SSB Lecturette Series: Social Media Is Eating Up The Real Conversation

February 4^th, 2004. The day Facebook came into existence. This day marked a history in the area of social networking. There were other social networking sites but none had been as popular as this one. It took the internet by storm and soon spread to the whole world. It was an addiction like none other; teenagers were mostly impacted by this internet phenomenon. The concept started with sending out friend requests to each other, and then millions of texts to each other. With new additions every day, it became more and more appealing. Soon “The Wall” came up, people could write up stuff on each other’s page, “liking” and “commenting “ became a new thing. It all just seemed so fancy, having more friends in the friend list having cool profile pictures and cover photos and more number of followers. It became like a mission for some to be more popular online. But sadly there is another side to this coin as well.

With social networking on the rise, we have become more of virtual and less of humans. Yes we are flesh and bones, but we no longer hang out as we used to. Those evening hangouts with friends just doesn't have the same meaning anymore, its all the more , more focused towards taking “selfies” and group photographs only to post on Facebook so as to get more likes . Getting more “Likes” is like a need for everyone. The popular ones or who share funny stuff online get more likes whereas the other lot which doesn't involve much itself with these social networking sites are considered the boring ones. 

With time, we have involved ourselves so much in social networking that we don’t find time to meet up. People don’t have time to share a laugh with an old friend, nor ask him how’s he doing. It has more or less boiled down to texting. Today we don’t send greeting cards to our loved ones any more, virtual cards are the new trend today. Going to the market and actually buying a greeting card is considered old fashioned. Gone are those days when people used to meet up for coffee in a coffee shop just to catch up, now its more about tagging yourselves where and with whom you are. People waste so much time online showing virtual love that they don’t find time to spend with their parents as sitting at home and spending time with them is uncool for them.

Today instead of actually meeting up, people consider making group chats. Everyone is so engaged in texting that no one finds time to actually talk to each other, we are becoming more and more socially in active. Its like we are building a cocoon around us, where we are stuck with smartphones and laptops. People now prefer playing virtual games online, no one has the time to actually go out and play with his or her friends. Not only are teenagers of today’s generation losing physical fitness they are dangerously becoming obese too. Something which the parents and society must seriously look at.

Yes, now everything can be done online within fraction of seconds, technology has made things very easy and convenient for us. But let us not forget our roots, socializing is part of our growing up. Let us not be so foolish in this race of becoming popular that our relationships become virtual too. Because if that happens, humanity would loose something truly valuable. These were some of my views on the topic. I would request everyone to contribute their views by posting comments and let the discussion keep going. Also follow the blog to get the updates and subscribe through email to get latest updates, information about latest topics of Lecturette and GD. Keep working for your goal.

About the Author: Shekhar Tanwar is a computer science engineer who is working with a renowned MNC and is a die heart defense aspirant. Guitar is his passion and he is very firm believer of physical fitness. This article is a way to help defense aspirants to present his critical views on the topic, on the forum so that collective exchange of thoughts can take place.