Skip to main content

Out of sight, out of mind?


So it’s been quite sometime since I de activated my Facebook account. Well yes, it’s not a big deal. Thousands of people each day do that and I have perhaps just joined the bandwagon of the “oh so anti-social” people. But is not having a virtual presence really that anti social? Actually, not having a Facebook presence really that anti social? Are the ones who deactivate their Facebook accounts really like those movies that the audience forgets once they stop being aired on the television very often? Is the only way one can feel “social”; by posting one liners ranging from “I just woke up” to maybe “I just died”? Why the urge to open your account every 5 hours to see how many people liked your recent photo? Why the inclination to blow sirens over your “love” for your sweetheart? Why the ‘oh so intellectual” task of growing virtual plants?

Barring the last things, I have done it all and that’s precisely why I am wondering about the “Why” of it all! Are these things something we always wanted to do and didn’t do because we never got a chance to do? Or did we get addicted to these because they came in the market, even if we had no innate inclination towards them? Just to draw a parallel, did the demand create the supply here or the supply created the demand? I think the latter. Life is so much more peaceful now that I don’t have random people to entertain, random reasons to act “cool”, random things to say, and random things to do!

Often my friends have the complaint that they are bored of Facebook, and yet de activating their Facebook account sounds just “so wrong’! Are we really so scared of being “forgotten” by people? Do those people even matter who can just forget about you once you are out of their immediate surroundings? Do you really think your Facebook “Friends” will come to your rescue the next time you are in trouble? Without wanting to cynical here, I do acknowledge the fact that there have been many success stories that fill you with such profoundly joyful emotions about Facebook, but really? I have also heard a lot of profoundly joyful experiences of people on drugs. The same people who cannot remember what they said to their ex-girlfriend in an inebriated state.

Well perhaps there is a better side of Facebook that I wasn’t able to explore in the 4 years that I spent there. But I really doubt I would be able to do it even now. Is Facebook really connecting people? Is it really making the world more social? Is it really still that novel idea which will make this world a better place? Really? I have my doubts.
Labels:

Comments

  1. anupam11 April 2013 at 06:16

    I guess getting too Anti social is also not correct on your part.In Nature(be it Facebook or any other technology or may be a non-tech product)everything has its own crests and troughs ,positives and negatives,ups and downs and simply boycotting the thing just due to realizing it's negatives is really wrong.Ya I strongly agree that Facebook has stopped the actual "real conversation between close and dear ones" ,"ya Facebook has lead to making of virtual friends" in short yup it has made people addicts over Facebook But what i think personally is that getting off from Facebook and making yourself totally cut off from the online world is not really only alternative left.What is really required is to introspect oneself and self manage yourself and preventing yourself from turning into Facebook/twitter addicts which can be really disturbing.

    So in nutshell its not the Whys? that are needed ,its your self management and deep realization of self ,needed to avoid the addiction growing at such alarming rates among youths.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spirals and Circles

So here is a mathematical answer to a question that I have quite often asked myself and seldom troubled my friends with: “Does life move in Spirals or Circles?” The course that life takes is often described as a maze by some and a road with lots of twists and turns by others. A complicated web of events, people, emotions and thoughts, caught between these is you, the spider. A lot of our religious books refer to the course of life as “the cycle of life”, which essentially means “the circle of life”. It is perhaps the phrase used most often during those innumerable philosophical discussions that boring people like us have over drinks with friends. Yes, I have been ranting for quite a while, without really bringing in what I promised: the mathematics! In laymen terms, a circle is a two dimensional figure which is a collection of all points that are at equal distances from a given point. Essentially, a circle starts and ends at the same point. A spiral, is a three dimensional figur...
9 comments
Read more

Finding yourself?

Amidst all the cheering and jeering I stand with my back to all those people I can hear them and yet I turn a deaf ear to them Because in this moment, nothing matters It is just me and my thoughts And these thoughts overpower me Like waves overpower a sinking ship There was a ship I once saw It was blue and red and a little green It kept moving ahead with a hole at the bottom The captain kept rowing and rowing And the others kept emptying the ship of the water He was almost in a frenzy to reach the horizon And he did not seem to care about the setting sun In the same sea a little further from the ship I saw two fishes, they were blue and red and a little green They were chasing the yellow light in the sea That bright light lit the sea as if it was on fire They kept swimming and jumping and running With each step ahead they lost the soft beautiful fins And yet they kept swimming towards the horizon Not knowing that the sun was really setting ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The MIC Syndrome!

Today, with deep admiration for myself and a few others who helped me in my discovery, I present before my readers a not-so-new genre of males: The MIC males, short for The Messed up, In Denial, Crying males! At the risk of sounding sexist and fearing unwelcomed remarks, the usual disclaimer is as follows: The category of humans being described here is just from personal experience or/and experiences of others that I happen to witness quite closely and observed acutely. Before really describing this genre, it makes sense to tell you their importance in the world. Well, to say the least, they help in bringing variety to our otherwise boring lives! If you are finally tired of staring at the ceiling of your house, it’s time for you to go out there looking for these men! Where will you find them? Now that’s a tricky one! Generally, their physical characteristics can be quite deceptive and they do not hang out in clusters like the geese. You really have to be lucky enough to be able ...
14 comments
Read more