Man. I am gonna write a blog on this. My love-hate relationship with technology (esp. whatsapp) seems to have taken a turn for the better. Whatsapp has committed suicide in my phone. I am unable to open it. Finally, the speculation regarding will I or won't I use it has been laid to the rest.
I am still very much active on other platforms, be it FB, mails, Google Plus, Viber, Hike, and still use a smartphone with the Android OS. Its Gingerbread. But, it's comparatively quite smart. With proximity sensor and all.
I have uninstalled and installed whatsapp on countless occasions over the duration of the last few months. I started using it a little more than a year ago. On my Nokia E5. That was when I had newly joined as a lecturer at a few colleges. Seemed the better thing to do.
But, over the course of the few months after that, I started realizing that it wasn't as pleasant as it seemed. These networks are sapping our energy. Our time. And not really leading to the Human Intimacy that we all actually care about. Sure, we are talking with each other day in and day out. Sure, we are more knowledgeable about our so-called friends. Sure, its easier to share breaking news and videos of cats, Rajnikanth, politicians, etc. Sure, its easier to keep tabs on each other via the hotly contested "LAST SEEN". Sure, the person is considered extremely rude when he stays online yet doesn't reply. Cause, now we know, you sucker was online YET didn't reply! Sure, you can check out the latest pics from your friends and all those people you love to stalk. Stalking was never so much fun.
In spite of all these valuable add-ons, I remained unconvinced and a skeptic. Uninstalling whatsapp almost every 20 days or so. Messaging the people in my circle that from now I won't be on whatsapp. And they contact me via sms or call. But, then something would happen to force me to come back. Maybe an important conversation that I missed. Maybe the arrival of someone new in my life. Where, constant conversation would be the new drug. Maybe the futility of smses, because now people don't have sms PACKS like before. They can't reply to you. They can't call you. But they have an internet pack. And so, I'll be back, to happy welcomings and sarcastic jibes. It'll continue for greater than a fortnight and less than a month. And then, Repeat.
The cons of using these services are many.
*They'd make you busy, and forget your actual, real world work.
*You'd be so tired talking to multiple people simultaneously that neither you will be able to reply to all of them in a just way, neither you will be able to focus on your real life.
*Most important of all: Those long calls via landlines will be gone, which were more meaningful and profound on the personal level. Let's not even talk about meeting others. That was long gone. As I heard in the new documentary, In RealLIfe, "we took them out of the parks, we took them out of the streets....and put them online.." Now, I see kids playing outside, only when there is no electricity.
An important event that occurred recently added significance to this thinking of mine. The Lights went off in my locality. Like the entire area of the city where I live, in a radius of at least a few miles. I could see lights, but they were far away.
And, this happened as the sun was setting. Till early morning the engineers worked hard to restore electricity, which was restored by dawn. I was just stuck by the silence and peace I experienced in the very locality, while standing at the balcony of my 4th floor house. All around, a few hours before midnight, there was complete silence. Instead of the techno noise. There was a natural illumination. The rain clouds of the night giving a light orange-ish illumination to the ground below. Beautiful.
I realized all this techno noise is drowing our peace. The future of technology will have to be different and peaceful. It'll need the human components of love, compassion and regret, guilt to truly live amongst us peacefully. I already believe the Singularity has occurred. The Machines are conscious. A nascent consciousness albeit, but growing quickly. And learning.
Anyways, I don't think the whatsapp-no whatsapp tussle is over for me. Not yet. There is yet to be a clear winner. Depends on future events. As of now, I am not using it.
Okay, enough blog writing for today. Give that man a Cookie.
P.S. The NSA, Snowden, Assange thing notwithstanding, I'll like you guys to watch the End of the World-Delete a.k.a. E.O.W-Delete
that I saw on AXN recently. Worth a watch if your mind too thinks in a similar way to this blog.
thanks!
have a good day!
And Machines, I hope you develop a a conscience when you do.
