Are you social?

A charming, successful and influential lady decided to end her life. She had everything you could aspire for. A career inside the boardrooms making pertinent decisions, a handsome husband with an upwardly mobile political graph, a charisma that took her to places. Yet, something terribly went wrong, something that triggered the decision to call it quit. What happened exactly is for the media to assume and for us to come to our own conclusions. However, the sad part is that a life ended and even after the end, there isn’t any dignity in her demise. Various news channels are running talk shows on speculation and making news of her failure.
How many of us do realize that what failed is the right to privacy? How many of us acknowledge the fact that it could happen to anyone? This is the outcome when you go public with your internal affairs. Instead of sitting together and discussing the problems, mistake was made by choosing a social website with millions of followers to follow your marital discord. I don’t know what would have been the best way because I don’t know the whole story and neither am I an expert on internal affairs. Perhaps the old school way could have saved one life. Not everything new is good nor everything old is uncool.
Now, is the era of going public and posting smallest of your feelings on social websites. Because this is the age of information so everybody in your friend-list is bound to know what you’re feeling today. Social websites openly ask “what’s in your mind” and we oblige with answers as personal as heartaches, headaches, stomachaches etc. Moreover, we take pride in posting our status messages rather than facing the problems. Life has become an open book for all to peep in. The world ought to know whom you date, whom you hate, what you ate even your decision to pro-create. Shocking, such is our age!!
People who refuse to keep it personal and don’t have an account in the various websites are branded unsocial and weird. Real friends are quickly getting substituted by online friends whom you haven’t met. You discuss problems openly with strangers and chat for hours without even meeting them once. And most of us are absolutely okay with it. Because who has the time to meet an old friend over tea/coffee? We are too busy to make time for people who know us well. Life has gone too practical and support comes online. Be it an educational degree or grooming tips or medical help, the world can be found over the net. Therefore, instead of old friends to catch up, it is more convenient to type for company. Afterall, it is completely acceptable to be unsocial and be social at the same time. But do think, could the technical process of exchange of mails ever substitute a warm hug from your dear ones? Or a smiley depicting a kiss, kiss away your sadness?
The way things are, it wouldn’t be surprising if in an interview you’re asked about how many friends you have, all you do is count names on the friend list and spell out the figures. Hey, so what if we haven’t met but you’re name features on my list. So what if I don’t know whether you exist at all but all that is important to me is your name, which features in my account. Now, it could be a pen-name or a pseudo name, who cares, as long as you respond with a ‘hi’ to my chats.
We proclaim that we are God’s best creation. We have tamed technology to our advantage. We rule this world and other animal species have to abide. We have created clones and even tried our hands being God. But we tend to forget that we are “animals” after all, most importantly “social animals” and we need our peers to make us continue living. That technology can’t replace human touch no matter how smart it gets.

Pic Courtesy: Google Images