Rantings of a social media addict who is never socially active. (Read twice to understand)
Alert : If you are a person whose day begins with “Facebook” instead of tea and toast and ends with “YouTube” rather than a long walk or daily soaps or whatever, you are warmly welcome to read this post.
Are you hysteric when it comes to social media? Are you glued to your smartphone or your laptop watching #Hudabeauty videos or stalking a friend and checking every picture from his picture library of 10000 pictures in detail? Does your mind shift to an auto pilot mode the moment you check your social media account and switch between them all day? Are you socially alert but inactive?
If your answer is a big YES (in bold with caps on) which undoubtedly is, you are my best friend. Perhaps, we can do these things together! We might also make small conversations which we usually don’t.
I’m not going to provide you a huge essay on why technology was invented, how it was invented and how we are misusing it. No, we are aware of it like a dog is aware of his master. Yet.
I’m not going to burden you by saying how you’re wasting your time and how you can make it more productive by doing other things. I won’t. Cause don’t I belong to our huge community of social maniacs?
We try. We try to talk. To take our eyes off makeup tutorials which are all same. To stop reading silly jokes which we know so well are not the least bit funny. To pay attention to what people say. To talk to guests when they come and avoid shutting ourselves up in our room with our one and only one love, our smartphone! To take our a** off the couch and do something. We fail because we actually don’t want to get up, read something offline, watch tv, play games, talk to someone, etc. etc. We try yet we fail. Our efforts, which are, as they say in Spanish, zilch, nada!
Here’s what happens:
Morning – Me checking Facebook
“My mind : There’s nothing to see, hon. Go get yourself ready. Look out the window. It’s such a lovely day!
Me : Will you shut up for a sec? I’m refreshing my posts.
** Calls out my mom from somewhere
My mind : She’s calling you. I told you there’s nothing. Don’t get stuck here.
Me : She does that everyday. She’s calling me to show and ask me about that yellow designer saree from Homeshop18. My mom’s just like me.
My mind : What are you learning from these?
Me : Can’t you see? They show us such funny videos and hair tutorials. You Hush and watch.
My mind : Have you ever tried any of them ever?
Me : I most definitely will. Waiting for the perfect occasion!
My mind : You’ve already watched so many videos, you should’ve been a professional by now.
Me : This is NOT my forte. I’m gonna be an engineer!
My mind : Then why are you watching it in the first place?”
Social media is making us insecure, unhappy and bored. We creep into someone’s Instagram account, check their exclusive pics with glamorous dresses and feel sad for ourselves. It’s not just Instagram or Facebook. Every social media site makes us feel vulnerable. We believe the people who post more are happier. We are more religious and faithful to social media than to God! We are digitally active but socially, we’ve forgotten how to make a conversation, how to talk. We’re comfortable behind the blinds of what we call social media and when we meet someone personally,we feel awkward. It feels like being trapped. We are masking our true selves, our identity, our talents. The time we invest in looking someone else’s vacation pictures and leaving comments like “Awwh” and “Oooh” is the time we are wasting. We reject family dinners only to spend more time with our smartphones. We check our smartphones in the middle of a lecture, while driving, while romancing on a candlelight dinner only to know how someone’s puppy has fallen sick. FRUSTRATING!
There isn’t any need for me to tell you the toll social media is taking on us. This is simply a reality check for myself and a reminder for you. Now it all depends on how you take my words.
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I realized this long ago that social media only makes me feel absolutely terrible about myself. Therefore I’ve cut down my online time to just 15 mins a day, and pour my energy in more constructive tasks like reading or watching a movie 😛 Seriously dude, every time I log in to FB or Twitter I’m bombarded with all the things I’m not and want to be, and it just sucks to get a reminder of my average-dom every single day 😀
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Very aptly produced.
I always believed in the fact that how fake a life we live on social media. And I’m not alien to think that, I knew today. ☺
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Many fall into this trap. They think they’re in love with a personality on social media. They forget in reality, it’s often very different.
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Very well said!
It is a trap!
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Fake…we use social media for we know about someone
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Or tell something about his self. We use social media built new friend ship. But not trust these link connected friends. Why?
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literally i am totally like you..social media freak..nice one loved it…i loved the way you changed the concept. I think you’r going to give fluffy advice but its awesome..
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Yes we don’t realize how 16 hours of our day gets spent (considering 8 hours of sleep) without doing a thing productive. Thank you 🙂
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You know what after saying goodbye to my friends I usually watch my notification light several times.
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It is so true. A few months back it was exactly my story. And now I realise what a waste I was.. Very nicely penned post..
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So true. I am a ‘recovering’ addict :P. So I get the conversation and this post. Well penned piece.
PS – we recently connected here. But my old blog address isn’t working anymore. So kindly refollow me again by clicking on my avatar below. Thanks. 🙂
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It’s always great to read soothing on your blog .. 🙂 this is an important issue… Thank you sharing 🙂
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Damn Nice 🙂
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No matter how educated, talented, rich, cool or beautiful you believe you are, how you treat people tells all. Integrity is everything.
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Would you mind if I steal your lines? I can make good quotes based on what you say. If you are using Instagram, you will find me writing quotes. 😀
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Yeah sure
You don’t need to ask.
Generosity is a virtue of a belive.
Not in just words but in good actions as well.
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Framing this one too 😀
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Hahahahaha
Don’t put me on a cloud dear.
I am a simple guy
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So true
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All in moderation.
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this is Amazing! even i’m working on something similar to this! this post will actually help me, portray my thoughts! thank you
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Loved the way you defined this, without being preachy. You can be a great psychologist! Awesome!
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Thanks!
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Engineer?
I was just showing a video to a friend of mine: TED talk on using Technology better. Do watch it
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True. You should google and look at ” Facebook illustrations by Pawel Kuczynski ” .
Check my blog as well for an article touching on the subject.
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