OK folks, here’s the thing, like each one of you who read and engage with me here, I too am part of an ecosystem that reaches out to the sensible part of the knowledge and information ecosystem from time to time. partly to keep sharpening my observations and knowing how rapidly we are either correcting some aspects or further damaging ourselves- individually or collectively! This piece is a crisp one that deals with it!
There was a time (yes hard to believe!), but it surely was- when you could actually start a conversation with a perfect stranger without having to try to get the name first- do a lookup on a social account (to gauge likes and dislikes) and then strike a conversation! The conversations themselves could be around a wide array of topics- at times they could be nominal takes on the current socio-politico-economic opportunities or challenges of a region, nation or the world- depending on the cumulative IQ of the participants in the discussion. When levels of intelligence allowed the discussions could easily be around religion, politics, philosophy or even taking on one of the most challenging topics- Does God Exist! Well that is how it was- whether your were with people that you know or don’t information sharing and knowledge gathering always happened subtly and in the most uncertain ways- but the biggest part of this was- It was an ongoing process and it had a pace of its own- it allowed the participants to choose how deep they would want to venture into a subjects and they could leave the moment when they thought- That’s it– beyond this I do not want to go ahead (for whatever the reasons might have been).This mechanism allowed intelligence to flourish and develop in ways which were most suitable and conducive to an individual- because the probing mind- had made its choices of what is that it wants to seek and where it should move ahead next! So you see there was an ongoing latent effort taking an individuals journey in the direction of evolving likes ( you can rename this as passion, interest, vocation, professional aspirations so and so forth!)
The dawn of the e-age brought with it some great opportunities and advantages- absolutely no doubt around that- but like everything else it also has brought with it- the lesser good- which has created more hollow and pseudo portraits of human abilities then what they would have been really able of sans the space provided for going on with Self-obsessed behavior over social sites! In the beginning all this seemed cute and innocent- until the medical world began to wake up and come up with specific disorder names along with a complete medical drill right from defining the symptoms to the diagnosis and the post diagnosis control- as they would have for any routine ailment!
Get on your any of your favorite social sites (whether these are the ones you use to upload your snaps- or engage with professionals (so- called at times) or you want to pen a few lines and share an update about things happening around- as you go through the pile of social information floating around (most of which is unsegregated intellectual garbage), you will come across a common trend- The need and desire to be heard- something that each one of them is trying to tell about themselves (whether it is a snap, an award, a paragraph- most of this and much of the time- this is something that they want to badly speak about and that too, “speak to anyone” (half of the time they don’t even care if this will be relevant to the people who will possibly glance through this!) This is the crux of the matter and this is what is a true reflection of our times- societies (individuals who are part of this societal framework) that are too busy and too overworked seeking confirmation and approval from everyone and anyone around to everything that they do and say! This behavior crawls up further and starts to play mind games which leads to sub-fragmentation of societies- at times this can be seen as multiple trade bodies for a same region, at times these can be seen as multiple trade unions, multiple courses offering the same syllabus- multiple designations for doing the same piece of work- multiple awards saying the same things again and again with equal amount of ambiguity each time!- you name it and you have it out there!
Well, so what’s happening here?– to put it simply people are just lost- lost for not knowing what is to be used for what- which medium is for what purpose- lost because either they have too much on their plate or too little- lost because they are not been heard to and also lost because they have a voice and no one seems to understand that voice! All this further manifests (most of the times in sensible efforts and initiatives that go on to make peace with inner voices and implemented actions) but in some cases these take a dramatic weird turn and often result into nothing but a colossal waste of time considering that we all have limited time at our disposal – irrespective whether we agree to that fact or not! So what’s the way out of this nonsense?
Well, to begin with, take a pause every time you are tempted to put up that award pic, that snap on the social handle- The fact remains- those who know and care for you- always know what you are dealing with and what’s happening with you even at this moment- and for the rest- they anyways don’t give a damn- so why bother?! Be wise to know how much of “I”, “We” and “Our” does your outreach carry rather then “For Us”, “For everyone”, “For society”, “For nation”, “For the world”. Remember this whether you like it or not – social spaces- whether they be print or online are meant to impact and effect change for the larger good of humankind at all levels – some areas it build momentum rapidly over the others- Your private space is not the world’s problem- you have a great life- be tankful and help the less fortunate- your life is screwed up- well see what best you can do with it and leave it at that! Blowing your trumpet and over-glorification and public sulking either ways doesn’t help anyone nor yourself in the least!
The only way to stop this menace of SOS behaviour is to ensure that individually we take actions that are wise and sane, take a pause before your upload your next picture, next video or next write up and think- “Is this for you or for the world to know- does it help the world around you?”- This is the only differentiating criteria to either go ahead with that upload or stop right there!
I leave you here for now and we will catch up soon with another piece! Ciao for now! Stay wise and stay blessed as always!
An Aura of Fleeting Thoughts 