What is that one thing that scares the living daylights out of you? Think for a bit; now look at this.
Now let me know 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 the net for two whole days.
This is what happened with my college recently (don’t ask why we have no idea :P). Well, we weren’t completely cut off, considering smartphones, 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? You might as well sleep all the time. But soon enough, even sleep abandoned us. Since there was a power cut too (but obviously), shortly everyone’s “smart” phones also died. And after a long time, we had no other option of passing the day but to talk.
There was some plain old, girl-to-girl talk. The “talk” was special because everyone was wholeheartedly involved. There was no continuous chirping of cell phones and us checking the new text, and there were no one playing games on their phones.
There were no phones. And boy! Was it liberating! There was so much lighthearted banter, leg-pulling, laughter, and before you ask, a 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.
When the day was over, we realized that it was, and it hit us that life without the 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 informative screen that we have and that it’s a privilege to have. Still, sometimes we need some real interaction, where we see each other’s expressions, where we hear our voices and that of other’s without any medium between us.
Because of this miraculous screen, 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 is increasing, although we have someone to talk to at the press of a button. In contrast, 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 can’t talk properly with when we meet.
I think it’s time we looked at a real setting sun then watched our screensaver of the sunset on Egyptian deserts. I think it’s time we became us and not our Facebook and WhatsApp profiles.
