By Nazakat Aslam

The digital world in Kashmir has grown faster than anyone imagined. 

Phones, data plans, and social media platforms have turned everyday users into public voices. 

Influencers now sit where teachers, storytellers, writers, and cultural thinkers once stood. 

A single reel or video can reach thousands within minutes, shaping opinions, trends, and attitudes in ways that felt impossible not long ago. 

This shift brings energy, creativity, and possibility, though it also brings serious questions about direction and intent.

Many creators deserve recognition. Several invest time in documenting local history, celebrating dialects, explaining traditions, and reflecting on everyday life in the valley. 

Some highlight small businesses, neighbourhood cafés, street vendors, and family-run shops, helping them attract customers and stay afloat. 

Content like this strengthens community bonds and builds pride without shouting for attention. 

Digital storytelling, when handled with care, opens doors that once stayed shut.

The problem begins when popularity becomes the sole goal. 

Influence gives power, and power asks for responsibility. A growing number of online personalities seem detached from this truth. Feeds overflow with exaggerated performances, reckless claims, and content designed mainly to provoke reaction. 

Substance slips to the margins as spectacle dominates attention. Clarity gives way to confusion, and screens overflow with noise that offers little lasting value.

Obscenity, vulgar humour, and shock tactics often hide behind the language of freedom and engagement. Cultural boundaries blur, dignity weakens, and decency feels negotiable. Attention becomes currency, and any method that draws clicks appears acceptable. Meaning takes a back seat while reactions drive the engine.

Online conflicts add fuel to this fire. 

Public feuds, accusations, call-outs, and staged controversies attract far more attention than thoughtful discussion. Numbers replace integrity, and empathy loses ground to outrage. 

In this race for visibility, ethics bend easily. The louder the content, the faster it travels, and the cycle repeats.

Technology plays its own role in this shift. Algorithms reward engagement without weighing consequence. Content that sparks anger or curiosity spreads quickly, while layered conversations struggle to surface. Audiences adapt to what they see most often. 

Over time, expectations change. Volume starts to feel like value. Shallow narratives feel normal. Misinformation blends into entertainment until the line becomes hard to see.

Young people stand at the center of this transformation. They do more than watch digital platforms. They live inside them. 

Screens shape how the world looks, sounds, and feels. When irresponsible voices dominate online spaces, younger viewers absorb lessons without realizing it. 

Visibility starts to feel equal to worth, while controversy begins to look like success.

Consumption habits follow this pattern. Content that shouts attracts more attention than content that explains. Credibility loses importance when excitement leads the way. 

Algorithms amplify these preferences, feeding users similar material again and again. Over time, thinking slows, fact-checking fades, and reflection feels unnecessary.

Watching creators gain fame through insults, distortion, or manufactured drama sends a clear message. 

Popularity comes from provocation, while respect feels optional. 

This message influences how young users speak, post, and imagine their own online presence. Creation turns performative, and dialogue turns combative.

Cultural understanding also suffers in this process. Simplified and misleading portrayals of Kashmir circulate widely, stripped of depth and context. Reels and short videos flatten complex histories into digestible fragments. 

Language, traditions, and collective memory appear distorted or reduced to trends. Young people encountering these images often meet diluted versions of their own identity. 

Learning gives way to spectacle, and depth fractures into algorithm-friendly pieces.

This environment trains attention spans and moral judgment. Constant exposure to exaggerated conflict lowers tolerance for nuance while raising comfort with misinformation. 

Scrolling becomes habitual, and the influence runs deeper than it appears on the surface.

Influencers function as informal educators whether they accept the title or reject it. Their words, tone, and choices leave marks. 

Responsible creators can inform, preserve culture, and encourage curiosity. Careless ones reshape values in damaging ways. 

Influence without accountability silently molds what young people admire, imitate, and believe.

Despite all this, the digital space in Kashmir still holds promise. 

Creativity, storytelling, and connection remain possible. The question lies in which voices grow louder and which values guide them. 

The future of online culture depends less on technology and more on the choices people make when the camera turns on.

• The author is pursuing Masters in Journalism and Mass Communication at IUST. She can be reached at [email protected].