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Thats right, I am socially un-connected. I do not have a facebook or orkut or other 'connected' accounts. Yet, I am very much alive, and I do not think I am missing something.
I have started to hate this decade. About 13 years back, i had this unique phonebook. Thin, slim. I had to hand write the numbers as Laser printer or even an inkjet printer was no where to be seen. Well, infact, The color monitor was not in the market. I loved handwriting. I liked writing in paper. I liked hand crafted cards and I used to make them. I loved decorating greeting cards. I liked coloured pens. And pencils. I remembered my friends birthdays. I remembered almost all phone numbers. In fact, even after not calling my old friends for about 10 years, I still remember their old land phone numbers. I remember walking home after school. I remember fun. I remember rain. I remember Inland letter card. I remember how much a post card costs. I remember waiting for the postman.
Things have changed. Yes, I am a techie, and I am supposed to know the latest stuff. In computers. I am supposed to be 'connected' and updated.
And when I clicked on 'delete my orkut account' about a month ago, I was a happy man. Before, I was pathetic. I had to log in to remember who my friends are. I had to log in to know what they are doing. At the moment.
Not that I used to know what the other person is doing at every point of time, about 10 years back. I neednt know. No one bothered to know. Every one had a space. Big space. You neednt tell anyone when i am going to the loo, what song you listened to at 8:30 or the current state of mind every five minutes.
I didnt have to farm in computer.
I am getting back to the old simple life. Earlier, no one used to call to any home after 7 or eight. Now I have students calling me at 11 or 12. Not that I pick up the phone. but whatever happened to private space?
I have now realized I am a person who need a lot of private space. I feel very much relieved socially unconnected. I have removed one element of distress from my daily routine. I have gone back to less computer and less phone. I have started to enjoy feeling the rain. I have started to enjoy remembering the phone numbers. The land phone.
On the downside, I cannot make an excuse that my mobile battery was dead and thats why I couldn't make a particular call because I couldn't browse the phone book. I have to cut down a lot of excuses that I used to find. I will have to lie less and have to be sincere with whatever relationship i have. People may find it difficult to access me, and that could be an excuse for not keeping in touch with me.
But I am feeling better. And I attribute that for my disconnection with social networking.
I believe addiction to alcohol is better than addiction to a mobile phone or addiction to get connected.
Well, for the record, contrary to the popular belief, i aint an alcohol addict either.
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6 comments:
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Thats a nice post...feeling like jealous..because..i too wish for the happiness which you have now..its like being urself once again..i mean to look n see more clearly those small thgs which mattered once and which got forgotten in the long run and enjoy those...well thats a blessing...we are loosing all those small pleasures in this race of life..was a pleasure to read...( also was wondering wat hppd to u..cos u was socially invisible for sumtime) :)glad that u didnt disconect from blogging..
well blogging is ALSO a way to get connected.
nice post...i'm all for nostalgia and i get the whole wanting old times stuff...but what i don't get is - (n this is just 1 example) u DO realize that the physical environment is not the same as it was 13 years ago, right?! i mean, take those names in ur phone book -perhaps some (or most) of them live oceans away from u n cn't be reached via the good ol landline!rn't u ecstatic tht, unlike the situation 13 yrs ago - now u can actually still hv them in ur life thru sites like fb, orkut etc...?at the risk of using a cliche - change is the only constant, n changing environments demand newer, improved tech (social media among other things)to keep up with everything. who sed any of the examples u listed hv to take u away from ur frens n loved ones? or tht u cn't hv privacy n still be 'connected'? it all boils down to perspective i guess n the personal boundaries u assert n establish. neway just a different point of view from urs...:) btw, noticed ur comment on my blog n tht brought me here...glad i stopped by...nice read :) tc - sneha
@Pearl
Thanks !! No I willnot disconnect from blogging at least for some time now.
@Princess
No. I can blog and still not be connected. I can just disable the comments. !! :P:P
@sneha
Yes, The physical environment has changed. People are living miles apart. No one is in my hometown.
But whats the point.??
I Last month was my classmates marriage. Our batch is connected, yes. He had all the phone numbers and email addresses. He invited everyone he could. There were about 15 odd guys who could have come. who were in town. Still, I was the only one who showed up. Not that I was not busy. But it is all about how you look at things. Distance was never a barrier before when there was not even internet.
We can have a best friend overseas with just a couple of letters in a month. Now, We are all too much into other things, we just dont know what to look at. We just dont know who our real friends are. At least my case.
May be I am wrong. May be its the difference with my environment, But i am better now.
btw, whats the link to your blog?
what's the point of blogging if ur disabling comments ??
u cn just jot down in ur diary :P
ohyh if u want others to see and not comment.. then u'd suggest disabling. but then ur the only one who is feeling disconnctd. the ones hu read ur blog wil knw n wil be..in a sense.. connectd to u :P
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