We have turned into a fragment of
some agnostic cynic's sadistic dream of a supposedly utopian world which is as
mechanical as it can get. The gears have turned from what once was beautiful
mess of everything thrown together to what is a careful and yet ugly
disintegration of discrete pieces of life which almost seem like small portions
of charity thrown your way. Being a technocrat, I am trained to marvel at the
complex mesh of cables and wires which claim to be the path breaking innovation
in the domain of interaction superseding the orthodox ritual of talking and listening
and somehow believe that I might have a role to play in this unbelievable
breakthrough. Yet I can’t!
Most of my appreciation and
fascination is claimed by the arts and literature of the world. A tablet
capable of capturing a 360-degree view won’t impress me as much as the
Meenakari stone work done on a monument. The success story of a young lad from
the streets of a small town to being the CEO of a big conglomerate won’t appeal
to me as much as the works of Rumi or Neruda would. I am still naïve in my idea
of existence. Or I am just not artificial enough. I still have an aversion to
Whatsapp and Facebook messenger, the two most popular platforms of “holding a
conversation” nowadays. I won’t care about someone’s Facebook or Instagram page
if I don’t see them often in person. Some view it as being arrogant and uptight
and others call it being orthodox. I don’t know which one of the two is the
correct conclusion, but as far as I am concerned I call it being alive in the
moment, with people who are actually in my life. Others are just an existential
fact.
The world doesn’t seem to agree
with me. I have been rebuked time and again for not replying to texts, not
commenting on pictures, not knowing the latest gossip about people from distant
past, who neither care about me nor matter to me. I don’t have a problem with
people who think it’s their fundamental duty to know and criticize the bio data
of that classmate’s fiance from 10 years ago, as they toss that empty packet of
chips on the road. What really gets a kick out of me is that, the fact that few
people don’t live as IP addresses is beyond their understanding. I don’t see a
ping being a valid replacement for the warmth of handshake or a hug; or the
twinkle in the eye of a laughing person ever being justified by a “lol” or
“hehehe”. Some say technology has revolutionized the way in which people
interact, but where is the interaction? We have all reduced to Whatsapp ping,
Facebook notification, Instagram like and Snapchat story. The social media is
the worst kind of claustrophobia one can encounter.
I am well aware I sound like this
pessimistic psycho who seems to have an issue with everything and everyone. I
might be turning into one. It still makes me more human than the rest of the
people who don’t mind enveloping their feelings into an “awww” or a Facebook
tags. Lately, my phone screen has started feeling like it is a sorcerer that
has enchanted me and trapped my focus into its tiny 5-inch screen. Imagine! All
my world reduced to meagre 5-inch! Isn’t it too much a price to pay for just
the internet? So I decided to distance myself from the digiworld. Such
blasphemy! In case you are wondering, that’s the stairway to being a social
pariah. But that too changed with time. I live in a peaceful beautiful world
now. I no longer live in a world where my phone dictates what to do next.
Cheers to freedom!
