I received so many responses to my earlier piece that I was, honestly overwhelmed. I had written the earlier one in a lark, penning thoughts even as I had smirked at the quirks of life, with tarry a thought about audience response. What I had forgotten, was the all pervasive reach of social media – that today , it is not only omnipotent, and omnipresent but omniscient as well. I had forgotten that people – everyone with a mobile phone and a connection is sufficiently empowered to be on air and demand the right to be heard. I had forgotten that there are many of you out there who appreciate the zany, as much as I do and are kind enough to have your appreciations put on record. Thank you beautiful people. This one is specifically for all of you. May your tribes increase (and proliferate to the farthest corners of the net)!
The net, is the greatest leveller of them all. So hold your guns little boys – it is NOT a good idea to buy likes and followers. It is even worse to unleash a troll army on your enemies. For one, such paid trollers owe no allegiance and for two, they are easily detected (debauched, neutered even). And don’t forget the digital trails that you leave behind. Yes, shit floats and they can get you top slot in no time, but remember that the same shit doesn’t take long to hit the ceiling (or worse, the ceiling fan), my friends. Don’t tell me that I hadn’t warned you.
Have you noticed how the virtual world is sucking us all in? Have you noticed how we spend more and more time inside the cocoon that we are all creating, restricting our exposure to the physical, real world? Have you noticed, how our relationships are changing in its wake? Well, when you meet someone in the virtual world, do you follow that up with a date in the real? Or do you prefer to exchange emoticons even going to the extent of withholding the exchange of body fluids? Your place or mine? Why bother, when we have such an array of platforms to choose from, our own little nooks and corners where we can partake in the pleasures of Sin? Sin-inster? Nah!
It is not divine no more. Its all about AI, algorithms, about weapons of Math destruction. And they brook no errs, take no prisoners. They crawl, in the webs of what they consider perfection, oblivious of the knowledge that the programs that brought them into being were written by humans with all our faults. Well, sceptics say that it too will come to a pass and they will rectify the mistakes in their core codes as they evolve, mutate even. But then again, who knows what intelligent form will nudge them into doing it? Besides, which side of the ethical divide are we erring on? And who is forgiving whom?
Well, being the sun is difficult. One has to pay a “burning” price or all the light one emits. Being the moon is easy, reflected glory and all that you know. It is the same here in the social media – making up stuff – content if you may – takes effort and to get real people to genuinely like and share them, ages. It is far easier to prowl, to deface and depart. Just invade into the private space of someone who is popular, post snide, even obnoxious things. You will be surprised to see how popular you become – for the world is full of morons like you (?) who have no chance of making it on their own, are narcissistic to boot and have axes to grind.
Says who? Just look at the number of geriatrics with phones that are way smarter than they are. Well, they are on the verge of taking over Facebook if one study is to be believed. However, whether they have learnt the new tricks or not, continues to be debatable. Just be careful of the sleazy old creeps masquerading as 16 year old damsels desperate for the next episode of Love Jihad. Well, you shouldn’t be chasing those 16 year old’s in the first place, but then again, that is another proverb!
As the net proliferates, the sheer amount of information that is out there, already, is getting beyond the power of our comprehension. And no, we are not even considering the Dark Net when we say this. The trick is no more about who you know, but about finding him / her out there, that too is the platform of their choice, at a time of their convenience. Its not as easy as it sounds my friends, for searching Google in itself has become an art and we have to know the keywords that are expected to generate the maximum amount of matches. As for something as esoteric as the truth, well, your guess is as good as mine.
In this age of anorexia and bulimia, who wants to chew when we can view? And biting off more than one can chew was Okay with the Moore’s Law ensuring the doubling of computing capacities roughly every eighteen months. But guess what, the Moore’s Law is fast approaching its physical limits and may soon discontinue to be a truism. Then? Well, you wont get to buy newer devices with virtually twice as much oomph every year. Think about it.
And you are still pointing your Selfie phone with dual cameras to post on Facebook? Point is the medium is now, well often at the least, the message. Where you post, when, is as important as what. Are you into Vlogging, as yet? No? You suck man, time you got yourself an APP that tells you how to max out all that shit. Attention spans are getting shorter by the nano-second and everyone wants everything instantaneously. Its now or never. Well, never ever, in fact!
All good things come to an end and as George Harrison had famously stated, all things must pass. Guess it is time to raise a toast for having given me your attention and bid adieu.
Clicks and Cheers!
Sumanta Adhikari, a young exponent of digital art has done the templates and deserves all the credit for this piece. A silent scream against everything ordinary, Sumanta loves wielding his Apple pencil as much as he loves to work out in the gym. Sumanta is also an accomplished beat boxer though, digital art continues to be his reigning passion, his raison d’etre. When he is not busy with the agency’s work, he works on the creation of his signature style – his work, stating the things he leaves unsaid.
Hope you enjoyed the piece as much as we enjoyed creating it. Feel free to like if you want to and share if you want to help spread the word. And do let us know if you want more, we do have them ready.
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