So this morning, as I opened up to read the news (News Feed of Facebook), I saw a quote saying, “Friends that give you their home's Wi-Fi password without asking are the best kind of friends.” I instantly thought, have I ever done it for someone? Yes maybe for a one or two.
Sometime later, the post came up to my notice again and then it struck me. We are defining friendship in terms of Wi-Fi now? The thought just got me freaking when I saw another post saying “Home is where your Wi-Fi gets connected automatically.” It’s a trend now!
Being in my early 20’s, I am hugely into Social media. My day usually starts from a Good morning to my bestie in Whatsapp, shifting to Instagram posts while I get ready and snapchatting everything about my first job after I reach office. Of course throughout the day, my Face book page remains open and I get into these numerous articles and websites thanks to their successful marketing strategies along with Pinterest. My day also ends with more Snapchats and scrolling Instagram posts till my eyes are forced down to shut, not to forget the endless group chat notifications in Whatsapp even though you are just a silent spectator.
It feels great, when you have a good social life and you can ‘document’ your life and share it with so many million people. You not only share happiness, you share information too. Bloggers, like me feel this extra ‘responsibility’ to gather and inform the readers. But sometimes It really makes me question. Why is there this constant need to ‘update’ your life to others? There was a time when we met a friend after long and we actually got to see the change in him/her; whereas now we would know every person’s Friday nights and Tuesday afternoon’s. Don’t we know too much? Who’s intruding now? Have we turned ourselves into those sneaky neighbours we hated once?
Trend, trend, trend- whether it be selfies, using a particular hashtag, or putting up dubmash videos. It never ends, does it? We have to follow what the internet tells us, otherwise we are so not cool.
Admist my obsessions and socially active lifestyle, I decided to take a break though I was overconfident that I would not survive it. I deleted my account and stopped using Whatsapp for four months, Facebook for 2 months (I couldn’t wait more, had to upload my convocation pictures dude!) and so on.
What was it like? Peaceful. Literally peaceful. I admit I was very bored for like 2-3 days especially at times when I had nothing to do- like travelling and before sleeping at night but it was worth it. I began thinking and analysing things, I got productive. I would think about my day and plan for the next, I even started reading more and appreciating the environment near me. I would pay more attention to what people say, and notice things I never did before.
I survived. I did not have any urge to get back and only did when friends forced me because they couldn’t ‘traditionally’ sms me (it charges one whole rupee per msg dude!) Also, if I am not on Facebook how can they tag me in the check in of the crappy movie we all watched together and made a fool of ourselves?
I realized one could surely survive without these social media forums and the internet in this 21st century too (Of course, you cannot afford ‘not’ to e-mail your mentor about your internship certificate, so gmail is an exception!)
However, like every coin has two sides, being an internet junkie also has its pros and cons.
Pros like staying updated with the world, blogging, keeping in touch with friends and family, gaining information, helping others or even getting ‘inspired’ from other’s lives amongst many others.
Cons like obsession with updates, not paying attention to the moment (too busy clicking a picture of the perfect lunch, Instagram is waiting dude!), wasting time-loads of time, peer pressure, social pressure etc etc.
So what did I learn? Even though I am back to my social media ‘tools’, I have made it a point to set some limitations and I wouldn’t get too much involved into something which is ‘unproductive’.
Hit by this crazy obsession like me? Here are some tips that might help:
Quit that Whatsapp group where you haven’t even once wrote a line but has been your all day and night notification source! (Dude, destiny will make you meet the girl you have a crush on in this group, after all what would possibly happen now if you did not try all this time?)
“Do not”- I repeat, “Do not post every Starbucks coffee, that white cream pasta or your midnight bread jam picture every day.” Posting a food pic once in 3-4 days makes sense unless you are a full time food photographer/blogger/cook. (People do not like to see what you flushed down your body every day, and if they are craving for a brownie with vanilla ice cream, they would go and eat it rather than staring at your pictures!)
No, you don’t have to make the effort to click 167 selfies and edit the only one you like in 5 editing apps before you change your Facebook profile every third day! In short- its highly disturbing to see a person changing his/her DP so often, it only shows how insecure you are about your looks for we know you are very much alive and not dead (if that was the intention).
Also, since we are in the topic of Facebook, if you are an emotionally unstable person, or unconfident about yourself, you can and should avoid ‘stalking’ people and obsessing and getting depressed about how ‘perfect’ other people’s lives are. (Trust me darling, we all have our own pair of ups and downs in life, no body’s life is perfect- some of us just master the trick of keeping it all a ‘polished’ affair)
Take a break. Take a ‘holiday’ from social media or the internet as a whole if possible. De-activate your accounts or stop checking them for some days, don’t post anything. Use the free time to pay attention to people and relationships in your life, after all they are much more important than those ‘likes’ and ‘re-posts”
If this seems too much for you, take small steps- switch off your Wi-Fi before hitting the bed at night, you will have no option but to close your eyes and sleep (after scrolling your phone’s whole gallery for 2-3 times), or stick to only one social medium, choose Whatsapp/ Facebook or instagram and de-activate others, you will be surprised at your own capability to ‘resist’ and adjust to the situation in front of you.
As the saying goes, “Too much of anything is bad.” We can surely utilize these 21st century advanced tools for our best, but in a way that doesn’t make us its “slaves” or ‘addicts”.
Having said that, don't forget to like my Facebook page, follow me in twitter, instagram and pinterest and add me in Snapchat !! :P :P