Social Network

Are you on Facebook? On Instagram? On twitter? On Snapchat? I know this question is rhetorical and redundant, everyone might have asked you this before starting a speech or a talk over the podium or when they want your hands up in support to get the common entity to relate to you by acknowledging the well-known fact of stats of how many are there on social network. For an age group of 15-25 years old this question is not even asked in groups anymore, it is assumed as yes by default.

I won’t bore you with the obvious support I might get by the means of this question on social media but on a larger picture I want to put light towards the change social network has brought in our lives, my life, your life and people around us.  Let’s have a “Fact check” (in voice of Trump) first:

Leading social networks worldwide as of January 2017, ranked by number of active users (in millions)

• ·         Facebook – 1871
• ·         WhatsApp – 1000
• ·         Facebook messenger – 1000
• ·         QQ – 877
• ·         WeChat – 846
• ·         Qzone – 632
• ·         Instagram – 600
• ·         Tumblr – 550
• ·         Twitter – 317

These are the big sharks and the list goes on and on…

The anxiety of instant reply back started with Orkut and then as the evolution was overshadowed by the Big Mark (Zuckerberg). It all started (the Fb journey) for us as awkward status to the weird photos of actors/actresses in place of our own for display pictures, the best part was stalking our crush, even without the display picture(lol) we all looked at the birth date and hobbies, played those silly apps which says “who is my friend”? Where you will get the names of people you mostly talk to and that will make us have a battle of comments with the same people and some laughter exchanged.

It all seems so silly now but not so far in 2010, we all were doing it, all the Kristen Stewart, Selena Gomez, Miley on girls dp and Robert pattinson, Downey jr, I even had hulk as my display (lol). All those thoughts aside we enjoyed it, we all did, it was silly, it was fresh and we all fall in love with all the talks, the conjecture, the rumors and those young fresh faces. The best part was, it was different and trending with all the possible introvert inside you, you can break the odds to talk to one you can’t confidently bat an eye once.

This blog is not about Mr. Zuckerberg’s success as an entrepreneur, for that we all have that social network movie. It’s time when we ask a question to ourselves, what are we doing here now? What it is doing to us? 2016 has seen a dramatic upraise in youth complaining about depression and it has somehow come from a lot of factors including the current status of social life.

Let’s first encounter the current situation and do tell me if you agree with me over this. Yes, now everyone has their own display pictures, so breaking the security taboo right there with few privileged good DSLR shots captured taking the extra wows. We are not taking mere pictures anymore, we are taking a WhatsApp pic, a cover pic and let me tell you that’s not age group 15-30 as one suspects more, my aunt at 48 asked me to take a shot worth Insta upload and I was happy about it (note: it’s so much fun when you see your older generation enjoy the technology as they don’t care for opinions much but enjoy the phenomenon) and it hit me the level we have got inside social networking at our psychological connect. Social media can lift your soul with all the love and response you get from the people you know or even if you don’t. In technical terms the count(number) of likes define the amount of social acceptance and moral raise you get. It’s ok to see response over social media on a normal day but when you had a bad day, whoa I can’t tell what people do for raising the mood for rest of the day.

There is also a funny part, the younger ones in their teen age showing the relationships status and public display of affection (note: I am old fashioned so prefer the full form over saying PDA) more than the old and committed ones. And leaving FB, Instagram during exams has a special class of people, and those break up deactivation (ah don’t even ask) are the funniest only if you are not the one with broken heart, jokes apart but over my perception there is a need to look out people, look out for those who are getting psychological damage, accumulating over time, its high time we care for the weak of emotions, I am not talking about the desperate or perverts or over enthusiastic dramatically naive people but the ones who need a friend when deprived by bully groups or opinionated by society.

Now FB has become two categorical things, one is showcase of one’s life which is made out of all the good parts only (marriage pics, pre marriage pics, travel diaries- even if they went out for a single fucking: P day, birthday shows, couple shows) which is far from truth and reality, no one, trust me no one gives an account of cry here, they all want the beauty to thrive in face of public so obvious prolific outcast of imaging their idea of how they want themselves to be projected in eye of another. They will bombard your screen and you even like back just out of stroll for the love and care you have for that person; we are all somewhere hiding in the idea of showing (it’s all becoming a big fat wedding). #Couplegoals, #travelgoals, #datinggoals, #friendshipgoals and it goes on, still the only goal a sports bar guy with a beer in hand is happy about is scored at a football ground.

Two includes the students and working class heroes with fanatical psychological balance in reality (not just in their insta status but everywhere) who have nothing to do with what I just said above. They also enjoy the party, drinks, smoke like the people above but have a hideous character for showing out. Don’t get me wrong I am not on this side also if you are getting the wrong idea. These are the ones with few broken hearts, some college stressed (semester fear), some manager’s accounted workers, sport lovers, bibliophiles, introverts too. These guys develop memes (dank or pun is their way) and have a funny bone to take a talk over anything – politics is their pitch, cricket is their game, football is their offside (ye log Olympic games bhi dekhte hai, TV pe news bhi, kuch unwanted aaj bhi roadies dekhte((lol)), inn log ke pass free time hai sahab ye sab dekhte hai).

Let’s come to the best part for all those single people (no anti-feminism in this but as I am a guy so this para is little towards a guy’s view, ladies can skip if want to), thank you for all the open accounts on Instagram with those hot and sexy uploads, I can’t tell you how much we guys respect you all (you may be from any country, from Brazil to States, Norway to Sri Lanka), you guys are the real MVP(Most Valuable Player ), I can’t tell you what the morning shit would have been without strolling at you all (LOL), Every one of us spend mornings going through the social media without the conscious mind hitting us for starting the day, we don’t even care about the 8 million views or likes you might have on your account, it’s the beauty we so much adore(lol).

There is also a new derived class of people who are actually fat but wants to hear otherwise, these people call themselves foodie in advance to let you know what you are looking at an angular photograph and reality may differ, you guys need to relax, food is love and food is life and the person who will fall for you will fall for those love handles too , one thing I like about fat guys from my experience they are the most funny because they have shield and know how to take a joke so they never actually care but love the joke more than you sometimes and they share the love of food on social with such good captions.

The most famous of all nowadays “The Traveler”. These can be found going 5 km from home to 5000 km depending on the finance. If you actually are a traveler as much you tell on social media, you are living to full and I trust you about the silent mountain you went last summer that you can tell in such a mesmerizing way that even a lost soul smiles from inside, I also believe you about that hidden track in Himalayas or lustful flowers of Sweden but if you are a pretender and not excited about the travel plan but just about the pretty picture, trust me the scenic beauty of the place might remain same but you will get old and at that moment you will be watching your pretty face rather than the ravishing place it was, one deep message I have for all the travelers or pretenders out there – ‘Capture the memory by the best camera god has provided you with (your eyes), that’s worth a breath.. Capture with DSLR or mobile also but don’t forget to be there in that place for you not for the camera’. The picture with scenic beauty will still inspire you when you are 70, not thinking your own young face.

Last note: I am damn sure my blog is not even covering the big picture of realism of ones thought completely, there is plenty on my mind that I can express and plenty in yours too by now I am sure. Keep that thought and enjoy the life with little less mobile and lot more you because who knows where you will meet the real life too.