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| Courtesy: www.theclipartillustration.com |
Some days I am happy and gay,
Some
days I am sad and vague,
Whatever
the feeling may be…
A
common ground they find with me,
What
used to be a call to my bestie
Is
now a vent out on Facebook…
For
the Millenial in me
In today’s world, social media has quickly risen up
on most priority lists. If Twitter is the news breaking platform, Facebook has
found a permanent residence in most households. Days don’t start without a
religious log in to Facebook nor do we sleep a wink without checking our news
feed at night. Business travels don’t start without the customary “check in”
while vacations are truly not complete if they are not announced on the network.
Happiness, Anger, Frustrations, Celebrations, all sorts of
achievements...everything finds its way on to this book… hell even a random
picture of the neighbour’s dog.
Despite today’s hectic schedules and the busy lives we all crib about, there always seems to be some time left over for this new friend, the one that seems to have taken priority over all others. Let me correct that; the one that has taken priority but also given us the opportunity to stay connected with friends, family and acquaintances. However there is this nagging feeling I get each time my news feed loads; has that thin line that separates the real from the virtual blurred? Has our dependency on this technology phenomenon reached a point of no return? I oscillate between being irritated and amused each time I come across instances which strengthen this feeling, especially when I see these-
Despite today’s hectic schedules and the busy lives we all crib about, there always seems to be some time left over for this new friend, the one that seems to have taken priority over all others. Let me correct that; the one that has taken priority but also given us the opportunity to stay connected with friends, family and acquaintances. However there is this nagging feeling I get each time my news feed loads; has that thin line that separates the real from the virtual blurred? Has our dependency on this technology phenomenon reached a point of no return? I oscillate between being irritated and amused each time I come across instances which strengthen this feeling, especially when I see these-
Breakfast
Menus: I am really glad you had a healthy breakfast but seriously what am I
going to do with knowing whether you had a Parantha
or Dosa to start your day with?
The latest
weather channel in town: Climate changes. In India it is either hot or cold
or raining somewhere or the other. As global warming is setting up home with
us, those changes are sudden but definitely not shocking are they? So someone
please help me understand why one should go gaga if it suddenly starts raining
somewhere? If you are watching the rains from your window go fix yourself some chai and pakoras. Getting soaked in the
rains are you? - grab an umbrella or simply enjoy the drench… Oh wait a minute
I shouldn’t have said that, that’s another topic to put up isn’t it? Silly me!
Thinking out
loud: Yes, Archimedes probably did that when he made his “mass”ive
discovery and I am sure it must have been the most exhilarating moment for him;
but you know what? He did not go around sending cryptic thoughts out to all, waiting
for everyone to inquire what he meant. No one would be happier than me were you
truly to have your Archimedean moment, but till then please spare us the
rumination… please?
(Dis)respecting privacy: However open
one might be on Facebook, there are aspects that everyone prefers keeping
private and personal… always; if only that was as easy to understand. Sigh.
Rather than embarrassing them in public, the
concerned person willing, do put in all your efforts to get well versed with
their personal lives but over private messages, mails or maybe those long
forgotten phone calls? “Live and Let live” is too much to ask for these days
anyways.
It is that
time of the month: No kidding! And pray what honors did we do to be made
privy to this information? Should we be cooking you a favorite meal? Take you
shopping for those bare essentials or wait a minute are you just warning us
about those mood swings? Gawd, the suspense!
Emotional
outbursts: Awwwwww…It’s your wedding anniversary! Congratulations! But err…
umm… could you keep those lovey-dovey notes/ballads/poetries and re-runs of
classic English/Hindi love songs between you two love birds? Let love continue to
be in the air and not get poured all over Facebook? Once again congratulations J
The list goes on but you know what is endless? –
The “likes” these statuses generate.
People find the time even during a crisis (read
illness/surgeries/accidents… even death) to update these on their pages and the
likes continue to shower regardless of what the message is.
We have begun to document every single moment of
our day to day life, every single thought that crosses our mind, every single
activity we do...Have we begun to lead an alternate life? One that is built on
impulse most of the time? Is that thin line between reality and the virtual
world disappearing? Has Facebook become the new Truman Show?
