Social Butterflies

We humans are trying hook and crook to live up to the tag of a social animal. A single click and bam!  We are connected to billions of other users on social media.

So, why can’t we keep our thumbs away from liking, commenting, sharing or hash tagging?  It’s very simple. We are programmed in such a way. We feel so happy to disclose ourselves at a particular platform like Facebook and gain positive feedback. We forget to realise how fast we are growing addicted to such platforms. Many teenagers and youngsters are obsessed with social media and use it as a tool to guide their self-esteem and self-worth.

  A 19yr old youngster from the west tried committing suicide due to her obsession for selfies.

  In a separate incident, a man was upset because his friends were agitated, for he was inactive towards their posts on various social media. He created a bot which went through his feed and automatically liked their posts. This also sky rocketed his followers.

I can’t deny the fact that the social media has created a revolution in human relationships and created an amazing opportunity for communication. But high dependence is the root cause for creating the invisible gap between our relationships.

Our previous generations believed in socializing by communicating with neighbours and spending time with relatives. But today, children believe in communicating through the social media.

   After a long time, I opened my Facebook. What did I see?? Someone is listening to their favourite song for the millionth time. One of my junior is watching a match with a nail biting finish by updating their status every ball. One of my friends is at the airport leaving for a vacation with family. Someone is having dinner with friends at a very fancy restaurant.

   Sometimes I feel, am I the only one who feels like yelling at them. ”Oh great!! So please put your smart phone aside and enjoy the moment.”

We are living in a generation which believes that we can make friends with a single click and also end it the same way.

If one of our friends is unhappy about something, instead of taking them by our side and showing our support, we are consoling them with a status on whatsapp.

Our minds are always preoccupied with checking all the social media outlets. Thinking about what to post, how to post and how many likes will I receive. The very first and last thing you do every day is check your email, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, messages and all other accounts; you sleep with your phone and panic when you cannot get any service. A small beeping sound is enough for you to leave the dining table and rush towards the phone. You feel annoyed when your family and friends nag about putting your phone aside.

I am never against this growing importance for social media. But I feel it has surpassed the limits long back. The things that we post for the sake of likes have become devoid of human touch.. Making phone calls, writing emails is now a thing of the past..