Congratulations! You have been made a fool. How you ask? And how do I know? Well, a victim knows. What did they say about technology? That it would bring us closer knit us in a web of global togetherness and we’d live happily ever after. Well, I think now the myth is more than exposed. I don’t think I need to comment about how technology has practically invaded our privacy and turned us into a spied lot, we already know much of that. What I want to tell you dear reader is about the other issue, one you might have often thought about as well. I’m talking about this brilliant cover of anonymity that technology has provided us with, to be more specific, anonymity that internet and social networking has made popular and trendy. Yes, the Harry Potter invisibility cloak thing, if you will have it that way. Forget about conversations, feelings, emotions, body language and contact even, the new way of communicating is here. Lo and behold!
Remember there were times actually,
in reality, when people used to sit together, walk a mile, or argue over hot
steaming cups of coffee? No I am not referring to Jane Austen’s novels and
neither to a romantic Hollywood movie. The kids out there might not believe me,
but actually we did behave like humans, before technology came, stuffed us over
with means of communication and turned us into robots. People used to make
friends by stretching their lips slightly, a process we know commonly as
smiling, not by randomly adding unknown people, who might very well turn out to
be psychopaths, murderers, stalkers or worse Hannibal the cannibal. The ideas
of protection, safety and discretion are all insignificant things, because
communicating has become easy, especially since it takes no physical effort,
except for the thumbs frantically moving over smartphone screens, or fingers
over laptop keyboards. So now there is no need to spend money on friendship by
buying someone a coffee, cards, tickets to an amusement park or movies, or
whatever you prefer, because friendship is just a click away. Coming from the
Asian sub continent, I have heard numerous stories of how people (usually in
love) used to communicate through signs, looks, and of course sending letters to
their lovers using pigeons as carriers. (Sometimes, friends and cousins did
just as well) Imagine the sweet feeling of expecting a response, mixed with
equal amounts of anxiety and apprehension; the disappointment of a delayed
response and the joy of reciprocation. Well, this is just an example. Conversations
are intriguing when done face to face. There is a reason God gave us a voice
and the power of communicating through our bodies, non-verbally, otherwise He’d
just paste a screen on our faces and we’d be roaming around expressionless. The
bond increases immensely when we look at feelings flitting on the other person’s
face, when we see him/her respond warmly and let’s face it, body language is an
essential supplement to verbal communication. Now try to do that with
emojis/emoticons on social networking sites! Hah! Bet you can’t!
Apart from sucking out our feelings,
expressions and basically all the fun out of our communication, social media has
done one other brilliant job; it has created an army of anonymous ‘know-it-all-and-spit-in-your-face’
warriors. And to be honest and fair, it has unleashed an uncivilized beast in
all of us somewhere. Suddenly, social media has become a platform to spread
hate, misinformation, rumours, and of course to debate endlessly. I include
myself, when I say that people have become more intolerant because of social
media debates and conversations. It has absolutely ruined any semblance of etiquette,
we might have laid claim to. Imagine coming across a status on Facebook that
offends your political, cultural, religious, or ethical inclinations, what do
you do? You respond. And then starts the cycle of comments and comments to
comments. Often people lose their head over an argument and directly come down
to hate speech and very often, abuses, publicly on your status. This might very
well be the person you have thought to be your friend for long. Now imagine,
with a face to face conversation what are the chances of coming to blows or
abuses? Very less, I say. I argue that being physically present in a conversation
drastically reduces your chances of acting stupidly because it enhances your
memories of good times and relations with the other person. The other argument,
of course is that the argument turning into a boxing match is a deterrent as
well (especially if you don’t visit a gym regularly). So well, yes, I’m saying physically
conversing reduces chances of disagreements turning into sour rifts. The protection
provided by social media, the comfort of commenting whatever comes into your
mind without fearing any physical consequences and without facing the person
directly, actually has empowered many a moron to vomit their hatred and
stupidity publicly. Let’s face it, this ease of hiding our physicality has
turned us into judgmental know-it-all monsters, who deny the possibility of any
opinion other than that of theirs.
Others might very rightly argue that
social media has in fact come to the rescue of those introverts, and
communication-fearing people, who’d lose their voice once they came in contact
with people. Yes that is true, social media has at least provided us with
unending opportunities of sharing experiences, of writing and of inspiring
people. But in turn it has given a free run to those who want to push forward
their agenda of spewing venom without actually facing any consequences and
without bearing the brunt of the hurt and division their words cause. That brings
us to a very sensitive topic of ‘free speech’. How much speech is free speech
and who determines the limit of this free speech? These are question that need
to be dealt with separately and not here. As there seems to be no option of
reigning in haters, and trash speakers, the responsibility seems to be
preparing to fall on individual shoulders. It is time to teach our children, the
etiquette of conversing virtually as well as in reality, if ever such a rare
chance presents itself. I leave the choice as well as the question to you;
which one of the scenarios would you prefer? Having a coffee (or whatever you
like, ice cream maybe?) in a park, respectfully disagreeing with a person you
are having a conversation with or screaming your lungs out on Facebook, using
all caps words and @#$%^^ symbols to address a friend who disagrees with you? Forgive
my romanticism, but could someone get me a cup of tea, two chairs and a person
to converse with? Thank you!
