Sanjana - Hey mum .. i met Neeti yesterday ... !
Mum - But Sanjana, i thought neeti was in the US. ?
Sanjana - Cmon Mum , Please dont sound so ancient , i mean i met her on FB ..
Rahul - Dude .. Just got to meet Abhishek .. !! It was so cool to meet him after a long time..
Peeush - But dude.. when did you meet him.. ? I was right here all day and we're like roomies..
Rahul - Get a life Dude.. i met him while Orkutting..
If you can relate even remotely to the apparently ignorant people in the conversations above.. you are one of those people who have somehow managed to survive what has turned almost all of todays youth into cyber animals or digital freaks as i like to call them ( i include myself too in this category although with limited symptoms :D ) .. If you scrap more than you write , if you twit more than you speak or if you take quizzes like "what color will be my dog in my next life" like quizzes.. Its time you sought some help.. :)
The world had seen the ill effects of Drug ,liquor or Smoking addiction but only recently, the addiction of being constantly active on social networking websites on the web has given psychologists a run for their money. The primary reason for the same is that psychologists still dont have rehab programs for people with symptoms of creating farms and rearing herds of cattle that do not exist.
From people going nuts about increasing their friends count to people opening multiple accounts to send "gifts" to each other for beautifying their farms/making plans for the next theft of the mafia gang/hiring waiters for their imaginary cafes etc etc , Facebook has totally gotten people doing what they wouldnt have done when they were "normal" (read not registered on FB). I wonder what mystical or god sent algorithms various applications use that are popular on FB which allow them to figure out details even the almighty couldnt have predicted about an individual . Various applications on facebook tell you facts about you ranging from , what you were in your previous life , what would your kids look like , which world war 1 character were you , what your mother thinks is inappropriate about u etc etc. I was particularly amused by an application that gave me the time of my death to the nearest milisecond ! .. Truly the Gods up there might be going insecure !!!
From liking or commenting on almost anything posted , to venturing into alien profiles , interesting "i want Fraandship with you" requests , playing "Dhongi Baba Ka Mahasangram" like games.. FB and Orkut leave no stones unturned attracting thousands of people registering on them.. Other smaller players like hi5.com , bigadda.com , ibibo.com etc are few websites which are lined up in trying to attract the same kind of popularity but somehow are still lagging way behind Facebook.. Orkut, once the leader in social networking has now been slaughtered by facebook , due to absence of applications that offer people with more options of being joblessly involved either feeding fishes or running restaurants or becoming zombies !!
With the insanity and obsessiveness increasing exponentially with each new application being added on FB or Orkut.. I am more than worried for the businesses that would take a beating .. I can forsee the time employees start demading for Orkutting or Facebook Vacations.. And finally of a time when "Facebook" becomes the real world.. and the world we live is tagged as an "illusion" as in the Matrix Trilogy..
One of my friends quite aptly quoted looking at the ongoing hysteria of social networking and chatting applications..
i dont wake up , i just go online .. i dont sleep .. i just go offline .. and i dont rest.. i just go idle..
