Frankly speaking, this should have gone into my friend's inbox, who started an interesting discussion the other day: Why I refuse to be online on my gchat?
He got convinced with my arguments, a bit too early to my liking. Untold and folded, many of my thoughts are still rehearsing to make themselves presentable at any slightest occasion. That's a drain of energy. To get ready, thoughts take much longer than the most presentable women.
There were days when I was online almost 24x7. Almost! There were times when at least a ten windows would be opened on my screen. It's not that I was intimidated by the online world. In fact, I thrived on it. Even today, without any hesitation and with some smug satisfaction, I can say that I've taken the most of the best that came my way and got away with the worst, which is always in the package deal!
Then, what was that went wrong? I'm not too sure. I would need some psycho-analytic help here. But I guess, the "take-yourself-seriously" part of the setup, didn't work with the otherwise very serious persona of me. I hate the vanity involved it. Irony is the vanity is happening right now.. as I write this. I write as if all of you all are desperate to know why I think what I think, and I'm helping you with this post!
Blogs I followed initially, were creative, if not anything else. Except for Jabberwock and Middlestage, most others have gone into a hiding. What's left is incessant ranting of day-to-day personal woes, spreading negativity and pessimism about life. All that I read now is about books or sports, purely non-fiction!
I've been sick of micro-blogging from day one. I can't get a better metaphor than this: To have a social networking account with some active users in your stream, is to have a head like Edward Cullen's - like it or not, you get to hear so much of crap happening in your vicinity. Isn't one thinking head not enough to screw lives, that we've to real-estate to many more thinking heads?
Above all, I just can't stand it when a blogging space becomes a way to track me. For example, if I'd scheduled some 50 posts at regular intervals for next 4-5 years, most of the folks who follow(?) this blog, think I'm alive and doing good enough to post a blog - even if I'm done and dusted at this moment. That's a fact. It's sick when people are more worried about your blog's inactivity or inaccessibility than yours.
Chats and mails are more personal, you think. In reality, like everybody else's, their fate is never known. Agree or not, online world is an escape world to many. When life busies you, you've no obligation whatsoever to the people you meet here. When there's nothing much on the top of your mind though, ping whomever you see in green or red or, if too desperate, grey. You'd have the fate to lay blame upon, in real world, if you run into someone you wouldn't want to. In the cyber-world, I don't know who else could be blamed when you ping against your own will. Or how would you react to a ping that you know would eventually lead into a dreadful drama? Call them wise or otherwise, some are hell-bent on committing suicide, but they make sure you get hanged for it.
Did I write this to justify my stand? Or to throw tantrums at a few? Or to mock the entire setup? Or just to vent out my frustration? It could be all, it could be none. All depends on who's gonna read this, interpret in what way and react / respond which way. That's beyond me, so I needn't do the calculation.
All said and done, I'd still say internet is the best place for two or more minds (strictly minds!) to interact and flourish. Without it, life would have been too dull. Well, that doesn't mean, it needn't have to be controlled.
He got convinced with my arguments, a bit too early to my liking. Untold and folded, many of my thoughts are still rehearsing to make themselves presentable at any slightest occasion. That's a drain of energy. To get ready, thoughts take much longer than the most presentable women.
There were days when I was online almost 24x7. Almost! There were times when at least a ten windows would be opened on my screen. It's not that I was intimidated by the online world. In fact, I thrived on it. Even today, without any hesitation and with some smug satisfaction, I can say that I've taken the most of the best that came my way and got away with the worst, which is always in the package deal!
Then, what was that went wrong? I'm not too sure. I would need some psycho-analytic help here. But I guess, the "take-yourself-seriously" part of the setup, didn't work with the otherwise very serious persona of me. I hate the vanity involved it. Irony is the vanity is happening right now.. as I write this. I write as if all of you all are desperate to know why I think what I think, and I'm helping you with this post!
Blogs I followed initially, were creative, if not anything else. Except for Jabberwock and Middlestage, most others have gone into a hiding. What's left is incessant ranting of day-to-day personal woes, spreading negativity and pessimism about life. All that I read now is about books or sports, purely non-fiction!
I've been sick of micro-blogging from day one. I can't get a better metaphor than this: To have a social networking account with some active users in your stream, is to have a head like Edward Cullen's - like it or not, you get to hear so much of crap happening in your vicinity. Isn't one thinking head not enough to screw lives, that we've to real-estate to many more thinking heads?
Above all, I just can't stand it when a blogging space becomes a way to track me. For example, if I'd scheduled some 50 posts at regular intervals for next 4-5 years, most of the folks who follow(?) this blog, think I'm alive and doing good enough to post a blog - even if I'm done and dusted at this moment. That's a fact. It's sick when people are more worried about your blog's inactivity or inaccessibility than yours.
Chats and mails are more personal, you think. In reality, like everybody else's, their fate is never known. Agree or not, online world is an escape world to many. When life busies you, you've no obligation whatsoever to the people you meet here. When there's nothing much on the top of your mind though, ping whomever you see in green or red or, if too desperate, grey. You'd have the fate to lay blame upon, in real world, if you run into someone you wouldn't want to. In the cyber-world, I don't know who else could be blamed when you ping against your own will. Or how would you react to a ping that you know would eventually lead into a dreadful drama? Call them wise or otherwise, some are hell-bent on committing suicide, but they make sure you get hanged for it.
Did I write this to justify my stand? Or to throw tantrums at a few? Or to mock the entire setup? Or just to vent out my frustration? It could be all, it could be none. All depends on who's gonna read this, interpret in what way and react / respond which way. That's beyond me, so I needn't do the calculation.
All said and done, I'd still say internet is the best place for two or more minds (strictly minds!) to interact and flourish. Without it, life would have been too dull. Well, that doesn't mean, it needn't have to be controlled.
