‘Social media creates bio-envy’

Bollywood actress Richa Chadha who, along with the Udta Punjab director Abhishek Chaubey, attended the Mountain Echoes 2019, says strategic posts on social media by celebrities create a lot of “bio-envy”. During an interactive session with students at the Royal University of Bhutan, Richa and Abhishek were asked how social media impacts our lives and if art can change that. “I think social media creates a lot of bio-envy. My social media team asks me to share pictures of what I am eating, what car I am riding and the kind of lifestyle I lead because that is called flexing on social media. It is a strategy and it creates bio-envy. It is a lost battle,” said Richa. “It is clear that 5% of the people in the world will be having that life and the rest 95% are being repeatedly told that what they have is not good enough.” Therefore, the actress avers, people should not live with the idea that money and success offer happiness. “Money and happiness get intertwined. The whole idea of having more and showing off continues,” she explained. Citing an example, she said: “Culturally if we look at our parent’s generation, when someone had an expensive car, they would rather park the car at a distance and walk into the venue while meeting other people who did not have something so luxurious - because showing off was not a part of our culture. I think we have to reorient (to such a mindset) sooner because the practice of showing off is causing  a lot of problems.”