An incident that made me ponder!! Is Facebook - the new best friend & the notice board??
Evolution! In the name of evolution, humans have come a long way. Today amidst humans, lives robots and social networking sites, which has replaced humanity, emotions, feelings, & most of all communication in our society. Back in the days communication was all about meeting friends, family and even foes in person. Caring for each other, expressing our emotions/feelings was the basic human nature. One could cry, or shed a tear of happiness and there were would be a hand to wipe it or share the moment with us. The patience and understanding that existed amidst humans was amazing. Its all gone today with the advancement of technology. We are walking on a path of self-destruction.
Today, we like to call ourselves highly civilized. But when we die, would we die as humans or would we have chips inserted in us, and be controlled by robots making us an AI? Lots of such questions run in my mind when I mingle with the so called evolved, and still evolving(at a high pace)society. This feeling of restlessness is making me write this blog; otherwise I would be sitting and discussing what I think or feel with some humans who care, and not with the computers or cyberspace. Those people who are reading this and thinking, 'if you had a friend you wouldn't have felt the same way; so go and make some friends. Have a life!!'. Then let me tell you something very clearly - I believe, not just me but everyone has friends in their life, be it good or bad. And these friends were humans till internet was easily available. Then came the invention of mobile phones, facebook, whatsapp, instagram, and many other such social networking sites which took control over us. I think you would agree.!
Now, back to the point. One of the main reasons why I am writing all this today is an incident that happened yesterday. I am not much of a gizmo lover, and I prefer to stay away from as much gadgets as possible, which is not impossible, but not completely possible as well due to the fact that society and technology are interwoven just like the threads of a fabric. You pull out a string from the fabric and it leaves a tiny hole or spoils the beauty of it. But there would be people who would disagree and say that technology has only made this world small. In a way I say 'you are right.' However, it would be nice if one could look not just at the pros, but the cons as well. Ok, so let me get back to the instance. One of my friend had a baby on Thursday, and he went ahead and posted the news on facebook, rather than calling up and sharing his happiness with at least his friends who resided in the same city. I got to know about this only on Saturday not through my friend, but through an image he used as his profile picture on whatsapp. Thanks to the humanity that still exists in me, I immediately called him up and congratulated him. Of course, I expressed my disappointment over not informing me. And pat came the reply from him 'Arree yaar, I had posted it on facebook na..Didn't you see?? I was at first very annoyed on hearing it. Then I calmed myself down and told him that I am not on facebook, so I wouldn't know. But since it was his moment/days of happiness, hiding my disappointment I spoke with all the fervor and excitement I could. That's the power I was talking about, the control that technology has over us.
This experience made me ponder. I discussed this with my hubby as well. He just told me, 'the lesser expectation you have from someone, the easier it would be for you.' At first I argued, saying it was not expectation, and that sharing such news of happiness is basic human courtesy as I mostly believed in the saying 'Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow.' But I guess I was wrong. Later when I thought over it, I realized that my hubby is right. Because in today's world even a courtesy from any human being is too much to expect, as there is very little manner, civility, emotions, patience and understanding left within us to be offered. It also made me think whether it was me who mistook him to be my friend, whereas for him I might have just been another new face, in a new city. I have started doubting the very basic values of friendship now. Nevertheless, this instance taught me a good lesson which I will not forget for years to come, until the day comes when we go back to the very basic values and principles in life.
Facebook, however has got a strong foothold in the society and in the everyday life's of human beings. Unsure whether to applaud or slam the creators/inventors of all social networking sites and gadgets, I end my thoughts with a bitter note that - Facebook has become the new best friend in most of the people's life and it is the new notice board as well. You can post whatever you want on it, and you are expected to check only facebook and other such sites for anything in your life, reducing the trouble and pain of having a social/ personal interaction. We have reduced our very basic human nature to ashes, letting the daffodils and roses of science grow on our soulless bodies, or zombies?? It is now left for you to think and act wisely.
