Monalisa talks about the unreal real world of Facebook and how it is driving most of the people crazy. A Different Truths exclusive.

Recently I broke up with Facebook. I stopped taking FB seriously when the below incidents happened. Now my relationship with FB is “complicated”.

A couple of months back, a friend of mine updated her status as, “My mother is no more” with a picture of her deceased mother. The next day, there was a good number of likes on that post. Father of a cancer-suffering child asked for some help. Loads of people liked that post instead of sharing. Another post was of a teen girl missing and there was a picture of her crying father. The post could have got many likes, however, there was a note below the picture, “Don’t be a stupid to like this post, kindly share.”

What is the mindset with which people browse through their FB newsfeed? What makes them click “like” or “love” for any post as sensitive as someone’s mother’s demise?

What is the mindset with which people browse through their FB newsfeed? What makes them click “like” or “love” for any post as sensitive as someone’s mother’s demise? It is just that in today’s hectic pace of life when people browse through their newsfeed, they click “like” or “love” emoticons carelessly without looking in detail what the post is about. They just want to prove that they are socially upto date and they are not missing anything from their friends’ updates.

In another incident, my friend Sarah commented to a post of one of her friends, who happened to be an elderly person. She just conveyed her opinion on something, which was contradictory to the author’s view. The author turned violent and used very harsh language for Sarah in his reply comment. He also blocked her. Why is someone so immature and impatient, unable to digest a different opinion starts sharing his /her views in FB and invites people to discuss it?

Teens and adult text while driving. Because for them the possibility of a social connection is much more important than their own life (and the life of others!)

  Teens and adult text while driving. Because for them the possibility of a social connection is much more important than their own life (and the life of others!) You might have seen people browsing FB every ten minutes to see how many likes they have got on their posts as if there is nothing more important in their life other than “FB likes”. Many stories are floating on the internet about couples’ splitting up in FB. It so happened in a story that a boy changed his “Relationship Status” to “single” from “committed”. The next day, his girlfriend attempted suicide. I’m sure there is nothing more stupid than suicide, I guess the girl would have discussed face to face once with her boyfriend before taking such a drastic step.

Now it has been a trend, you want a separation from your boyfriend/girlfriend; just change your relationship status in FB. You do not have to do anything else. What kind of social era are we in? What do you think? Facebook is helping us building a social network to enhance the quality of our life or it is on its way to destroy us? What I gather, a person thinks suicide after being dumped on FB as it’s embarrassing for him/her to be dumped in front of the entire Facebook-world. If couples’ love and separation become private affairs rather than Facebook affairs, it may save a few lives.

These days some people consider their FB activities as their “Good Karma” (good deed).

These days some people consider their FB activities as their “Good Karma” (good deed). This incident highlights the judgment day scenario of a person after his death. God refreshed his diary and asked, “I can see that you didn’t do anything good on Earth”. The person said, “Almighty, I did ample good work there. For example, I shared loads of useful information on FB among my five thousand friends such as “Donate blood to a sick baby”, “Missing child information”, “Free cancer medication information” etc. He had such a long list that God was amused to listen to how he remembered in detail each information he shared on FB.

“Also, I liked numerous posts from different people,” the person added.

This surprised God.

The God questioned “So what? You liked posts as you found them interesting or useful for you. What’s the good Karma here?”

“Ninety-nine percent of those posts were rubbish.” The man replied.

“For example, People are creating Facebook groups and awarding certificates to each other.  A Facebook group called “XYZ…” but got the certificate, it was very unsettling for them at first. It seemed like they lost their own peace of mind after they were tagged to their Facebook-certificates.  I liked their posts so that they could feel good about themselves. Please consider this as my charity work,” he added.

Now it was time for God to reconsider the man’s views. I do not know  what happened to our guy, whether He was sent to heaven or hell based on his FB Karma, but I am sure, as I am writing this story, God may be thinking seriously to establish a rule on how to consider peoples’ FB actions going forward as human beings are spending most of their time in Facebook while they are in physical dimension.

FOMO refers to the blend of anxiety, inadequacy, and irritation that can flare up while skimming social media like Facebook, Twitter, etc. This may lead to stress and lack of concentration in the long run.

Finally, to top it all, now medical doctors have a say on our social media usage. They seem have concluded that if a person frequents social media apps every thirty minutes or less to browse or update status or post pictures, they suffer from social anxiety called “FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)”. FOMO refers to the blend of anxiety, inadequacy, and irritation that can flare up while skimming social media like Facebook, Twitter, etc. This may lead to stress and lack of concentration in the long run.

While all the above incidents make one side of the story, social media helps people who are alone or far away from their family to connect to their world, stay in touch and it is a stress buster for them in many ways. As with everything else, how we use Social media decides its impact on our lives. Needless to say, an overdose of anything can kill.

Disclaimer: As I am wearing the hat of a storyteller today, let me tell you that this story is an amalgamation of what I gathered from people around me and a splash of fiction. If any of the incident(s) resembles your real-life experience, it is just a matter of coincidence.

 Photos from the Internet