Social Blackhole

I recently got back to my twitter account, and with new gusto got down to some tweeting. Thing was, i never really had understood the witter concept. It sounded like just another fad people had taken up. It always started out like this. There were bloggers who used this initially to broadcast their views to those interested. Next came the high profile people tweeting away. Twitter suddenly became a instant hit. Who wouldn't want to know about their favorite personality taking a kick at the world. It was a chance to finally get to know what the high and mighty thought. Thus came in the followers who wanted to establish a communication with their all time heroes (be it a one way thing, it was a start). The last group of people to join were people like me. Those wondering what all the hype is all about.

It was the same with my Facebook account. "I'm not going to get sucked into the blackhole called Facebook", i had said. "It's too addictive", i had observed. As if that worked. I tried to experience the pull of the networks bottomless pit. An image comes to my head. Me dipping a toe into the side currents of the roaring whirlpool just to gauge the danger. I gauged it alright. Got sucked into the eternal abyss of social networking. A few of my friends were pleased. "We told you so" was what they had said. "You are one of us now" they had told me smiling, like i had just been recruited into a group of hungry zombies and getting ready for my first brain hunt.

I was helpless. Before it was just on the desktop. Next came the mobile internet, and before i knew it, i was tweeting away at 6:30 in the morning. The bad part? I'd go back to sleep after posting the tweet. Self loathing there. Lots of it.

The question which really gets me here is, WHY? Why get hooked onto this thing. Why have a compulsive desire to check on your page every 15 minutes. Are we looking for occasional "likes" or "comments". Are we actually relying the internet to have a thriving social life or is it just a way to get those feelings out of your head? Whatever be the cause, the ultimate result is just the same. Addiction. You just gotta check that post. Just like someone needs just that one drag off his Cigarette.

Then there are a tornado of fake profiles, all identified with women in swimsuits as their contact pictures, and YOU get to be their FIRST friend!! The sheer joy!! The excitement! Blah. Only fools would fall such stuff, (i know quite a few). An incident to share here. A friend of mine got an invite from a girl claiming to be from Delhi. He messaged her. She messaged him back. He became her self proclaimed boyfriend. He even admitted to meeting her when he was in Delhi later. In truth, the account was FAKE. He later admitted to not meeting with the girl, but the guy still has no idea that the account is a fake. He says the girl was a fool, so he dumped her. Yes brother, we believe you.

Fake profiles, fake people...everything is there. Wannabes, critics, photo fanatics...it's a whole new world out there, and it's going to be a long time before a decent number people come back to reality for good. Still trying to do that here. Someday, sometime, we should break free. Though blackholes generally don't let go. Until then...TWEET away :)