Mindful Media Consumption: Protecting Your Mental Health in a Divided World

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Welcome to the Transforming Stress podcast with Dr Ash Apana. Welcome back.

Thank you so much, Dr Ash. Always a pleasure being here and talking with you.

It is so lovely to see you back. And some of my friends and family members in India were very keen that I speak on this topic of recent influencer, influencer-related freedom of speech, the mass outrage, and the stress it has stress it has caused in the society. And your background, Apana, you are a yoga teacher, you are deeply rooted in the Indian culture. Also, you are a you are a highly accomplished charted accountant and worked in the corporate world. So you have seen how the media and how the stress which is caused by disrespect and insensitivity towards established cultural norms. When I say cultural norms, I mean what is acceptable to the majority of the society. Maybe 95 to 99 percent. We are not talking about the outliers here, we're talking about the majority of the society. So I am very keen to know your thoughts about how we can learn from the recent incidences, and it has caused a huge amount of stress in lots of people, maybe hundreds of thousands of people. And also recently there was an article in the BBC about this about the same issue. So I would be really grateful for your opinion on this.

Yeah, Dr Ash, I think it has created ripples you know across the nation. It has a lot of things were going on in the nation that were being discussed that have died down because of this recent incident. and how much are really influencers allowed to use and abuse their freedom of speech, so to say. So yes, I do feel you know, India is a deeply India is a country that's deeply rooted in culture, in traditions. We take pride of our culture, we take pride in our traditions, and to see content creators and people who are really put up on a pedestal, people who are looking up to, to see such people create remarks, which I don't think in the Indian context they are crass. I think in the global context, I don't think anywhere they will be taken well by any culture or by any tradition. So I think when you let certain things go on for a while and then suddenly someone crosses the line and you get to say, how much is enough? And what is really enough? What is that line that you need to draw? So a lot of people are really a lot of people are really calling out at the influenza culture that the that's so predominant, and how they are really, you know, spreading misinformation, they are abusing the freedom of speech, and they're just they're gonna say what they're gonna say. Is it right? Is it wrong? And what do we do about it? I think that's the main question that everyone is asking.

Thank you very much, Parna, for sharing your thoughts. So I feel I like to simplify things, and there are several elements to this. I would say the first thing would be about the cultural sensibility and the respect for boundaries. And the respect for boundaries, what I mean to say that if a particular thing is acceptable in one country, let's say for example, I visited around 40 plus countries or so, if something is acceptable in America or Australia, that thing might not go down very well in Saudi Arabia or Middle East because there are different kinds of cultural values. So the onus of responsibility goes on the person to know, to have that self-awareness and have that control on their speech, on their language, of what they are sharing, does not disrespect the boundaries of the majority of the people of that culture. Of course, absolutely. So that's one thing. The second thing is authenticity. And if I were to say that, if I give you a lecture on swimming and tell you about that, I have been I give you different types of strokes of swimming and give you a full one-hour lecture, and then you say, Dr Ash, how much how much have you swam in your life? Are you a are you a professional swimmer? And I tell you, no, I've never jumped into the water. Would you believe me?

Yeah, absolutely.

It's about what I cannot talk about anything what my life does not demonstrate. If I were to tell you that my highest values are professional growth, then you would believe me. You know, I've been a doctor for three decades in three continents now: India, US, and UK. So you would believe that because my life demonstrates that. Similarly, what we see is that there are so many people out there who are selling stuff. But whether there is any authenticity or not, that is something to be established. Now, I also am a very firm believer of taking personal and self-accountability. So, this is for the listeners, because the social media is going to be on the rise. It's for the listeners also to understand and develop those critical reasoning skills on whether or not this influencer or this so-called expert can be trusted. Yeah, absolutely. And what is their self, what are what are their self-boundaries? And also, we are now coming to an age of digital addiction where people are just endlessly scrolling for more dopamine before more the next kick. So that also has to one has to be very self-aware about those kind of addictive behaviors. So we want to see this problem, this dilemma, Aparnaji, from two angles. One from the angle of the influencer, of what they are serving you on a plate, what is their authenticity, whether or not it is culturally sensitive. Other thing is that we have to look inside ourselves, what we are consuming. Is it worth it worth consuming, or you just you have to be very careful of the content, and that is where we take personal accountability, personal responsibility. Now we can talk about cultural sensibility and boundaries, and that is an area for the law in every country to enact. How do they restrict the use of the so-called freedom of speech? I will like to take a one eighty-degree opposite approach to this, and I would say control of speech. How controlled you can be about your speech, about your rhetoric, that it does not offend, especially deeply wound, the personal boundaries of people you are so-called serving. Yeah. So I would love to know more views from you about the things we have discussed. Let us start with cultural sensitivity and respect for boundaries, because I feel if you if somebody has an audience of tens of thousands of people or millions of people, ultimately it is also a one-to-one relationship. If somebody is engaging in that content and how they are how they are perceiving that content, it is really important to have that kind of a responsibility.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And there's a lot of responsibility on people who create content there. And I would actually love to touch upon the authenticity that you mentioned, you know. how authentic is someone to just stand up and say, you know, you should do this, or this is it's right to say this, or you can make such remarks and get away with it. Because in my field, in the field of yoga, health, wellness, I see people creating content just for the need of creating content. It is not authentic, it is not fact-checked, and many times it is misleading. And I am in the field, so I know it. I have been practicing yoga for over a decade, so I know it. But someone who's following you blindly, someone who trusts you does not know it, and that is misinformation, that is you misleading someone who trusts you. Right? with your parents, you have a certain kind of boundaries. What you talk with your friends, you can't talk with your parents. It's very clear. With your friends, not with everyone, you have the same kind of relationship, with even with your partner. So there are different boundaries that people set with different people. And yes, maybe with your partner, with your spouse, you know, you say, we don't have any secrets, fair enough. But apart from that, any personal relationship that you have, you have certain boundaries. Then what I don't understand, what makes people think that the relationship a content creator has with its followers has no boundaries at all?

