Nepal, June 10 -- In recent months, the Prime Minister Balendra Shah-led government has increasingly substituted policy engagement with a digital-first approach that prioritises viral engagement over the rigours of statecraft. While the adept use of technology is a hallmark of modern leadership, a worrying pattern has emerged where social media serves as a tool for deflection, trivialising serious state affairs and obscuring critical national crises.

The recent controversy involving a late-night social media post, in which the prime minister jokingly requested the 'prime minister's number' to apply for an ambassadorship, exemplifies a growing disconnect between the gravity of high office and the levity of personas. To dismiss such intera...