When Social Media Posts Overshadow a Tragedy

Many shared vacation photos from Pahalgam after the terror attack on 22 April—it wasn't just tone-deaf but also proved that social media separates us from reality

- Sandip Roy

As a child I visited Kashmir on a family vacation. I remember that trip well, the line of houseboats on Dal Lake, a thrilling cable car ride in Gulmarg, the pine trees and green meadows of Pahalgam. I don't remember if Baisaran, the site of the recent deadly terrorist attack, was on the itinerary. Perhaps it had not been developed as a destination then. For some reason, no photographs have survived in the family albums.

Perhaps it's just as well. Otherwise, I might well have been one of the thousands who rushed to share their Pahalgam pictures as soon as the news of the Baisaran horror hit the news cycle. Everyone was clearly well-intentioned. It was a way to express solidarity and shock, to tell the world how heartbroken they felt that a place of such beauty had become a scene of such bloodshed. It was a tribute to a beautiful place scarred by tragedy. Perhaps not quite "Je Suis Kashmiri" but certainly "Je Suis Tourist in Kashmir".

But as the pictures started filling social media, a sense of disquiet started welling up as well. The happy smiling pictures at some point started to overshadow the very tragedy they were trying to highlight. Columnist Shobhaa De tried to express the discomfort in a social media post that was then shared by multiple outlets. "Now is not the time to post about your Kashmir trip. It's not cute, it's not content. It's just tone-deaf. Stop being so insensitive for the sake of engagement. Read the goddamn room... Your Kashmir reels and posts can wait. People are going through real fear and loss." She went on to add, "Instagram isn't the issue. It's the disconnect."