Today, we like to call ourselves highly civilized. But when we die, would we die as humans or would we have chips inserted in us, and be controlled by robots making us an AI? Lots of such questions run in my mind when I mingle with the so called evolved, and still evolving(at a high pace)society. This feeling of restlessness is making me write this blog; otherwise I would be sitting and discussing what I think or feel with some humans who care, and not with the computers or cyberspace. Those people who are reading this and thinking, 'if you had a friend you wouldn't have felt the same way; so go and make some friends. Have a life!!'. Then let me tell you something very clearly - I believe, not just me but everyone has friends in their life, be it good or bad. And these friends were humans till internet was easily available. Then came the invention of mobile phones, facebook, whatsapp, instagram, and many other such social networking sites which took control over us. I think you would agree.!
Now, back to the point. One of the main reasons why I am writing all this today is an incident that happened yesterday. I am not much of a gizmo lover, and I prefer to stay away from as much gadgets as possible, which is not impossible, but not completely possible as well due to the fact that society and technology are interwoven just like the threads of a fabric. You pull out a string from the fabric and it leaves a tiny hole or spoils the beauty of it. But there would be people who would disagree and say that technology has only made this world small. In a way I say 'you are right.' However, it would be nice if one could look not just at the pros, but the cons as well. Ok, so let me get back to the instance. One of my friend had a baby on Thursday, and he went ahead and posted the news on facebook, rather than calling up and sharing his happiness with at least his friends who resided in the same city. I got to know about this only on Saturday not through my friend, but through an image he used as his profile picture on whatsapp. Thanks to the humanity that still exists in me, I immediately called him up and congratulated him. Of course, I expressed my disappointment over not informing me. And pat came the reply from him 'Arree yaar, I had posted it on facebook na..Didn't you see?? I was at first very annoyed on hearing it. Then I calmed myself down and told him that I am not on facebook, so I wouldn't know. But since it was his moment/days of happiness, hiding my disappointment I spoke with all the fervor and excitement I could. That's the power I was talking about, the control that technology has over us.
This experience made me ponder. I discussed this with my hubby as well. He just told me, 'the lesser expectation you have from someone, the easier it would be for you.' At first I argued, saying it was not expectation, and that sharing such news of happiness is basic human courtesy as I mostly believed in the saying 'Shared joy is a double joy; shared sorrow is half a sorrow.' But I guess I was wrong. Later when I thought over it, I realized that my hubby is right. Because in today's world even a courtesy from any human being is too much to expect, as there is very little manner, civility, emotions, patience and understanding left within us to be offered. It also made me think whether it was me who mistook him to be my friend, whereas for him I might have just been another new face, in a new city. I have started doubting the very basic values of friendship now. Nevertheless, this instance taught me a good lesson which I will not forget for years to come, until the day comes when we go back to the very basic values and principles in life.
Facebook, however has got a strong foothold in the society and in the everyday life's of human beings. Unsure whether to applaud or slam the creators/inventors of all social networking sites and gadgets, I end my thoughts with a bitter note that - Facebook has become the new best friend in most of the people's life and it is the new notice board as well. You can post whatever you want on it, and you are expected to check only facebook and other such sites for anything in your life, reducing the trouble and pain of having a social/ personal interaction. We have reduced our very basic human nature to ashes, letting the daffodils and roses of science grow on our soulless bodies, or zombies?? It is now left for you to think and act wisely.
Awesome!!! This is an important message everyone including me should think about this and change if possible. Thanks for making me to think and keep your good work going!!!
ReplyDeleteVery true..Technology has shrunk human values to a large extent. I find it so irritating to see people everywhere hooked to their gadgets be it in public places or in their nests chatting very happily to the virtual friends, but not even bothering to pay heed to the real person in front of them. These gadgets and social networks were to make communication easier but what we see now is the reverse effect. Who is going to tell them that it is to make far ones near not near ones far.
ReplyDeleteExactly my point. :)
ReplyDelete