Whirlpool of Technology

Friday, April 22, 2011

Posted by Radhika

A year back, I got in touch with a school friend after 13-14 years.. (it makes me feel so old...) and very excitedly I remember exchanging numbers and contact details. Thereafter, we spoke once.. twice.. and realised that we are poles apart.. so after sometime of chatting about the good old days, which are not exactly very vivid, thanks to my brain filtering mechanism, we had nothing much to catch up on! We dragged the conversations for a while only to realise that the poles are literally tearing apart.. and the phone conversations gradually were replaced by SMS, forwards, and the occasional pings on chat.. only to be fizzled out to another past memory in the shelf.

Suddenly today I get a hi on "What's App" - the chat application that connects various phone users of BB, Nokia, iPhone etc - and I responded. After the initial tete-a-tete we realised that both of us have BlackBerry. So of course, I got added on to the BBM as well. Now what? He claimed to have a new phone and needed me to walk him through certain features as well as exchange wallpapers, music etc and we ended up having a BBM conversation for over an hour! Bored? Ok.. now I'll get to the point..

It made me wonder that the definition of social networking over the years has been changing drastically, rapidly, and so effectively. It has been smoothly eradicating social awkwardness and giving every person the extra opportunity to network, stay in touch, know one another and be less judgmental about the person sitting in another corner of the world. Its amazing how technology is gradually being infused in such a way to connect to the human psyche's lapses and eccentricities. It forces one to have the extra chit-chat, to form another bond, to know another person which otherwise for most of your life you would not even bother considering! So many times I remember seeing people's status messages and photographs and activity feeds on Facebook only to think "Wow! I didn't know he is so talented" or "I didn't know she had such great photography skills" or "Oh he/she does this too?" and it makes one realise the platform they stand on today, the changes happening around them, the abundance of opportunities around them.

For a good part although I believe we overdo it, I believe that social networking is towards the good.. the better..and I cannot wait to know what's next ..(Oops.. almost sounded like a Samsung advertisement).. so whether you like it or not the virtual world is soon going to be meshed with the real world or rather is, and the faster you accept it, the easier it will be for you to embrace the turbulence ahead :)