I am still very much active on other platforms, be it FB, mails, Google Plus, Viber, Hike, and still use a smartphone with the Android OS. Its Gingerbread. But, it's comparatively quite smart. With proximity sensor and all.
I have uninstalled and installed whatsapp on countless occasions over the duration of the last few months. I started using it a little more than a year ago. On my Nokia E5. That was when I had newly joined as a lecturer at a few colleges. Seemed the better thing to do.
But, over the course of the few months after that, I started realizing that it wasn't as pleasant as it seemed. These networks are sapping our energy. Our time. And not really leading to the Human Intimacy that we all actually care about. Sure, we are talking with each other day in and day out. Sure, we are more knowledgeable about our so-called friends. Sure, its easier to share breaking news and videos of cats, Rajnikanth, politicians, etc. Sure, its easier to keep tabs on each other via the hotly contested "LAST SEEN". Sure, the person is considered extremely rude when he stays online yet doesn't reply. Cause, now we know, you sucker was online YET didn't reply! Sure, you can check out the latest pics from your friends and all those people you love to stalk. Stalking was never so much fun.
In spite of all these valuable add-ons, I remained unconvinced and a skeptic. Uninstalling whatsapp almost every 20 days or so. Messaging the people in my circle that from now I won't be on whatsapp. And they contact me via sms or call. But, then something would happen to force me to come back. Maybe an important conversation that I missed. Maybe the arrival of someone new in my life. Where, constant conversation would be the new drug. Maybe the futility of smses, because now people don't have sms PACKS like before. They can't reply to you. They can't call you. But they have an internet pack. And so, I'll be back, to happy welcomings and sarcastic jibes. It'll continue for greater than a fortnight and less than a month. And then, Repeat.
The cons of using these services are many.
*They'd make you busy, and forget your actual, real world work.
*You'd be so tired talking to multiple people simultaneously that neither you will be able to reply to all of them in a just way, neither you will be able to focus on your real life.
*Most important of all: Those long calls via landlines will be gone, which were more meaningful and profound on the personal level. Let's not even talk about meeting others. That was long gone. As I heard in the new documentary, In RealLIfe, "we took them out of the parks, we took them out of the streets....and put them online.." Now, I see kids playing outside, only when there is no electricity.
An important event that occurred recently added significance to this thinking of mine. The Lights went off in my locality. Like the entire area of the city where I live, in a radius of at least a few miles. I could see lights, but they were far away.
And, this happened as the sun was setting. Till early morning the engineers worked hard to restore electricity, which was restored by dawn. I was just stuck by the silence and peace I experienced in the very locality, while standing at the balcony of my 4th floor house. All around, a few hours before midnight, there was complete silence. Instead of the techno noise. There was a natural illumination. The rain clouds of the night giving a light orange-ish illumination to the ground below. Beautiful.
I realized all this techno noise is drowing our peace. The future of technology will have to be different and peaceful. It'll need the human components of love, compassion and regret, guilt to truly live amongst us peacefully. I already believe the Singularity has occurred. The Machines are conscious. A nascent consciousness albeit, but growing quickly. And learning.
Anyways, I don't think the whatsapp-no whatsapp tussle is over for me. Not yet. There is yet to be a clear winner. Depends on future events. As of now, I am not using it.
Okay, enough blog writing for today. Give that man a Cookie.
P.S. The NSA, Snowden, Assange thing notwithstanding, I'll like you guys to watch the End of the World-Delete a.k.a. E.O.W-Delete
thanks!
have a good day!
And Machines, I hope you develop a a conscience when you do.
interesting read. as a 'hapless' whatsapp-less user i may not be fit to comment on the service but from what've i heard, i believe it's a more evolved version of messaging. of course more addictive too. but like you said our sensibility of a conversation has long since degraded — from a face-to-face interaction to a telephonic one to a texting one to a whatsapp one. and every time a newer way of interaction is launched, we'll inevitably rue about the old ways. and everyone, me included, will have to give in to this fall. sooner or later.
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