"Facebook,the very concept of it,is redundant." I remember an anti-social networking friend once said.
For a while,I took in the truth in that statement,but there was a force greater that wouldn't let it be the bold,embossed impression I have of social networking inside my head.
I'm not even going to bother elaborating on the textbook example of how it's just convenient connection for socially awkward people,in general and teenagers,in particular-I'll tell you something else,maybe.
Intially,there were times of newfound glory that facebook wallposts and likes would lighten up my world with,and then,there were way too many pitfalls,dark days when everyone's life seemed faster,brighter,happier than my very own.
Yes,basing the need for one's entire existence to please others or by conforming to the fads or by the number of likes being the measurement of acceptance,socially might be shallow and baseless,but one must not forget to mention that this only happens in cases where you center you life completely around social media,we all need balance in every aspect of life and it might weigh more towards one scale half of the time,and it's not as bad as its made out to be,not at all.So why,you tell me,should social networking be amplified as the root and sole cause for this distress that is nothing but the human tendency of imbalance in the struggle to strive?
Blaming a social network for ruining lives is as good as blaming a woman's existence for the occurance of atrocities against her.
And. what esentially matters is,I have grown because of and through this medium,a so-called waste of time.I met some of the most incredible people and have had some of the most outrageous verbal brawls.I've self-doubted and second-guessed myself way too much over something as silly as posting a status or a picture,but I have also grown out of the fear of revealing myself to the world.There are things I have learned about and awareness I have gained that trust me,no other medium can provide.Why,why can't social stimulation be a good medium of education and learning? Experience is learning,isn't it?
It is a personal growth,spanned over a timeline of thought,feeling,wit and insight.
In retrospect,It has made me stronger,merely by existing.I found love and hope and support where it should have been lost,and I should have been crying my sorrows out into a pillow had it not been for this miracle connect,a remedy a click away.
Queen bees have reigned and been forgotten,fashions have faded,lingos established.Cliques have shuffled,some destroyed like multitude of honeycombs set on fire.Friends left,people poured in like the first monsoon shower,things changed and things din't.People would get their popcorn,egging on fights and not
keeping their minds in their own beeswax and making plain old watery honey out to be royal jelly.
But Facebook,I'd like to believe,has seen me through and through,been the one constant of change.Maybe you'd call me disillusioned or half-mad,but it's the mere truth I'm stating,this medium has always been there and it's probably being too dependent on our part to be not able to imagine a world without networking,but so what?
It has safely sailed me across seas of sleeplessness and kept away the distress of distance,for good.I can vouch for the fact that something so virtual has got my back.
Yes,I do have the Fear Of Missing Out,but who doesn't? And to an extent,can't it be considered healthy?
It has also revealed to me the age old truth that words are weapons,of mass destruction or of massive change,completely depending simply on the way they are put forth.
Yes,doubtless is the fact that there have been wasted hours and questions of hindered academic performance,and diluted inter-personal relationships,but in the same thread of thought,there is also the reassurance that every eccentric can now find their own kind,every dreamer can now find an audience or a crowd to launch their beginnings at,and every unwanted goodbye can be now done away with.
A plethora of ill-effects aside,let me remind you,it's us, humans,who are the very cause of their problems.It's how you use it,not how it uses you.Use it to your freedom,discretion,disadvantage-all upto you.
Besides,the world wasn't meant to be perfect or built to please you,it owes you nothing,it's all upto you to create your universe and center it around what you deem ideal.
I admit to having a very skewed perspective in favour of facebook,but take it from someone who enjoys solitude,but has learned that surfing the crowds can sometimes be what's best for the soul,this bond of wireless concern,love and curiosity kills the idea that social networking doesn't fit in or should be ridiculed,done away with completely.
I might sound like I want to glorify and worship social media (Maybe I do.Well,I mostly live on the internet.) but I don't even want to have to defend it,we need to give it a chance,for real.
Apiaries are artificially tamed to yeild produce,and although the end might not be pretty,the disturbance our dependence of bees would completely disrupt the order and balance of nature.(If you've watched The Bee Movie.)
The threads we call virtual,sewing us together so tight,might not seem real or visible,but they cannot be dismissed as non-existent,either. Think about it.
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