Ever felt like the value of your relationships depended on your virtual circlejerking? Don’t worry, you’re not alone.
(…How do I begin this article? With a cold-opener, a witty one-liner or perhaps with a well-known philosophical quote that been reiterated a million times? Or with a blasphemous attention-grabbing word? How do I make this article standout so that it receives of thousands of comments and likes which will dictate its self-worth, and in-turn mine? Oh I got it! Make it relevant and pepper it with quips (Maybe with a hint of controversies. Perfectly balanced. As all things should be. )
I live in a country where freedom of expression is never curbed, yet I’m reminded of its perils whenever I see someone having a heated argument at a Starbucks for failing to use the correct form of colloquial abbreviation which the “woke” people are using nowadays, which the urban dictionary is huffing and puffing to keep pace with. I feel like entering that discussion, but then what if I forget those culturally accepted “woke” inclusive non-threatening gender friendly apolitical words? Nah, I’ll just go and lurk reddit. That will boost my confidence and will help me learn the lingo which people my generation are using. But wait! What if my comments come up in a background search? What if my social media channels are already under scrutiny? (pfft..I do not mean the government surveillance) My point is, we have to lead ourselves to believe that we need to project our social lives in such a way that it check marks all the boxes on the subscription list that the world follows. Showcase a happy life-style. Check! Post content that will not land you in trouble. Check! Highlight your lives such that other people get FOMO. Check! (See, I got that one!) We have gotten so busy in this pursuit of projecting our “pursuit of happyness” on other people, that we have now begun comparing our behind-the scenes struggle with other people’s opening night shows. (Instagram, I see you). We are letting our self-worth be determined by the number of likes, comments, and shares. This is already old debate. Why is our self-worth/subscription pack determined by social media?
One simple answer: The world is now built around it. There’s no escape. Wish to interact with someone virtually? You need to add them on a million social accounts which have all their private information, yet asking for their number to simply text with them will bring forth their wrath. I’ve had numerous friends and family members taunt me, simply because I refused to follow them back, or perhaps didn’t interact much with their posts. All of this has reduced human interactions to subscriptions. First step: Subscribe to their virtual friendship (if you’re deemed eligible of it). Second step: subscribe to their posts. (that is, interact with them). Third step: subscribe to their ideology because you’re their “friend”. If you don’t follow this recipe, you’re not a dish worthy of being consumed on social media. Worse, you’ll be termed a “troll” for lurking online and not interacting on social media.
The point I’m trying to make is, we are all crawling our own tunnels “Shawshank” style in the hope that at the end of all of this, we will find someone having the same subscription package as us. Someone who will fit perfectly in our echo chamber.
Happiness is a sense of well-being, joy, or contentment. Don’t let that be driven by artificial sources of self-worth. Why are we reducing human interactions to subscriptions? Why is it, that in order to remain friends with someone, one has to renew their virtual subscriptions by posting something which is only virtually heartfelt? I’m even more so confused if I wish to cancel the said subscription. (i.e unfriending them). That will bring forth more heated arguments. In the closing, all of this circus has meant, that whatever I do, I need to please someone so that they don’t cancel my “happyness” subscription. Whatever I do offline, is not worthy of anyone’s time. Wish to make plans to go out? Have your subscription handy. Intend well for some one? Post it online. This will renew your subscription for at least an year.
That’s it from my side. Hope this article is enough to renew my subscription with some of you who will read this. If not, enlighten me with your ways of renewing our subscription!