That's a that's a very irrational, that would be a very, very irrational thought, thought process. And I would say very I would say a very irresponsible as well. Because if you see the dynamics here, Raparna, what is happening that, like suppose you and me are having this conversation, we are exchanging time, and time is the only asset which you cannot get back. People, when they are engaging in this content, they are spending their time and they are wanting some value to grow themselves. Allah, and of course, sometimes it would be for entertainment also, and each of us has our own choice, what we want to consume. But if anything is rather toxic or rather having negative effects, which has been recently brought by the media, I think that is something which there has to be much more control, and that should be the future, that would be the future direction of new and every country is going to be having different laws and policies around this, but it will be really important that it has to be respected.

Yes, and as you mentioned, you know, policies, laws, regulations. I think so far after the digital boom happened, and now everyone goes to Google if they want to know something, even before visiting a doctor. I'll go to Google to see, oh, what do my symptoms mean? Or if I want a fitness advice, I might go to my favorite fitness content creator, you know, so-called influencer. Or if I want to know some recipe, I'm not gonna go open my cabinet, take out a recipe book, and go through it. Gone are the days. I'm gonna go to the page of my favorite influencer and you know, pick up a recipe and okay, I'm all of that. That is the kind of times that we are living in. So it's very important now for countries to have laws around it, regulations around it. There has to be some sort of a model policing so that people do not take their followers for a ride, people don't post videos just for TRP. People respect boundaries, you know. They should, at the back of their mind, they should know if I'm gonna say this, I might get into trouble. Because we don't have any laws around it, we don't have any regulations around it. There is absolutely nowhere that it says who qualifies as an influencer. Yes, there's no certification, there's no badge, there's nothing. You can go on the internet and just say anything, and you know, okay, you can get by. So there it's high time. I think countries need to come up with some sort of a regulation, some sort of a law. So people also, you know, they think twice before posting something, twice before making a comment, which will not go down well with any society.

Yeah, yeah. So I had I had I with the recent controversy, I had friends in America, friends in England look at that, and they said for 99.99.9% population is not going to fly very high. So that is universal opinion that, and we are talking we are talking about a majority of the population here. We are not talking about the outliers. So completely I'm on the we are we are on the same page here, especially the lack of cultural sensibility, the disrespect for boundaries. We were talking about in authentic inauthenticity, we are talking about misinformation used by several influencers. Now, let's see the other side of the coin. That as consumers, what is the responsibility of people who are listening to the influencers? I believe I'm a strong believer in self-accountability that we take personal responsibility and go away from shame, blame and be driven by our own highest values. And I know these days with the with the media and the digital overload and how things are shifting in the society in terms of the attention span of human beings, which is as you might know, it's worse than the goldfish. It's somewhere around seven to eight seconds. Also, it is showing that the endless scrolling, the overload of the digital devices is affecting our brain. It's affecting the it's affecting the prefrontal cortex, which is the chief executive center of the brain. You can say the CEO of the brain, and the it's dysregulating the amygdala. And I'm really very keen to know from you because you are an accomplished yoga teacher, that how this can be managed. Because today there is this particular influencer, tomorrow there will be somebody. but we need to take strong, we need to have our own strong personal and self-boundaries. And I think there is no better system than yoga, and I think this is at a very important time in the history of mankind that we really need to, we need real, really need to get into a lifestyle which is based in self-care, emotional, spiritual, physical, before it really takes us into a downward spiral. So we'd love to know your views on this.

You just said out loud my thoughts, Dr. Rash. self-accountability is so important. You know, I think what happens to us is mostly somewhere our own responsibility. So before we start putting the blame that, you know, because of that content creator or influencer, the generation is going bad, or people are getting, you know, brainwashed, so to say, we can choose to regulate the content that we see. It's my father used to say the onus always lies on you. You know, the button stops at you, the buck stops at you. So, and I'm a firm believer, like yourself, that it's okay. You don't need to, no one is forcing you to see it. The algorithm of social media is such that I don't get those reads on my feet, you know, you get what you see, you can choose to not see it, and even then, you know, as you said, the attention span, people really have very small attention span. And if there is a video of 10 seconds so showing someone making a crass comment, you will it will be like a hook, and you'll be like a fish. So, but we don't want to be that fish who gets onto that you know fatal hook.