Too many questions to ponder over but maybe I
should do that some other day… it is now time for my customary afternoon log in
to Facebook.
There is a difference between Truman Show and Facebook.
ReplyDeleteIn the former, people were pretending to lead a real life and Truman didn't have any choice.
While in later (extending it to any virtual media of communication like chats, blogs, etc), people by choice try to lead a real life which may or may not be visible to the world. I believe that our real lives are marred by pretentious virtues and values that forces us to portray ourselves in a certain way.
We get the freedom to bring out the real us (the angel as well as the demon) in virtual world of social networking.
And this I believe is the most compelling proposition pulling us back to them.
Thanks for stopping by PJ. Its the concept that I am referring to of documenting your life for everyone to know and see..not the movie script in itself :)
ReplyDeleteThere is also this want to be liked by all and present a made-up picture to the world that says, check it out - my world is so awesome!
ReplyDeleteA dissatisfied ego deep down perhaps?
@Wooster- Yes, thats the feeling one gets with some projections you see on social media.. i guess that could be an explanation for it.
ReplyDeleteI think people only open those chapters of their lives (or create new ones) that they want others to know :P
ReplyDelete@PJ- trust me many don't go by that. They just post period. :)
ReplyDeleteHmmm...
ReplyDeleteMay be I am just over analyzing,
and may be you are quite correct.
Or may be I am just tantalizing,
anyone who wants a debate, to object.
May be I wanna see other's inner-self on display,
so that I can know more about their dark side.
Or may be I have already given my evil self away,
and waiting for someone to understand what is implied.
Very good article . I get annoyed when people post pictures of infants and toddlers with terminal illness. The subject line goes like " 10 Like=1$, 5 share=10$...". Whoever posts the article wants us to like the pictures or share them with the world. Really!!! what's so likeable to see a baby suffering a terminal illness. Some even end up posting stuff like "Facebook will pay 1$ each for 10 likes for the picture". People want us to believe they are compassionate and caring, are they really??
ReplyDelete@PJ- wow, you should start blogging too! :)
ReplyDelete@Majestic- Thank you, I remembered our chat wfew weeks back when I wrote this :)
Well summed up the effects and happenings in FB. :)
ReplyDeleteIt has indeed become a part of everyday life!
Thanks Indrani :)
ReplyDeletevery Nice Write Up and the mentioned things I believe are exactly correct...
ReplyDeleteI am not to be a part of FB... 😋
Thanks Harsha!
ReplyDeleteI think i can find it in me to forgive most of the aberrations you've mentioned, babe, but what I absolutely cannot stand is when people deliberately misspell words or repeat an alphabet a zillion times to lay emphasis on something, for example amazingggggg! Arrgh. I suspect this is probably another way of drawing attention to themselves (possibly to make up for the lack of interesting stuff in their lives).
ReplyDelete@Namita- yeah, i guess all are ways to seek attention.. i suppose in the excitement of staying connected one does not realize when they blur all boundaries...
ReplyDeleteI find facebook very useful for two things:
ReplyDelete1: News and knowledge - quite a lot of current news and sometimes useful articles I end up reading first on FB! It acts as a good RSS aggregator :)
2: Humor - I get my daily dose of funny pictures/videos/quotes here. Again, the variety and collection of such posts are pretty good on FB than anywhere else!
:) And that's why one deletes their Facebook account because one doesn't need more white noise in their already over-informed life. Also, if you haven't been in touch for a decade it's okay if you are not in touch now. And just because your Friends count is 350 doesn't really mean you have 350 friends. And one doesn't need to know about your low self esteem issues which force you to post details about your mundane life looking for reinforcement and encourage and "likes". ...
ReplyDeletesorry that's a bit of a rant but I just find non-specialized social networks annoying
Vipula- and that's def. one of the many reasons why we are kindred souls.. right? :)
ReplyDeleteI stick on for the amusement, it does give you a good dose of entertainment ;-)
@ Priya- :-)
ReplyDelete