About a decade ago, imagine a lonely Sunday evening dripped in melancholy, where you would be craving for the company of your dear ones who are all miles away from you , wondering how your family must have celebrated diwali this year, wanting to see them & thinking how your little sister must be looking in that cute traditional attire, dying to share your new look & hairstyle with your closest group of friends & wanting their feedback & above all sharing “What’s On Your Mind?!” with the world.
And then one day a person called Mark Zuckerburg comes up with something that literally puts these lonely Sundays to an end. Enter FACEBOOK. All you have to do is to create an account ( its free & always will be) . so why not?? & then as you sign up & login, your life changes!! This BOOK has FACES.. many of which are very well known to you. You become thrilled & start adding them to your friend list. Life seems happy now..finding old friends whom you never thought you would ever bump into again ..sometimes old crushes too..mixed feelings & then reluctantly sending them a friend request..uploading your display picture( dp rather) and eagerly waiting for the likes & comments..& getting allured to the world where you can COMMENT-SHARE-LIKE almost anything.
Life is so much fun now a days. No qualms about staying alone as I am not lonely anymore.I multitask by chatting with my best friend who’s in London now & hey..that’s my cousin’s new photography stint at Andamans!! & oh!! That’s my little niece in her fancy dress competition. Good god!! That shy girl of our class just went from being “single” to “in a relationship” & finally my brother uploaded the family diwali celebrations album & yes 63 likes on my dp( display picture)..inexplicable feeling!!! I am simultaneously writing a note on my grandparents in which I’ll tag my close friends & look what’s on my notification. my father wants to be friends on facebook!! Biggest shocker!! & after I add him I see my mother’s name on “people you may know”!! Of course I know her!now with an above 500 friend list..i am sure I’ll never feel lonely again.
But In the midst of FACEBOOKING I realize that I have not FACED MY BOOKS since long. My life is so involved in the comment-share-like trilogy that no matter what I do now, it’s an inherent want to seek attention & to be liked , to post & share just to see how people react to it & maybe facebook is so popular because it tickles a person’s curiosity in other person’s life.
I feel grateful to FACEBOOK for making me feel so connected to everyone, yet at the same time I do not want to be so involved in it that when I FACE LIFE, my distinction of real & virtual gets blurred & I become lost in between.