So that is that is where we need to start disengaging from such content, disengaging from you, especially when you have seen that the per the person who is sharing this content, their life doesn't demonstrate what they are speaking about. It's inauthentic. It's inauthentic, it's misinformation, it's just is just information. I mean, if you need information, you can just Google. And information is information is so easy to access this these days. But that kind of information from that kind of a person which is not which is not served with authenticity is not going to lead into any transformation. Would you agree with that? Like it's again the same thing. Again, the same thing. If I want to talk to you about that I'm a bodybuilder, you're going to you're going to doubt me immediately, isn't it? And even if I give you a lecture on that, you're not going to believe me.

Yeah, yeah. No one's gonna take me up for a musician, right?

Right. So what we are saying that it's is the words are cheap. Words are really cheap. Unless and until we walk or talk. Anybody can come and do the talk.

Yes. That's why we need to take accountability of our actions, of what we are doing, the kind of content we are engaging in. People don't realize. You know, there is this saying, and we as Indians at least, we believe in it that the kind of food you eat is the kind of soul you'll have. Okay? Because the food that we consume affects us. Everybody, everybody knows it. I think most of the people will agree. People who tend to eat organic food or more satvik food, they are different. People who tend to eat more processed or fried food, they are different, the appearance is different, the thought process is different, approach to everyday activities, everything is different. There is a I'm not saying this is right or that's wrong, it's just different. So the food you consume, the if there are three kinds of foods and there are three kinds of people, both three all three kinds of people will be different. What we don't understand is it's not just the food, it's also what we see, what we hear. You know, you go onto Netflix, it's you have a section of crime, murders, mysteries, psychotic thrillers. There is also a section of documentaries. You keep seeing those murder mysteries, you keep seeing these documentaries on people killing each other, people planning revenge, it starts affecting your psyche. You see shows which are unauthentic, where they have normalized, you know, saying cuss words, abusing, and every other sentence, it affects your psyche, it affects the way you think, it normalizes certain things for you. You think it's okay to abuse, you think you cannot complete a sentence without saying a few words. The kind of things you hear each morning, wake up for a month, just hear some chants and then come back to me. Tell me that you did not feel the difference on the 31st day, or you wake up in the morning and hear some noises of people fighting and hurling at each other, and tell me that on the 31st day you did not feel a difference. There is a reason why when we go to bed we hear white noise or the ocean or the forest or the rain, and we do not want to hear people fighting, hurling. Because what you hear affects you. What you see affects you. It's not just the food, it's not just the environment. This is something that people are totally missing out this point. You know, you have to be very mindful of what you see, what you what you hear, what you follow on Instagram, whom do you listen to? Because it's not gonna happen one day, it's not gonna happen on day two, on day three. But if you do that for a year, it's gonna make a difference. It is going to tell you, okay, this might be normal.

How repeated consumption of such materials influences our brain. So Parna all the insights you have shared are really very, very meaningful. Very meaningful. I know we are running out of time. This is a really huge topic. I'm very happy to come back and revisit that with you. But for the sake of our listeners and viewers, why don't we summarize what we have discussed in the last half an hour? Just in the in a minute or two, that would be very useful. The take-home points are like that the influencers or so-called influencers will need will need to be aware of cultural boundaries, cultural sensitivity, and of course countries will have their own laws, that's not our place to get into. The second thing you mentioned was about the misinformation. And more recently you have been speaking about personal responsibility and accountability. Maybe you can summarize that part.

Yeah, yeah. I think it's very clear accountability of the influencers and accountability of the consumers. For influencers, you need the laws, you need regulations, you need something that they abide to. There has to be something that gives a person the credibility to speak on a topic. You know, some sort of a verification, some sort of a certification. And as consumers, the onus is on you, it's on all of us. We can we can choose to disengage from things because it's deep down in our heart, we know what's right, what's not. And I don't think it's cool to abuse. I don't think it's cool to just go into this culture where there are no boundaries or where you can just you know cross any boundary and make a joke on your parents or someone else's parents. No, it's not cool. I'm sorry, it's not flossy. That's trash.

So, yeah, to have influences and of the consumer. I'm not going to say anything on that, Aparna. The Supreme Court of India has already given their verdict on that, and they have stroke and they have spoken very strongly about that. And I fully, fully agree with the stance they have taken. So, Aparna, I would like to thank you again for joining me in the Transforming Stress with Dr Ash podcast. It's been a real joy and privilege to speak with you. Thank you for wholeheartedly and authentically sharing your thoughts. And I would look forward to having you again. If the listeners want to follow you or listen to you, what is the best way they can they can do that?

I can be reached on my website. I can be reached on Instagram. My website is listed www.yogtara.com. Same as my Instagram handle.

Well, thank you so much, Apana. It's been a real joy. And until we meet again.

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