Log in. Update. Like. Poke. Comment. Share. More
Like-Comment-Share. Bored. Want a break. Deactivate. Ends up depressed. Return.
Repeat.
That’s how a typical Facebook activity looks like and is
callously dumped into a category of social networking addiction. Of course it
is! But it wouldn't harm to have a longer look at it..
Instead of it being social networking addiction, I feel that
we have ended up being more attached to our friends than social media in
itself.
Having quick access to our ‘friends’ and ‘followers’ and
getting an opportunity to express our best selves in a matter of few clicks and
keystrokes is amazing, in fact very thrilling. It is self-gratifying to be ‘liked’
by this huge magnitude of people. Moreover, it is also very self-affirming to
adore one’s immaculate virtual avatar that glorifies all positives (inherent or
not.)
“The artifact of your social life makes you feel better.”
Everyone can now advertise their uniqueness. The attractive
flaunt their charisma, the hopeless romantics profess their infinite love, the
sassy fire their witty bullets, the rebels can finally make themselves heard
and all enjoy their piece of cake.
But steadily, a feeling catches up. The feeling that says ‘Hey!
You are just another meaningless dot in this Universe of people who are too
busy to admire anyone but themselves.’
That’s when you deactivate, secretly hoping someone will
miss you enough to erase out that feeling and get you online again. And
unfortunately, the same vicious cycle continues.
There can be no solution if one continues to ignore the void
within. People are too afraid to be alone with themselves and their thoughts. Why
do we keep encouraging superficial relationships? We need to explore and love
ourselves first.
You would wonder how this connects here. All problems in
this world stem out of denial and an inability to understand and accept
ourselves. When you are busy admiring your virtual avatar, you just love the
part of you that you display for others to love.
Technology cannot substitute for something you must create
for yourself. If you are getting in bed with your smartphone glued to you and
if you are wasting away before your computer screen, GET A LIFE and
stop whining that virtual reality ruined you.
It is very easy to defame these new mediums of human
bonding. But are they really as fundamentally flawed? I don’t think so.
Our brains are amazingly designed. It adapts into neural
patterns similar to those of people we meet quite often. A study concluded that
the same neural patterns were formed due to our social networks. Social networks
highlight our commonalities and initiate more frequent contact that ends up enriching
our interpersonal relationships. For man being a social animal, things couldn't get any better.
The problem occurs when communication is not all nice and
uplifting, which I would like to emphasize, is not a fault of social media as
popularly perceived. Our brains haven’t changed nor have our real world
networks. Now the question remains for us to resolve- how will we fit in new
technologies into our real world social networks for a better life.
So the next time you break down juggling your piles of
mails, texts, whatsapps, tweets, likes and comments, take a moment to reflect
upon what your priorities are. Be mindful about the time you spend cultivating your
virtual reality.
Because, in the end, you definitely CAN have the best of
both worlds!
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