Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Facebook 101


“I have often considered deactivating my Facebook account. It’s so depressing to see other people posting pictures of their perfect lives…their accomplishments, pets, kids, vacations, food, parties, relationship milestones etc., when I feel like nothing much is happening in my life!”

That’s what a friend of mine told me today, as we were venting to each other about the monotony of our respective lives. Now, as a veteran cynic, here were my few pearls of wisdom to her, on how to avoid Facebook-induced depression:


  • Remember what they say about “judging a book by the cover”? If there was FB when that idiom was coined, it would have said “Don’t judge a person’s life by their FB posts”. Obviously, we are all sharing only the “best” moments of our lives on social media (with exceptions, like this dude). But to think that someone’s life is unadulterated happiness, would be to believe that reality TV is un-edited.  
    • The so called “most romantic” couples on FB are probably fighting like cats and dogs behind closed doors…
    • That drool-worthy Vietnamese street food posted straight from “The perfect vacation in Vietnam” probably gave the poster food poisoning soon after….
    • That fun party you wish you were invited to probably had really good posers who could make even a funeral look like fun…
    • The new job announcement from your high-school rival was probably true…but what you didn’t know was that he was unemployed for 6 months before this (and struggling)…
  • If you are one of those people who constantly check FB after you have posted something, and get depressed when you don’t get enough “likes” and “comments”, baby, you need to listen to this song. Alisha Chinai is of course singing about a mutual exchange of hearts/love, but the same principle works for FB too. “Like ke badle mein like de…”.  Every time you “like” or “comment” on someone’s post, you’re making an investment. And you will get the returns. Those same people will return the favour when you post, to keep the vicious cycle going. Barter system is not dead.
  • A person who has 1029 friends on FB probably has no real friends. And by “real” I mean “not in the virtual world”.  Such a sorry state of the world when even YouTube views and likes can be bought

Sadly, FB is often a great example of that saying about “empty vessels making the most noise”. The happiest or most accomplished people are probably the least active on FB or don’t even have FB profiles. They are busy living their lives…climbing mountains, gazing at stars, telling bedtime stories or baking in their little kitchens that smell like heaven.
So while FB can be very appetising, it’s best consumed with a pinch of salt.
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P.S. I have a few pretty aggressive investors on my friends list. They hit "like" two seconds after I post something, even lengthy reads like this one. So unless they are really fast readers like this girl, they are the kind of people who make FB hilarious.

1 comment:

abol tabol lekha said...

Ha ha ha. Though I am not there on facebook, I can easily relate as nearly my entire family and friend circle are on facebook.

As a social platform, facebook does have its great advantages. You can connect and stay connected with your friends and family across the globe. However, I agree that creating a "tasher ghor" out of real life through facebook postings can only get short term happiness not long ones. Point is your happiness is and should only be defined by how you feel about your life. Not, by what others perceive about your life.

I see a strange phenomena these days, people spend more time staring at smartphones than at the real world around them. Young couples sit on park benches cozily but looking at their mobile devices not at each other. Friends staying in the same city "never find time" to meet in person but are ready to spend hours in the virtual world sharing photographs, sending whatsapp chats etc. Even a real phone call has taken a back seat to texting and posting....

Are we connecting in real life? That's a question that puzzles me. I am a bit scared of facebook and hence chose to stay away. But on WhatsApp I find people staying in the same house texting to each other instead of talking....sometimes I wonder if I should move out of WhatsApp too...