Instagram, snapchat, whatsapp, viber, hike,
facebook.
You’ve got
to be on at least one of them to validate the proof of your existence. Social
media is no longer just a medium to communicate and neither are our
“cellhphones”; but we hardly use cellhphones these
days it’s all about the Smartphone generation! The tablets, the I-pads, the
laptops and god know what else is to come.
These gadgets are such an integral part of our lives that living without
them even for a day seems like an impossible scenario.
My family
loves eating out and it just so happened that we were at this fancy restaurant,
you know the kind where they decorate your cloth napkins into ducks and swans?
Yeah, that kind. I was enjoying the ambience, soaking it all in. The rich tapestry,
the deep blue Turkish centre pieces. It was living larger than life, elegantly.
I scanned the room, drooling over the exquisite looking food contemplating if I
should stick to the cuisines I know or be bold and try something different,
something rather strange like squid or sea urchins when I saw a small family
celebrating the birthday of their son at the centre table. The kid had just turned
five as the candle on his expensive looking dark chocolate cake with chocolate
ganache suggested and even more expensive was the jacket that his mother had
casually draped over her chair. It was Gucci.
I
was fascinated by everything about the family and their lavish celebration for
a tiny little child. I noticed the mother more carefully, she had an I phone (of
course) which was connected to a portable charger and the father who had a
pleasant smile on his face was busy ordering more food , tipping the waiter
more than he earned and then he went back to his blackberry probably typing an
email which would earn him millions. And then it struck twelve; the kid was so
eager to cut the cake he could barely contain himself. Holding the steel knife
upside down, butchering the cake he giggled in glee and soft but audible claps
could be heard which surprisingly came only from the waiter. The mother was
busy tweeting her son’s birthday update and uploading his birthday cake’s
photos on Instagram with not so relevant hash tags. The kid took a piece and
instinctively looked at his mom to take a bite from him but mum was busy so he
turned to his father. His father looked at him, ruffled his curly hair and received
a call on his phone. The kid didn’t wait; he just had the piece instead. And another
one after that. It was good about fifteen minutes when his mother finally
looked up from her phone and gave him a kiss on the cheek while the father was
still busy on his phone. I am sure the kid didn’t really feel bad about it or
even understand that this isn’t how he was supposed to have a birthday. It was
normal for him. He had seen his father on the phone daily, his mother on the
laptop uploading photos of her as well as him. But was he going to remember
this day? His Instagram photo? I don’t think so. The only memory he would
probably have is of well, nothing. 15 years from now his fifth birthday,
although expensive and lavish is not going to be one of his favourite childhood
memories and it could easily have been!
“Hey
mum, don’t put chocolate on my face, ewww!”
“Hey
dad! Don’t make a mucchi out of chocolate!”
THIS.
This would have stuck in his mind for a very long time but his Instagram photo?
I’m not so sure. It’ll just be one of the many pictures his mother uploaded.
We
see it every day, people sitting across each other busy checking the number of
likes their photo got instead of making memories. We are so busy trying to be
popular in the virtual world that we’ve forgotten how to feel; how to live, to
experience the memory. To be a part of the photograph we take.
The
internet is a part of our lives and we cannot do away with it; it’s a boon for
the twenty first century but a bane if we let it become our life. Our facebook
account is OUR profile and not the way around.