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Welcome to modern world. Where anyone and everyone has a say on what you do. That includes the internet.
We live in an era where all of us are connected and everything/everybody is being "receptive". It could mean anything, anywhere from your significant other finally "listening" to you, to the NSA/the internet looking for an inside scoop on your private conversations and life choices.
The other day, I had facebook tell me that it was my friends birthday and I should help him have a good day. Who says stuff like that these days? Anyhow, will my wishes help him have a good day? Apparently not, considering we haven’t been in touch since school. I ignore it and a few hours later, I get further persuaded, where fb shows me what my other friend has written on this person's wall for his birthday. What's the deal here? I do not understand. I will chose who I want to wish and in the manner I choose to do it. Quite frankly, I am there for the memes that brighten my dull-day.
Gone are the days when you were uber cool to have a facebook account. Thanks to 'Digital India', now, facebook is where anyone and everyone can be found, and has evolved into a dignified means of stalking people, digitally. How do I know that? I have had people ask me questions based on things ranging from what I post, what time I am online, where I am, what clothes I am seen wearing in my pictures and more importantly, WHO I am with. Ooohhh....hold on there, gossip monger! You are one step away from being blocked from my social life. Behave now.
Talking about social-pressure, ahem, sorry, I meant social-media pressure, enter WhatsApp. In this age, if you are not a part of minimum 3 WhatsApp groups, you are deemed a psychopath. Also, you can no longer be dormant in groups, there are these people known as 'WhatsApp-police' who, despite you turning off your read-receipts, can monitor who in the group has viewed which message, at what hour and chose not to reply. You are also judged based on WHEN and how you wish someone for their birthday or anniversary in the group. Calling or dropping in do not matter as much. Based on your performance in the group, you and the messages you share will be evaluated. Your credibility also depends on that. There is a stipulated number of forwards and memes you can share and there needs to be regular intervals between "content-sharing". One additional meme/forward can make or break your value and determine the degree of your "free-time" you have. For god's sake, back-off!
Now, there is this other aspect too. Ever find yourself getting depressed over some fancy post that your friend shared about his/her trip to Europe? Wonder what you need to do to be there, like that? For all you know, your friend could be at the most picturesque destination in the world and still be pining to be with their family, when you are right there hanging with yours over a nice cup of coffee. They key is to feel happy and move on to other funny memes/videos. When you find yourself reaching for the phone to stalk your ex or compare your lives with that of your friend or colleagues, remember that no one trying to make you feel jealous. It's a cardinal sin you are committing on your own.
So, to escape from the ever-growing facebook followers and their stalking, I embraced Instagram. I love that no-fuss platform. Pictures, captions and some harmless hashtags. What harm could it possible do? Turns out, quite a lot. I'll explain how. Just yesterday I was talking to my friend about buying new headphones and we were innocently discussing the economical/reliable brands out there and what we had heard about them. We gave up after a while, inconclusively. I decided to check my phone to see what had changed in the world in the last half-hour, and there it was! An ad for the new Bose headphones on my Instagram feed. I was just shocked. My phone, that was in my bag next to me was listening to us THE-WHOLE-TIME. [Turning the microphone off doesn't work. I've tried.]
What’s worse? It was "Up-selling" to me. I wanted regular headphones and it was showing me the Noise-Cancelling" ones. The ads instantly stopped appearing after I eventually bought the headphones. How did my phone know? What the hell is happening? I search for one thing online and I get bombarded with one thousand suggestions related to that. I turn on the privacy settings and then there are ad's on random webpages I visit. Where does this stop? Think about this, how many times has Alexa/Google Home/Siri ever spoken up suddenly between your conversations, uncalled for, even when it is turned off? That is downright creepy and a major intrusion of our privacy. Try asking your voice assistant "Are you listening to me?" See if you get a straight answer.
Its either people or technology, constantly fighting for your "MIND-SPACE" and having a say on what you say, do, or buy. Is that healthy? You might ask me, why buy voice assistants or why have an online-presence. That is my personal choice. I share things that make me happy. I am a marketer by profession. I seek consent before I market my content and offer an option to "unsubscribe". Where do I find that for social-media? I want to see what I am there to see, and what I share to be perceived for what it really is. Nothing more. Where is the filter for that?
Why still be on social media? Why not sell your "Smart" phone and go back to the Nokia 1100's? (do they even make them anymore?) Well, let’s marinate on that for a bit and think,
How many of us have smiled in the middle of a rough day by just looking at a random video of a bunch of puppies rolling on top of each other?
Cried when you saw soldiers come back home to their families?
Looked at the picture of the father-and daughter who were traced and tracked down on Twitter to be given that one last picture of them in front of Cathedral Notre-Dame in Paris just before it burned?
Checked on our loved ones immediately after knowing about a disaster?
Prayed hard for people suffering half the way across the world?
Helped someone by sharing meaningful time-sensitive information?
Had your creative work become viral in a matter of minutes?
Had your creative work become viral in a matter of minutes?
Become aware of the effects of Climate Change around the world?
Had the convenience of knowing what is happening, when it’s happening?
We can agree that the boons are endless.
When you want your mind-space to yourself, escape to a place where you have poor reception. Wake up to birds chipping, instead of online pings. Breathe!
