The 'social' experiment
As I turned 25 last year, I felt old, very old. I just couldn't relate to those college kids anymore I'd see en route every now and then. Anyway, that was just one side to it. Years later, as I went back to wasting time on social platforms again, I felt older. A boomer, if I may. Took some time to grasp how drastically things had changed, a whole new messenger section on facebook, reactions, threaded replies. I must admit I felt sorry as a techie getting pissed off at not understanding what those social platforms offered anymore.
It's not that I was completely oblivious of how stuff worked years after I had practically stopped being active on social platforms. I did know about 80% of whatever new was brewing on them. And I hadn't planned to be inactive either. Honestly, it has never worked when I've planned it. But ever since I got started with my job I silently moved away from the virtual world. Still don't understand how and why. It wasn't that I was too busy, half of those 4 years I've literally wasted sleeping anyway. But somehow as time went by, I didn't feel the need to check on any feeds, update anyone about any new happenings, or even check if I still have access to my accounts lol.
It felt great. Relieving. I literally didn't need my phone, other than for making the absolute necessary calls. The social media platforms were more like the bill payment sites. Hardly accessed in a month or two, for a short while. The urge to inform people about where I was, the excitement I had, or something that I was working on, almost faded. Boring you'd call it. Boring I would have called it too, had I been my 5 year old self. But I loved it. I could easily roam around, see places, without even caring if I had enough storage to capture those astonishing photos, well, because I didn't really have to. That's one zone that lets you be completely raw, dumb, carefree without having to worry how it might project to the rest of the world. Might sound philosophical, but honestly, it's so bloody relishing! Heck I was saving time on not choosing the whatsapp profile pic anymore. Apparently, having 'no picture' as an option saves a lot of time over the years.
And then there were downsides. I was losing on the creative learnings these platforms can provide. I won't hesitate admitting that if I love writing stuff now, it's partly because I started it on an online platform in the first place. And that was one of the very things I wasn't spending time on anymore. There's definitely the people angle as well. It's obviously rude and arrogant to not interact with people for years. You should, I have no excuses for that. That's a major area a stretched period like this might start affecting over time. And of course, it feels stupid when you don't know the jargons/functionality that have come up over time on social media. It didn't take time to realise that if you're not on instagram, you're treated differently.
It's hypocritical you might say. And I do agree with that to some extent. I'm writing this post, on more or less a social platform. Then why on Earth am I lecturing about how it felt to be away from it all? Well, it's something that I had already made up my mind on midway through that experience. I always wanted to write, if not this, then something else. Missing out on writing is something I'll definitely regret. And I also didn't want to lose on capturing how it feels to be socially distant, from the online world. I had read someone's experience years ago, might as well read mine years down the line....only to regret it later.
And as a counter argument, I'm not really following that protocol anymore. I've been back, active on some platforms, and well, started writing as and when I can. Does it feel better? Umm..., not exactly. It won't feel better than that experience for sure. I'd still go back to it more or less to the same extent. In my defence, I'm mostly surfing for memes lol. But I won't stop writing at least, don't want to.
The intention wasn't to portray how amazing an experience is without social media. Everyone has their own way. And that's perfectly okay. The idea is to express, how it might feel, if someday this looks like something I might want to try again more stringently, although I highly doubt it. The idea is to explain why there needs to be a balance between the two, while there's peace, there's always something you might want to pay attention to at the same time. Last but not the least, the idea is to bore you with yet another post that I randomly wrote for the sake of it, and if you're still reading it, to apologise for the same.
Cheers!
