With each other or half a world away ?

I gaze at you but I fail to see you there
my senses and eyes are sealed over
dashing obliquely
petulantly looking at my phone
anticipating an alert for notification of
A comment, a tweet, a like, a status update.

I hear you however I fail to listen
my senses and ears are tweaked into music
from a distant land
Intermingled with ting-a-lings

Those convey it to me that I have an unread message waiting.

I am with you but my brain is elsewhere
with somebody more fascinating
more likeable
Somebody whom I am yet to meet
Somebody I am yet to talk to in person
Somebody, whose name I barely know

I relish the manner we snuggle in front of the television
while I celebrate in the limelight
from co-Facebookers, co-tweeters, co-Instagramers
and chortle mutely when my opinion is liked
retweeted or climbs the popularity charts.

I treasure our time with each other
I see your face shining with love
and mine in the light of my
valued device.
We seem picture-perfect for each other.

------------------------------------------

It’s astounding how much has evolved ever since the late 80s and early 90s when Zack Morris (a TV show character) was given a mobile phone the dimension of a sandwich, and antennae and phone boxes were fitted in cars so that people could enjoy a “car phone.” 

It has virtually fully converted to a different world since then. And what’s also most interesting is how much the world spins around their smartphone comrades — phones like Droid and iPhone. Debate between which one is better is another story.  These smartphones are now hardly used as just phones – you know the kinds we used a few 10 years back – the kinds which could make and receive calls and send messages?, These smartphones are rather portable computers. The propensity for people to detach has considerably amplified, not because it’s preferred, but because it’s just too simplified now. There may still be the yearning for a relationship, but it’s become tougher to get driven when it’s easier to self-distract now.

The Internet and smartphones have fundamentally become a lifestyle in an alternate reality. How much devotion and focus is invested in playing a game on a smartphone or cell phone rather than spending that valuable time with family or friends, or making sociable banter in queue at the grocery store, or on bus stop?

Understandably, the solution isn’t to surrender our social media devices. The concern seeps in when our dosages of alternate reality and real life become imbalanced to the stage where the alternate reality conquers us. We find ourselves relating more with the technology in front of us — even if there’s a living person on the other end.

Finally, a slight disconnection expectantly will lead way for a reconnection to those epitomes and objectives that are most imperative to you, even if those epitomes were formed in a world massively diverse from the present-day.

Don’t have a smartphone? Don’t fret! Because you have what others do not have – Time for yourself.

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Facebook - Love and Hate

Facebook it seems, is distinctive in its capability to make everybody abhor it with a fervor, and yet it still manages to lure maximum people (some odd 500 million to be precise) into logging in numerous times in a day. It's like the frail slush that sticks to the crown of tomato ketchup bottles in sub standard restaurants – bad enough to provoke general revulsion, but not so irksome as to influence people to do anything about it - we all want ketchup with our snacks, after all?

Facebook is good and bad. So here are few 10 things I despise about Facebook. Read on!

Inapt automatic friend suggestions - “People who you may (not) know! Friend suggestions can be useful, but when Facebook attempts to ram a complete stranger on you, it's kind of inappropriate. Likewise, if you've had a major tiff with somebody who has mutual friends, you're compelled to see their face turn up in the 'suggestion' section soon after. Awkward? It is.

Unlimited game invites-I want to unleash hail, locusts, fruit flies, a tornado, and Mad Cow onto all Farmville Farms. ’Farmville’,’ Mafia Wars’, “My Aquarium” “My café” and what not! I do not dispute the fun aspect in them. It might be fun for some but if you don't wish to play them, the continuous invitations are galling. Many Facebook games are like Amway marketing; more the merrier types. And once you've managed to block out one game application, another pops out in no time.

Where is the 'Dislike' button? - A friend pompously writes in a status update that she got married or engaged now. That's an uncomplicated thing to like. But what do you do when a friend declares they've just gone through a divorce or have been separated or single again? In its inexorable effort to be cheerful, Facebook hasn't provided us the option to promptly empathize or deviate with someone’s opinion.

Do I know you? At times it's someone you've met maybe just one time. At times it's an acquaintance at a party or someone you only interact with sporadically. But odds are you've been 'befriended' by somebody you might as well not have on your list. Theoretically, disregarding the request is an alternative, but that can generate some real world strains. What’s more amusing is that when I decline a friend request, does the person not get the hint?
So can we be friends? Of course Not. I don’t know you after all (even if we have friends in common). You have shady photo in your profile. Why do you want to be my friend? No! No! No!

Apparent celeb marketing tactics- Celebs adore Facebook -- or so it would look like. But all too frequently, it's somebody managing the account on their behalf (and often disappointingly). That doesn't prevent ardent fans from tripping over themselves to 'like' each and every comment and clang in as part of the 'amen' choir. One of the prime reason, why I had to delete all celeb pages from my profile. Not that I had too many, anyways!

Obscure status updates - "Adi wonders why people act that way" -- and that’s it. What so ever happened to Adi? Is he perplexed? Have his feelings been wounded? What on earth could bring about such a baffling comment? Give context or shut up, Adi. With updates like these, you're only fishing for feedbacks. Facebook is a social networking site, not your personal diary published on the World Wide Web!

Group Invites- The Group invites are when people tag innumerable people for some absurd event that's generally not even bona fide. “XYZ invited you to join the Lets light a candle and make it happen group.” Give me one good reason to join a hopeless group? In fact, I feel nowadays there is no social cause, calamity, disaster that Facebook’s groups can’t solve? Strange, eh? These groups don’t offer anything much, besides litter on the profile page. So unless you can show me what exactly this group is going to do, NO I will not join it.

Quiz Requests- Strange but true, that the quizzes that your friends take ( the whole day long!) always display on the News feed and worse still – sometimes even get mailed in your in-box, inviting you to take them too. Life is way too complicated at times, for you to load me with more questions – all silly ones that too? No more questions please. Thank You.

Update on my friends’ friends-It’s creepy how Facebook presumes that I’d be interested in what my friends are saying to their friends who aren't even there in my network. No, Facebook! I don't want to know every single scoop of my friends' pages or lives.

Every minute Profile Pic Update – Changing your profile pic every second will not make you any less ugly. Make up your mind!

At that note, I am not ranting about the glitches in Faebook's Privacy settings like many others. The thumb rule is : Well, if something is so private, don't put it on a social networking portal. Simple.

This post does not however, imply that I hate Facebook. So what do I like about Facebook? I love the concept of incorporating all my social software with just one sole list of friends in preference to having to replicate my peer groups across numerous websites and services.

Sure, Facebook is a lot of fun. It's a wonderful way to re-bond with long lost friends and to keep up with people on the peripheries of your social sphere. And as much as workday interruptions go, there's nothing better.

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