The Unsocial Social

Have you seen this amazing short film titled 'Lookup' by Gary Turk? In case you have not, you must! It's an eye opener in true sense and just so pertinent for our times. 

We just shift our gaze from one device to another, one conversation to another, one action to another and one interaction to another but sigh... all those seemingly realtime actions or interactions are actually so virtual! Just how conveniently we have,

• replaced gestures like appreciation or acknowledgement with Likes? So much so that if a real moment to appreciate comes, we fumble!
• prioritized the need to share a good moment more than enjoying it? Or wait, was it actually a good moment or was it how we would like it to be projected in our virtual world? Perhaps too busy in our screens to even realize it!
• fixated our eyes on our screen so much so that even in a real social circle, we are actually busy interacting with our virtual social world?

How many of you have actually got 10 tabs open in your laptop right now? Psstt... I do!

How many of you start googling some information about the actors or plot while watching any movie?

When was the last time you sat at your dining table or went to bed without your mobile?

How many of you talk to any person in front of you as well as browse your mobile device simultaneously?

How many of you go to a restaurant and after few lines of conversation get back to your Facebook or Twitter app?

Well, these and some more, few more, more and more Whens and Hows and Whys remain unanswered in our lives. Considering the love for digital media that I have, it's very surprising that a post like this is coming from a person like me but then I do think on this quite often now. I wonder many a time as to why did I put my book down just because of that notification for some stupid whatsapp joke? Or that comment trail alert on my mobile app for Facebook? Definitely that was not more important than the piece I was reading or the post I was writing. Why isn't that group of friends on my next table in this coffee shop chatting more in real life instead of taking pictures, uploading and commenting on their respective screens? Wait, whatever little real life conversation that they are having right now is actually revolving around those comments and likes on those pictures in their screens!

Why do they call it social networking when all it does is make people more unsocial? Why...