What is that one thing that scares the living daylights out of you? Think for a bit, now look at this
Now tell me if this is scarier 😛
Internet has become like roti, kapda, makaan and bijli for us. You can’t live without it. Now imagine if someone tells you that you have to live without net for two whole days.
This is what happened with my college very recently (don’t ask why, we have no idea :P). Well, we weren’t completely cut off, considering smart phones, but our major internet browsing method was compromised. So, we were stuck on the lonely island of no internet, with no clue how we would be spending our weekend without internet.
On Saturday morning awoke, what can probably be called the grumpiest hostel in history. Everyone was like, what is the point of getting out of bed? Might as well sleep all the time. But soon enough even sleep abandoned us. Since there was a power cut too (but obviously), soon everyone’s “smart” phones also died. And after a really long time, we had no other option of passing the day but, talk. There was some plain old, girl-to-girl, talk. Where we actually saw each other and discussed the mundane. The “talk” was special because everyone was wholeheartedly involved, there was no continuous chirping of cell phones and us checking the new text, there was no one playing games on their phones.
Basically, there were no phones. And boy! Was it liberating! There was so much lighthearted banter, leg-pulling, laughter and before you ask, very little gossip. It was surreal. I came to know awesome cool stuff about the people who live around me. And we have been living around each other for over a year now. We had so much fun that the lack of power or internet didn’t even cross our minds in the entire duration of the day.
It was when the day was over that we realized that it was, and it hit us, that life without internet is not that bad after all. We are all so busy being busy, texting each other, watching interesting videos, uploading statuses that we have become blind to what’s right in front of us. One little screen has become our entire universe. I agree that it is one very powerful and very informative screen that we have and that it’s a privilege to have, but sometimes we do need some real interaction, where we see each other’s expressions, where we hear our own voices and that of other’s without any medium between us.
It is because of this miraculous screen that despite today’s age of great connectivity, we often find ourselves alone. We feel lonely despite Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and so many other social networks. The number of depression and mental illness cases are increasing despite the fact that we have someone to talk to at the press of a button, whereas earlier, when telephones were rare, people somehow never complained of being lonely and were able to keep themselves balanced.
I think it’s time we shut down the ever engrossing screens and took some time for ourselves. I think it’s time we went and had a proper conversation with the people we have been texting for so long, but aren’t able to talk properly with when we meet. I think it’s time we looked at a real setting sun, than watch our screensaver of the sunset on Egyptian deserts. I think it’s time we became us and not our Facebook and WhatsApp profiles.