Ananya Panday opens up about social media and its impact on human relationships

Ananya Panday is one of Bollywood’s most promising and rising stars who has already begun blazing her own trail within the industry recently.

Where  the rest believe that social media plays a large role within Bollywood, Ananya feels that it paradoxically makes people feel more isolated.

Ever since her debut with Student of the Year 2, she finds it scary how many youngsters seek validation, and even confidence, from social media based applications.

During a session at the event, PTI quoted Ananya stating, "We derive so much of our self-confidence and validation from Instagram. Just imagine one day Instagram gets deleted like all of your friends who you think you have on social media, all these likes and comments just disappear, what are we left with? We have stopped valuing human relationships and contact. We hardly talk to someone in person.”

With the rise of the internet and increased anonymity, Ananya decided to take matters into her own hands and did her part to decrease the existence of cyber bullying.

During a conversation with stylist and costume designer Anaita Shroff Adajania, Ananya admitted that she herself had been a victim to bullying, at a young age. She  believed those experiences to be the catalyst that led her to launch  "So Positive" initiative.

She stated, "A lot of stuff people said to me when I was younger, subconsciously stayed with me and became my biggest insecurities. I was exposed to the public because my dad is an actor. My pictures went online at a young age. A lot of negativity came from there. Not just with me, but it happened with a lot of my friends who are in the public eye.

"I kept thinking, 'Why isn't anyone saying anything about that? Why isn't anyone doing anything about it?' And then an incident happened with me where someone claimed that I lied about my education and it really frustrated me. That's when I decided I need to do something about it."