hands. 

However, it is also true that this media scratches our palm at the first opportunity. At times, I have noticed that nothing is true in this digital world, neither the virtual friends nor their posts. 

A few days ago, while reading the newspaper, I came across a very important piece of news. It stated that last year, over 300,000 Indians became a victim of cybercrime. 

With the mushrooming of social media sites, virtual friendship has increased. But I have noticed that often, the obsession with social media and virtual friendship takes a dangerous turn and can lead one to become a victim of cybercrime. People probably do not understand that most of the time, a stranger in the virtual world remains a stranger.

While online, we should not only be careful of other people and strangers, but also we should be careful of ourselves.

Many cyber users try to praise themselves and raise their levels in front of others. They build their fake images in front of others on social sites. They photoshop their photographs and often make false claims about themselves on their posts. Often in such cases, people start believing the lies. 

People also forget that whatever they post is permanent. Their post cannot be undone. In the heat of the moment, they post a lot of things that are not even needed. Later on, they realise their folly. Even if we are excited, we should check once and then post.

During the last century, a pen was mightier than the sword, but has the keyboard become mightier than both in this century?

(Published in The Gulf Today on April 9, 2016)