Ever stood in the middle of a crowd and felt completely lonely? Or just stood still in the middle of a crowd and let the ebb and flow of people carry you off into whichever direction they’re going? Or been at a wedding or a conference where you recognize people but don’t actually know them? I sometimes feel that way with the Internet. Especially with the advent of social media.
I think we are the generation of too much information. From all the messenger services like Yahoo!, MSN, GTalk, BBM, Whatsapp, to social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, (the list goes on…) we’re connected to a LOT of friends and strangers and often feel the urge to publicize every darn thing that we think about or do on a minute to minute basis. But in reality, just how connected ARE we? And at the end of the day, are those connections that we make really that important?
For example, Twitter is an excellent medium to connect with amazing people from all over the world, share views and different perspectives and be a part of someone else’s life in a very minuscule way. Or that’s what I initially thought. However there are so many dimensions to twitter like who “starred” or “favourited” your tweet, or who “retweeted” you or “#FF”d” you or gave you a trophy on favstar, or how many people are following you… and all these things act as validation or positive reinforcement for you to keep tweeting. And the more you tweet, the more addicted you get. I for one find myself checking my phone every few minutes to see whats happening on Twitter and I find myself being completely addicted!
And that brings me to another part of this rant – smart phones. Phones that have a super fast Internet connection that lets you download games, stream videos and basically do anything that a computer can do. And the USP of this is that it is small enough to fit into your pocket and you have information literally at your fingertips! The downside of this is that while it connects you to people online, it leads to a social disconnect in real life. I’ve often seen people sitting together in college with a large group of friends, but nobody actually talking because they’ve got their noses buried in their respective phones. And yes, I’ve often seen couples sitting together at a restaurant, each looking at their phones and not having much of a conversation. And if they did have a conversation, it’ll probably revolve around who said what on Twitter and what ghastly pic someone uploaded on Facebook or which classmate from a hundred years ago (whom you wouldn’t otherwise have kept in touch with) did what…
Somehow I find that the more we seemingly connect with people online, the more we tend to disconnect with people in our immediate lives. Sometimes I get so immersed in discussions with strangers online that I land up ignoring my loved ones in real life! And its all because of this darned Internet which was earlier confined to our homes on our computers but is now in our pockets everywhere we go.
I was reading an article recently which said that Bangalore buses are now going to have free wi-fi. The first thought that ran through my head was “WHY?” Is it absolutely necessary to be connected with everyone ALL the time? I don’t think so. Whatever happened to real life? Whatever happened to looking out at the scenery while travelling? Or talking or listening to the person next to you on long train rides? Or even talking to the people who live in your own house without having your phone at arms length? Or reading a book made from paper rather than an e-book?
Yes, you get to be anyone you want to be online, pretend to have a glamorous, successful life and maybe this is what gets you addicted in the first place but at the end of the day, you are you and no amount of moonlighting online can change that.
I guess the point I’m trying to make with this whole rant is that while its okay to have an online life, don’t lose track of your real life and most importantly, don’t lose track of your real friends and real family. You might look up from your phone one day and discover that while you’ve gotten to know strangers intimately, you’ve become a stranger to those whom you used to KNOW intimately.
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