When I ‘dumped’ Facebook

I deleted my Facebook account! I know it is no big deal, but have to tell you this because of the many benefits that one gets by putting an end to the absolutely worthless social networking spree that most of us are addicted to. Yes, that included me to, until sometime back, when I lived on Facebook, right from dawn to dusk. I posted pictures and messages non-stop, I shared umpteen posts, most of them unread and unheard of, and I kept messaging to every Tom, Dick, and Harry, out of senseless courtesy. But for the office hours( as Facebook is ‘officially banned') I lived in the social networking world throughout most of the bygone days, reading messages and replying to them from every place that you can ever imagine, including my toilet! I know it would sound ridiculous that I ‘Facebooked’ even at those odd places, but I don’t mind admitting it. So there came this particular moment of enlightenment, which happened about a few weeks back, when I felt I am desperately addicted to something that’s of no use, instead is stealthily taking away a lot of my precious time. So I decided to put an end to the whole episode by pulling the plug of my social networking life.



But I must tell you an important thing about this, and that’s about the difficulty of coping up with not having something that I had enjoyed for more than four years. It was not easy, and I had to kind of struggle for more than a week to come in terms with the fact. The truth is, I’ve always wanted to do this since last one year, but kept changing my decision, and made excuses, just because I felt I need to ‘keep up with everything and everyone. But I gathered the courage one day, and went on to delete my account, as I really wanted to get rid of the addiction that I’ve had to Facebook. Does that sound like a bit of exaggeration, a kind of cooked up story? It’s not, and you would know this when you break yourself free of your Facebook obligations. Facebook changes your entire life in the way you will never recognize until you decide to take that crucial step and leave away.

So finally I did it, and I really don’t regret for what I did. I don’t miss anyone either. You know why? Not having Facebook has brought this strong realization that more than half of our Facebook ‘friends’ are ‘real friends’. Since I deleted my account, I’ve started realizing that real friends don’t actually need any of those reminders to keep in touch with us, or to remember us. As long as you have your phone and email, they will definitely reach out to you and extend their love and support, as always. This was almost like rediscovering who my real friends are! In my case, more than three fourth of the so called ‘Facebook friends’ didn’t even turn up to ask me why I deleted my account. This is because Facebook can actually fool you and make you think that you have many good friends around. The occasional comments, pokes, messages, tagging, and shares, are actually misunderstood by many, for the depth of friendship that people have, which is actually wrong. One may realize this only after leaving Facebook.

I am not a Facebook hater, and nor am I planning to foul-mouth about it. I love social media, and am always fascinated by its tremendous growth and outreach. But what surprises me is the amount of time and energy that I save now by not being on Facebook. I spend more time reading and writing, have no more distractions during work, and have stopped spending the lion’s share of my evening time in-front of the laptop, replying, commenting, sharing, liking, and posting endlessly. I spend more time wisely and usefully, rather than worrying about messages and posts that I am ‘obliged’ to answer.

So I am on my road to make days more meaningful, make wise use of each moment, and reduce the number of things that I have to pay attention to each day, so that I can focus on that that are actually ‘beneficial’ for me.

Adieu Facebook! I don't think I will ever miss you!

Some 'loud bells' in real and reel lives

As I am staying in a hostel, I never get to watch television on weekdays, as they often go in supersonic speed, right from waking up at 6.30 am to hitting the bed before 10.30pm. As we are told to embrace darkness by 10.30 (thanks to the skyrocketing electricity bills), I make sure to go to bed at least 10 minutes before the set warning time, in order to save myself from getting caught by the security guards, who keep parading around in search of the inmates who are lavishly using electricity after 10.30.

Although I don’t watch T.V, at times I scan through those YouTube updates of most of the daily T.V programs, just for fun and relaxation. It was during one such moments that I happened to see this program, yesterday, when I saw a man hurling  filthy abuses at a woman and even pushing and threatening her on a reality show. I was absolutely shocked and taken aback by the way he gave vent to his emotions, so openly on national television. Although I couldn’t  understand what actually led to the whole dirty fiasco, but it was appealing to see a man going ahead and verbally abusing a woman, showering all the nastiest words on her. Supposedly one of the much watched programs, I never felt they would telecast such a shocker on television, and horrify entire audience, along with making us wonder if T.R.P is the only factor that every show director keeps in mind during the making. No matter for what reason the fight happened, it was terrible listening to man badmouthing a woman to the and outrageously justifying his act. Whether the entire fight was real, or reel, just to get more viewership, it was more than nasty and ended up on a very violent note, which kept resonating the fact there are still a lot of men in our society who keep believing that woman can be subjected to verbal abuse whenever and wherever required, with no one to question such heinousness.
Even though I stopped watching the show right after the first few minutes, each word that he said kept echoing in my mind, making me wonder how women are perceived, and why men feel that loud and harsh words would make women vulnerable, weak, and submissive. I have no intention to generalize and come to a conclusion that all men are the same, but definitely there are quite a lot of male folks who still believe that ruthless words and loudest voices can hurt women and make them weak and cry. I pity them! I pity them for their narrow-mindedness, for being shamelessly chauvinistic, for being uncouth and dictator-like. Such men, I think, should be deprived of women’s love and care, and should be made to live lonesome throughout their entire  life. I don’t believe that this would make them understand what they've lost due to their egotism, but this would definitely save a woman from being abused.

Having telecasted the entire fight on national television, the makers of the show have in one way highlighted the arrogance of such men, but, on the flipside, they also made the audience watch and listen to all the abusive words and violent reactions that doesn’t befit a primetime show. A television program which is apparently for the audience to relax and unwind turned out to be the outlet of verbal vomit, thus leaving a sickening impact on everyone who watched the show. Was this actually necessary? I don’t think it was, as the editors were free to cut-off the worst part of that nastiest fight. Instead they didn't, and went on to telecast it, even showed a teaser on that!

Scripted or not, the show left a huge shock and nauseating feeling in my mind that I have decided not to watch it again, no matter how good they are going to be in future. Being a woman, I have lots of respect for all the women folk, rich or poor, commoner or famous, the reason why I can’t stand a woman being abused on national television and people watching it with smile. It’s nothing but disgusting, absolutely disgusting!