Very recently I came across a nice piece of article in a newspaper that spoke about the complex new age modes of communication. The age of all the Facebooks & Twitters of the world.
Its quite acceptable that change is inevitable, but some changes that we presume that are interesting & amazing for the mankind are perhaps not so great in the hindsight. I am talking about how Social Networking Sites (SNS) that are affecting people’s lives. Every second day I come across articles that mention why & how a certain SNS have turned out to be a curse… like Facebook being blamed in a particular city in England for spreading a sexually transmitted disease (Syphilis)……wondering how is that possible??? …it said according to the researchers Facebook provided opportunity for people to meet strangers for casual meetings which further led to casual unprotected sex thereby spreading the disease. There have also been reports in the past of how FB is fast leading to break ups & divorce among young couples due to blatant flirting by few.
As it is rightly said…every coin has 2 sides & there are undoubtedly lots of positives about these SNSs as well. The point is perhaps most of the people fail to understand where to draw the line of privacy. The moment you bring your personal life out into such an open forum you are doing nothing but inviting trouble for yourself knowingly or unknowingly. Privacy seems to be something that’s not private anymore thanks to GMail, Facebook, Twitter etc etc. Anything and everything from a break off to a new relation, Marriage to a child birth, promotion to being ignored for a sal hike, vacationing on a beach to being sitting late in the office….you will find everything from various people flaunting their life as their status. Sometimes I find myself consoling a friend on a chat who just broke off and at the same time wishing another friend for his wedding that’s due soon. Jeez!!! How weird is that. Gone are the days of calling up your dear friend when you are feeling low & waiting to meet him/her to share your pain. Today we let the world know our state of mind. Maybe I belong to old school of thoughts but I find it really strange.
Going by the trend I shudder to think where will we end up? As it is most people are willing to provide an hourly if not minute wise update of their personal life. We hear celebrities don’t have a private life, I wonder do we have one today…and the worst part is we are not even celebrities & we don’t even enjoy their privileges. Food for thought…..look before you leap & think before you type.
Amen.
