Facebook, Orkut, Twitter, MySpace, Blogs, Instant Messengers, eMails, SMSes....life is tough without these huh :)
A decade ago, when I was in my third year of engineering, the very concept of internet or email was so revolutionary and anybody who has an email id was treated like a techie whizkid. Owning a laptop was an extravagant luxury. Pager was fad and cellphones unknown. Computers were only used by software developers or high end white collar professionals. Otherwise the devices were only for playing video games.
But..people used to meet each other, talk to each other, greet each other, which was in that epoch called social networking - b'cos thats all about being in and with society.
Perhaps the biggest change in lifestyle occurred during these 10 years. The very meaning of social networking changed and now 'being in touch' unless mentioned otherwise is understood as through "online" sources. Emotions are being expressed through emoticon smileys like :) :( :D, the language changed into lingo and people reach all over the world through their finger tips with a click of their mice. But I don't complain because I too belong to the community patronizing the new age "progress" and am addicted to that too.
Times do change and we have to change accordingly. These channels of communication have abridged geographical distances between people and made this world, a very small village. Good for us. But I'm afraid the very channels may someday diminish emotional bond between those we love. Sending an e-greeting sometimes doesn't replace a handshake or a hug, text doesn't always replace our voice of concern. There will be people who long for our human touch.
I'm sure a lot of you would relate to yourselves when I say I'm so addicted to these social networking channels that I seldom feel the need of being social to anybody anymore. My day starts and ends on a lappy. I work on emails and MS Office, read online newspapers, bank through iPhone or web, get updates about others on facebook, orkut, myspace, express my thoughts in blogs like this or twitter for microblogging, communicate through sms-es, listen to more voicemails than direct calls....and so on and I call this "social" networking. How funny !!
Sometimes I take pride in seeing 3000 contacts in my gmail address book and 250 odd friends in my orkut friends list..without realizing that I don't even open my mouth to talk to 20 people in a month. Alarming !
My relationship with technically challenged people started waning and am getting more acquainted to like cultured tech-obsessed unsocial elements notwithstanding my rapport or liking towards them. I'm changing and that concerns me.
Am I living in a virtual world ? Is it a fake world which I created around myself ? Am I slowly turning myself from a human into a gizmo ?
4 comments:
such a feeling is a good flyover bridge between old customs and new traditions...
ee un 'social' networking thone kada ne life lo ki hema vachindi [:P]...
social networking taken so seriously in life becomes unsocial :P....but for me....it gives updates of akka& bava and keeps me charged!!!! :)
Hey, Sharath...Sorry! reading your blogs only now.
You say your relationship with technically challenged people started waning...and that it concerns you. This concerns me too, coz' I am one of such technically-challenged persons, and so have missed so many of my frnds, and to avoid this I am "forced to" enter the world of FBs and Orkuts and the likes! I miss those long hours of telephone conversations, occasional visits, and for that matter, even the detailed emails, the words of which actually come from the heart! Hmm...hope things change for better :-)
Bye the way, you know me...Let me play this hide-n-seek for a while ;-D
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