Wednesday, 8 October 2014

Is social media really making us social?




The world is changing and so is one’s identity every now and then. Our identity doesn’t depend upon who we actually are. Rather it depends more on what our latest Facebook profile picture or Whatsapp display picture is. People know us more by our status and picture rather than our attributes. It may seem that we know a person completely and yet be oblivious of him at all.

Knowing a person has become really easy. Well, it’s a hogwash that this modern world believes in. It is because of these social media that people today are more prone to frauds and bluffs around the world. A person may apparently seem someone of higher dignity and may prove otherwise in real life.

We connect with people overseas through this technology. Sometimes even when we are not able to meet people we talk to them on a chat through Twitter, Facebook, Whatsapp, Line and so on. It is an advantage in this case. We stay connected. But does it make us social? Though connecting with people at large is being social, knowing them virtually can never make unbreakable bonds. Because you may be simply aware of just one shade of a person’s identity.

This social media is also infecting kids nowadays. They prefer playing games with friends on social networking sites and talking to them, over playing in the ground. The children attain their teens even while they are classified as kids. It makes them aware of the world around them, making them vulnerable to fall much before their age allows them. It has become quite rare for kids who don’t operate mobile media or social media through computer and laptops. It’s as if they knew typing before they learnt how to speak.

Being social was living within the society as a whole unit. Exchange of emotions and most importantly the physical presence of the person. This is lost now because of the social media. People prefer posting sympathies to people by updating a status as “RIP…” or posting it on the person’s wall rather than meeting him in person and providing support. Media just makes lives so easy. A click of a button is easier than spending hours with him wiping his tears.

Perhaps that’s the reason why people of 50 above age aren’t able to accept this form of being social. They time and again poke a finger between us and our connection with social media deeming it as an evil. Reciting stories of their childhood as to how they use to play, go around, live with cousins and spend time. Rather than wasting precious time on laptops and mobile phones.

People fall in love over this media, some even marry, some divorce, some go astray because of it while some may come together after a long time. But life today certainly revolves around this “virtual society”. If your name doesn’t appear on any of these social sites then man, you are yet to be born. It carries so much importance in our lives, more than being with someone in person. Perhaps this importance is a bane on our society. It isn’t taking us within the society, but keeping us aloof on our couch with an electronic device as a companion. Thus creating a rift between home and the world.


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