It’s been very hectic, so much so that I have not even been updating my fb status regarding all the “happening” things that I’m currently doing. And if you have known me for the last 4-5 years and are in some way or the other connected with me over there, would definitely understand, it’s a pretty rare sight.
I believe that there are only two instances when a social network addict (as some say to me) doesn’t make his presence on the walls or timelines; it’s the extreme ends of his mood. Either he is too happy and involved with something that he is not finding time to write on these virtual walls or he is saddened by some event, that there is no inclination to do anything, forget “denting/painting” any walls. Oops!! Denting-painting, wrong choice of words and my father is not even the president!!!
Anyway, I wanted to say something before I started writing this post. But, don’t know I simply forgot what I intended to. So, by the time I recollect what I actually wanted to tell. I’ll just blabber something random.
Random. Well, randomness se yaad aaya, It’s about to end. No, not the world.( which was the longest running rumor of all time). Just this 2012 is about to give way to 2013 in a few days of time. Time flew fast, as always.
On the personal front, from being an eid ka chand in college during the start of 2012 to be compulsorily made to attend 70-minute lectures daily. From waiting for salary to asking parents to sending money, from watching almost every new release in theatres to choosing which all to watch in a month, from being somebody to nobody, from this to that a lot changed. Even I changed, a lot.
Anyway, I finally remembered what I wanted to say or rather talk about. It was about connectivity.
Well, when it comes to me, I always try to maintain a connection with everyoneI may have come across at any point of time. Of course, I am not at all successful in doing that very efficiently but I do try. Coming of age, social networking has been one of the most prominent tools in order to achieve that. Although call rates have reduced drastically, yet making calls to everyone has not been a regular thing.
When one updates a status or posts a tweet, it is like letting the people know all at once about what you are up to. Twitter asks “what’s happening “, Facebook asks, “what’s on your mind?” , before you update your status. While answering that, you are letting yourself get connected with the others. Letting them all know what you are up to, all at once. Yes, many have reservations regarding the necessity of using technology like this. The “privacy” issue is always there. But what is that one thing which does not have its own set of merits and demerits??
A like, a comment, a retweet, a favorite or even a simple “ 🙂 “ anytime helps maintain this connection. Day-to-day lives involve us to remain confined in a single place or with a set group of people, but with a scroll down the wall lets us know as to what is happening with our old circle of friends and be in sync with the things happening in their lives.
So, just a little time out to check them out, in order to maintain the Connect, isn’t that bad right?? Eh??
Likes, Comments, Retweets, Follow, block, tags- the things that matter.
By farooq
On September 22, 2012
In Others
Wake up in the morning –> search for your phone (under the pillow or to the table beside you) –> unlock it with the speed of lightening –> check for messages, mentions, notifications, likes, facebook, twitter –> and now the day starts, Good morning world :).
This is the age of social network!!!! Where, the morning starts with twittering (ironically not by the chirping of birds :)).
There was a green revolution, then sometime later a white revolution, internet revolution and wagaira wagaira. Each of the generation gets itself associated with some sort of tag along with it. The one thing, (if I may not call it a revolution as such) is the phenomenon of Social networking, which is what our generation is associated with. The era, where one has more “friends” in the virtual world then in the real. Wherever one sees, can find people FBing or tweeting. From making friends and connecting with the old ones, this has also become a platform for people to raise their voice regarding every other issue concerning the economy, world and themselves.
Every pic that has been captured where you look even a little decent (the definition of “little” of course changes for women 😛 ) is there on facebook. Every place that has been visited has to be checked in via foursquare. Every little thing you do gets tweeted. Some YouTube it, some tweet it, some pin it and no matter what. Everyone is On it.
The story of social networking does not end there, it actually starts.
Once a pic/post/video is updated, every comment or like, every retweet or mention, makes the story go forward. Our social-network-happiness-quotient is directly proportional with the increase in each of these activities. There is also a give and take relationship prevalent too, you like, I like.
Remember those Orkut days?? When the number of “scraps” used to define your status and half of your time used to get spent on adding friends from your friend’s friend-lists. Every cute picture or names used to make the arrow of the mouse go towards the “add as a friend” button. Everyone knew as to who visited your profile and so one had to extra careful. Not much is different in facebook too, the only fact was that the “stalking-frequency” is on the higher side as no one knows as to who visited the profile.
When one writes a blog, the exciting part, after completing it, is to see how many people actually read the stuff. Even when people give their feedback, whether they like it or not, gives the writer the encouragement to continue writing (now you know what to do after reading this 😛 ).
Most of the things that we do are done with the purpose of getting noticed and appreciated. People sometimes go overboard in doing this, yet each of us in some form or the other love to display our achievements. Social networking has also become somewhat like this, i.e. sharing your achievements for getting appreciation. It’s good to do things to get appreciated, but as they say, “too much of anything is bad” and hence overdoing this in both the worlds (real and virtual) calls for a slowdown. What is to be appreciated will get its due, if it’s worth it. One just has to wait. Some “intellectual users” even tag others in their pics so as to make sure that one just cannot ignore to “like” their posts/pics. They even make it a point to invite you to use the very “interesting” games/apps. Where in the real world will you find such lovely friends like these? (Seriously? 🙂 )
Too much philosophy, eh??
Well, that’s what some elitist-social-networking-gurus will tell you (yes, there are elites everywhere). The over-doers are termed Wannabes or despos or attention seekers (the twitterati has another term for all this, Orkutiyas). The thing is that each of these elites have also went through all this, but what’s gone is gone, now it’s all a different ball game for them.
So, what’s the way forward???
There is only one thing that should always be followed, “Never fake yourself”. If you really feel like sharing whatever you like, you do. If you like using one social network over the other, you do. Don’t get buoyed by other’s thoughts and actions and never blindly follow “trend”. Whether it’s the social network or the real, be just YOU!!!!