Been some time since I posted here last..... been pondering about human relations and life in general a lot lately ..... As our lives become more and more intricately mixed up with work and thus less and less socially, most of us guys "hang around" social networking sites . For me mostly its a way of trying to relate with lives of people from gone by heydays of friendship. But the more I go in the more unsatisfied I become...... why chat ! why not talk ! Of course for some its cheaper, but then again we do not cringe from buying good food or a good 'ol bottle of whiskey do we !!
Why show me pictures of a person on top of an unknown hill with a toothy grin, there's no way to relate to it, no way to actually feel the pain and comradery of having walked all the way up or the exhilaration of being on top appreciating the view of the beautiful landscape.
Also whats with this entire business of people informing me how big our virtual firms/fishtanks/garbage bin/ whatever !! How does that signify a relation ? Most of my good friends just poke me time to time and let it be at that, which is something I really appreciate. It says a lot more than the fake "How are you" 's .
Being a public site , no one ever gives out anything other than obvious information. So what does our contacts reduce to , where are the people behind the pixels ? Perhaps it a subconscious way of building up a nice warm cocoon , rejecting the harsher realities of a life with a lack of a family to eat dinner with , or a simple "bhaat" over chai. Perhaps all we need to do is walk away from this self created trap of going back to warmer memories of days gone by and simply look towards our present relations with people who actually are in our lives or inviting new friends in.
After all, so were we strangers once :).
Any and all thoughts on this are welcome.
While I totally agree with what you have said, I would like to add a few other things which may give you another perspective to look at the social networking websites.
ReplyDeleteI have come across long lost contacts on social networking sites. I have moved around the country a lot as a kid and I had lost contact with many of my friends in different cities. Had the social networking sites not been there, I would have probably never never had a chance to contact them again. Moreover, look at it like this- Suppose you visit a new place and there are pictures that you want to share with your friends (lets say you have 10 close friends). Don't you think it is more convenient to post your pictures once and let them view it? Now a days you can apply different security features so that your pictures are visible only to the selected few.
But yes, nothing substitutes the feeling of hanging out together in person and nothing substitutes the thrill of climbing a rock together (recall Mahabalipuram), nothing substitutes the joy of watching the sun rise together, but with the fast and distant lives that we have, I think the social networking sites a doing a good job in at least keeping us updated on what we and our friends are up to.
Fishtanks, Mafia, crappy videos, farms are not welcome. It annoys me and I do not practice them.
I would say, social networking sites are doing no harm and are just alternate way of clinging onto the old memories and sharing new experiences.
Cheers.