Last summer I had accompanied N to the long line of iphone lovers to grab his 3Gs. Amidst the hot coffee and free doughnuts for apple customers, I was more excited than him for the fact that I no longer had to wait for computer access to update my facebook status. All I needed was a tap and the lives of over hundred friends and another handful of good/close/best friends would be delivered to my palm and my life in theirs. I had (have) succumbed to the facebook genre projecting the I-have-a-good-happening-life syndrome!
Like every facebook-addict I am religious with my updates; filtering the good and funny, leaving the controversial or hurtful bits to never find way to my online presence. To the facebooking world I am the girl with a happy life and sunny days. That is not to say I am a hypocrite or liar; far from it. My cloudy days are left to ruminate and un-facebook. But that is me. That is where I wish to draw the line.
So when should the social butterfly, rein in her wings and end the flight? Who polices enough is enough in the tweeting-facebooking-myspacing-blogging-world?
A couple of weeks ago, I read this news about a tweeting mom, who lost her son in a pool drowning accident. There was a hoard of controversies hovering the time of her tweets and the death of her child, angling negligence, insensitivity and the like. From a conventional stand point she had but grieved and expressed her deepest pain online to 5000 odd followers. Similarly, not long ago, a mother had caused a media frenzy with her tweet about being relieved about her miscarriage.
Now from a just angle, how is it any different from gloating about your love life? Is sad news more personal than a happy one? And if it is so established, should it or shouldn’t it be conveyed online?
These and a gamut of related questions pawn the social-networker; the one throwing his closet open and letting the skeletons haunt the grapevine craving social-mob. You are but manifesting your own Paparazzi, loving and loathing judgments from random strangers comfortably termed followers. And whether that is good or bad, happy or sad is yet again a matter of personal standing!
So the next time you want to unleash your worst fears or unprecedented calls for sympathy and empathy to the online family who like, cheer and follow your best moments, step back and give it a long thought. I am sure you do not want to be chastised by an arbitrary follower for being a miserable human being, when all you want is a virtual shoulder for support.
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