Social networking - can(not) be with(out)

Well, I should definitely thank Ashik for this topic.He was the one who sparked me off to writing this (when I was racking my brains as to what to write and was completely dried out with respect to writing) , when he sent me an invite to join the group "My parents are in facebook"!!!!

It started out as a normal breezy boring day with me performing the ritual of opening every online link that I had to check my mails.I have to admit, I am hooked on to my laptop.Every day starts and ends with my laptop(no offence meant to Nivedh ;)).My laptop has become as indispensable to me as my coffee.So it was the opening of my accounts, checking for emails, adding remotely associated people as friends, dropping a "hi" here, a "nice-picture" there, "congrats" and all that jazz;When I noticed something that really had me taken aback.I saw this seemingly innocent message that said "1 friend request" in my facebook profile.Curious to know how many more people I know out there on the world wide web, I clicked on the link.And wasn't I surprised when I saw the request was from my dad!!! How cool is that ???? or hold on was it so cool after all ;).But wait, at this point I have to truly commend my dad in being so tech-savy-and-net-updaty.Well done Appa!!!!!I am proud of you :)

On the other hand, I was also little apprehensive.I am sure that all the guys who use facebook and other social networking sites agree with me and are able to connect to my feelings when I say that "its dangerous to have your relatives (ahem... I stress on the fact that relatives here definitely refer to the generation before us) as your friends".I definitely am not suggesting that we try hiding anything at all from them but its just the feeling of "being-watched", I should say!!!!My initial reaction was "Appa is good, he is on facebook" but then even when I said that I had a tiny feeling in my head that said "is it really that good after all".I didn't have anything scandalous (no pictures, no messages, no groups) at all, not even anything INTERESTING.Then why was I worried???? I don't know.

Delving deeper, why are we so hooked on to an online space??? What is so fascinating about it??? Accepted that you connect with friends who are miles apart, and can interact in the same way as you would if they are in the same room.So what??You are forced to look at others pictures and comment on them (you can't but be good, however much you hate the person, you can't write a bad comment, oh no!!!! there are better ways to treat your enemy!!!!), send stickers, gifts, take bizarre quizzes (Who even wants to know who you were in your previous birth???? or know which sex and the city character you are???), poke people, send martinis and beers,read your daily horoscope, put our funky cool status messages and a lot more.Nevertheless, I have done all of these things!!!!I guess all of us find sanctuary in these virtual worlds.There is something very techno-funky about setting a spot-on status message or getting peoples attention by a cute profile picture.I feel your space in this make-believe world is a reflection of your personality or rather how you want other people to perceive you.You are cool if you have shit loads of friends in your list (many of whom you have not even bothered to say hi to after your initial acceptance).The more profile visits you have,the more "wanted" you become among your group and the more interactive you are on your cyber space, the more social you are perceived as!!!

It was a lot earlier snail mail, then a bit earlier it was the e-mail and now its the social networking sites we use, to communicate anything to our group of friends.No one really bothers to send e-mails now.Announce an engagement - its just a matter of changing your status to "committed" and everyone knows!!!!!You got a baby - put up a cute profile pic with you and your baby posing away (or) a simple status message that says "It feels great to be a dad!!!" and bingo, work finished.It is a lot easier to announce that you are single again as well - status goes from "committed" to "single" and presto I swear you will be asked out to dinner the following Saturday!!!You want to invite guests to a party - simple - just create a group event and send out invites, you can even track who all are coming!!!!Its a very shameless way of flaunting all your achievements (and otherwise) ;) and it is very simple as well.One liners have long lost their glory as being pick-up lines.Now a one liner strictly refers to the attention grabbing status messages that you can possibly have on your profiles.

But I cant keep away from it, even if it means I am wasting my time.I have, like many others, fallen a prey to the addictive effects of the networking sites.What started off as a hobby has translated into an habit!!!!

OK... someone has left a comment on my photo and I need to check what it is .....

(It was, It is, and It will be)