The advent of online social networks, text messages and instant messages has lead to dehumanizing emotions. I have decided to go all out against this kind of attitude because it risks breaking all essential human bonds by making bonding a big joke.
Today, the youth are particularly inclined to live efficiently rather than effectively. By efficiently, i mean going through the daily motions of life as optimally as possible. This is ok as long as it's for paying bills online or getting work done. But it has become a fad to stretch this to unbelievable proportions.
I hate it when I see my name as part of a group wishing list, be it in mail or on text messages. Group and bulk SMS's irritate me and when i am lumped with everyone else I take it to mean that I am just a part of a group of people who need to know something as a formality. WTF! I would rather wish a few people personally than make it a show of sending 100 sms' and receiving so many, knowing fully well that it means nothing to the sender or receiver.
Moving on to instant messages. When the instant messaging service was first conceived, it was probably meant to be for quick hello's for those living on two different continents. Today it has become an escape route for making life 'efficient'.
What is more, most of them need to be prompted to say about what is happening in life. It is as though everyone is living a secret life, closed and hidden. I believe that when people behave this way, they think too much of themselves. And everyone does this following one another, resulting in the - 'Hi, how are u?' syndrome.
Hi, how are u? I am fine
How are u? I am fine
When I see this, it reads to me as:
Hi, I am alive, are u?
I am alive too, how alive are u?
Why should I say anything more about my life, when you cannot say something about yours. Something which is different from the list of status messages you have already put elsewhere.
What can you really make out from text? Can u understand what is 'I am fine' or 'i am ok' when you don't even hear a person's voice? It is just a formality for the sake it. As if this was not enough, the inability to know one's emotions on messaging has made it almost mandatory to include an emoticon. Imagine saying 'get lost' with a :D smiley and without it? It can reflect two entirely different emotions. More often than not, lots of misconceptions arise because of emoticons alone.
I strongly believe that if you value someone, you should make it a personal gesture to remember or uniquely identify them. There should some meaning in communication. Not in a manner of a sham where everyone is treated the same. You will be treated in the same way as you treat everyone else. And this results in what can be termed an 'attention deficit syndrome'.
Today, the youth are particularly inclined to live efficiently rather than effectively. By efficiently, i mean going through the daily motions of life as optimally as possible. This is ok as long as it's for paying bills online or getting work done. But it has become a fad to stretch this to unbelievable proportions.
I hate it when I see my name as part of a group wishing list, be it in mail or on text messages. Group and bulk SMS's irritate me and when i am lumped with everyone else I take it to mean that I am just a part of a group of people who need to know something as a formality. WTF! I would rather wish a few people personally than make it a show of sending 100 sms' and receiving so many, knowing fully well that it means nothing to the sender or receiver.
Moving on to instant messages. When the instant messaging service was first conceived, it was probably meant to be for quick hello's for those living on two different continents. Today it has become an escape route for making life 'efficient'.
What is more, most of them need to be prompted to say about what is happening in life. It is as though everyone is living a secret life, closed and hidden. I believe that when people behave this way, they think too much of themselves. And everyone does this following one another, resulting in the - 'Hi, how are u?' syndrome.
Hi, how are u? I am fine
How are u? I am fine
When I see this, it reads to me as:
Hi, I am alive, are u?
I am alive too, how alive are u?
Why should I say anything more about my life, when you cannot say something about yours. Something which is different from the list of status messages you have already put elsewhere.
What can you really make out from text? Can u understand what is 'I am fine' or 'i am ok' when you don't even hear a person's voice? It is just a formality for the sake it. As if this was not enough, the inability to know one's emotions on messaging has made it almost mandatory to include an emoticon. Imagine saying 'get lost' with a :D smiley and without it? It can reflect two entirely different emotions. More often than not, lots of misconceptions arise because of emoticons alone.
I strongly believe that if you value someone, you should make it a personal gesture to remember or uniquely identify them. There should some meaning in communication. Not in a manner of a sham where everyone is treated the same. You will be treated in the same way as you treat everyone else. And this results in what can be termed an 'attention deficit syndrome'.
Those who matter and would have cared for you, have been cast away because of impersonal behavior. Those who don't care will only send bulk messages. What happens when you desperately want someone to pay attention to you? There is no one left and you start putting up status messages online. It is a sign of desperation. The individual wanting the recognition of identity over collectivism. The same individual who dissolved the identity by making everyone equal wants to be attended to. The notifications and status messages hoping to catch the eye of one in a hundred who will ask you 'what's wrong?' and go beyond the 'hi, how are u?'
Nothing extraordinary needs to be done to recognize people as individuals. Just be normal. Don't try to optimize and make human relations an efficient process. In the end what will happen is that when you feel human, everyone will treat you like a robot, sending notifications and nothing more that that. No point ruing over loss of human touch then!
totally agree! i have felt this way too. well written :)
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