The Hindu Lit for Life| Malini Agarwal on surviving and thriving in the digital world

One of India’s earliest internet celebrities, entrepreneur, and author Malini Agarwal tells us about her latest book, surviving the virtual world, and what she has in store for 2025

When I set out to write Under the Influence: How to Survive and Thrive Online, I realised that we are not given any sort of guidance on how to be online, or what to expect. This was on my mind for a while, and I thought about how even when we have to drive a car, there is a test to take. In reality, we learn everything; our Ps and Qs, and even the basics about how we need to cover our nose when we sneeze. The internet though is free for all and unfortunately, the rules of social etiquette that we assume would cross over from real life just do not make it there.

So many of our living generations are going to grow up and exist in a virtual reality. Generation Beta for instance will be the most immersed in technology, and our generation will probably be the last which knew what life truly was like before the internet. We are moving into a whole new reality and must prepare people for what to expect — the good, bad, ugly and everything. 

Wherever there is good, there is bad, but it is all about being equipped and educated about the right tools to deal with it all. 

At The Hindu Lit for Life, I really want to talk about how my book has been written from the perspective of all my learnings. I built my career online, and everything I did, I built from scratch and learned from there. I am not trying to preach, but simply sharing how I learned to navigate the online world; survive and thrive there through all the lessons I have learned. 

In 2025, I want to be more present, I want to try something, a social experiment where I have an alternate Instagram handle where I want to be followed and follow people I know in real life. I also want to learn fun things, like how to play Mahjong because I have heard it is all about creating order in chaos. While my idea of happiness always used to be something to look forward to, the pandemic taught us that this cannot be the case always. So for me now, it is all about enjoying the moment because happiness truly is made up of a series of little joys. It is not as much about the big things. 

What are you reading currently? I have written more than I have read in the last few years, and I look forward to getting recommendations for the year, especially from the The Hindu Lit for Life

One book you recommend everyone reads TheCelestine Prophecy by James Redfield.