Why I like the sound of “Call me maybe”

Yea, got you didn’t I? You probably thought this would be some post detailing my affection for Carly Ray Jepsen. See that’s the problem nowadays; you cannot say a perfectly overused and clichéd phrase without thinking of some ridiculous song that features it. Video might have killed the radio star, but music is now killing society’s catch phrases. Okay… okay, this will not become a diatribe about yet another thing I dislike, but instead I actually wanted to focus on the phrase itself.

In today’s day and age (I really don’t think a song has featured that…), it seems that we are less interested in using mobile phones for actual conversations and we are rapidly developing a unfathomable affection for instant messaging. What began with “call me maybe” evolved into “email me maybe” and then slowly we’ve reached the era of “facebook/bbm/whatsapp/imessage/poke me maybe.”

So I’m going to cut this post short and say I understand that all of us lead busy lives, what with our hectic schedules full of procrastination and our dwindling vocabulary and marketable social skills. Thus IM is the way forward, but come on… Stop yourself before you forget how to laugh and instead with a straight face say “lol.” Stop yourself before the tone of your voice is judged by the font you use, and your wittiness is assessed by your ability to google quotes and share them.

And… don’t I.M me… call me… maybe?

No seriously, just do it… DAMMIT NIKE -__-

Rant.

Before you read, consider the title. This is a rant, not a bedtime story.

Leave a comment on a facebook post or a tumblr and suddenly you can be deemed a stalker…. Well that makes sense, considering the purpose of your facebook or tumblr is for people to be exposed to your life.
But hey, I suppose it’s rape if she’s consenting to it.

What is wrong with people? Stalking is defined as unwanted attention or harrasment and viewing a website that hasn’t been privatised does not constitute “stalking.” Leaving anonymous comments of praise is even less deserving of such titles. But I suppose complimenting a member of the opposite sex on their attire is sexual harassment…

Anyway, the old adage familiarity breeds contempt is extremely true. Back in school, I had a couple of friends that I, now,would willingly enter into the hunger games. Call me hostile, but when people who are past their teenage years behave like pre-adolescents, for petty and negative reasons, there is something clinically wrong with them. And accusing someone of stalking is quite frankly an obnoxious act, even if it is said in a light hearted and dismissive manner.

Perhaps all facebooking pre madonnas and tumblr’ing preachers should be classified as shameless exhibitionists?

Tweet at me bro!

There was a time, which I can vaguely remember, when the world was blissfully devoid of the Zuckenburgs, Dorseys, the Karps and… well social networking. During this period in time, society was progressing in the art of conversation.

Laughter was actually genuine and not the three letters “LOL.”

Abusing someone involved actually opening your mouth and directing a tirade of mirthless expletives towards them, as opposed to merely “un-liking” their Facebook posts, or indirectly tweet bashing them.

Bullies used to be big, hulking, acne riddled monstrosities as opposed to the “programming geeks” of today.

*sigh*

Pause, imagine that world and imagine this one. The status quo is being hammered by people hidden behind their computer screens. People like me. My skin colour is brown, but by the time I’m done tweeting and facebooking and wordpressing and instagramming, I’m ready to audition for a version of Twilight worth watching.

effect of social networking from right to left.

“Hold on a minute!” you exclaim. “Mobile phones now have apps for every single social networking site” you give me the evils but I refuse to be intimidated. When you take a walk or go for a run, if you do in a society with ever increasing obesity, how many people do you see around you looking into the depths of their smart-phones? In fact, how many times, do you become oblivious to your surroundings and resort to replying to a BBM or uploading a picture of a car onto instagram, or enjoying some trivial crap on facebook.

Sigh… I do enjoy Twitter. I do enjoy Facbeook. I do enjoy WordPress (bit obvious considering I’ve surpassed 200 posts). I enjoy Instagram. But what I wish was that, as opposed to facebook messaging my neighbour, I

I would rest my case but I haven’t received a like yet… read on…?

could pick up the phone or take a walk less than 20 meters to have an aural conversation.

But I can’t. I’ve become so dependent and comfortable in cyberspace that I feel spaced out in public places. Family dinners all around me have disintegrated into every member tending to their mobile phones. Yes social networks have helped in networking and sustaining relationships all across our planet. But at the cost of society yelling LOL as opposed to laughing? Yelling WTF instead of saying What the….? Murmuring FML instead of expression of discontent?

Bet some of you have things to say about this… But just once, I wish someone who took offence to the crap I wrote or said would verbally abuse me as opposed to leaving anonymous comments or indirectly tweeting, or blocking me on FB. Tweet at me bro? No. Come at me Bro.

seriously ?

Timeless Friendships

9^th October, 2011 will mark what should have been John Lennon’s 71st birthday. Lennon is a legend remembered for many things; however, for me he is most memorable for penning the line ‘I get by with a little help from my friends.’ This is because friendship is one of those treasures we often overlook. It could be said that friendship is like a garden, which you intend on maintaining, but then you decide to do it tomorrow, and we all know that somehow that tomorrow never comes.

We used to consider social networking sites as the savior of friendships. But how many of those 400-500 friends on Facebook are you actually friends with? Your face burns with defiance ‘I’m friends with most of them, I just don’t have time.’ We claim to be unable to find time for our friends. But I would suggest that this is because we are using the wrong verb. The aim is not to find time but to make time. The truth is, by the time you return home from a hard day’s schooling, you are so drained by the many surface level interactions that you can’t bear the thought of one more phone call, one more conversation, even if it is with the person we know to be the most willing to listen to us when we are grouchy.

In the past two years, we’ve lost colleagues to tragic accidents. We weren’t given the chance to say goodbye. Don’t risk this. Tend to your garden. Acknowledge those forgotten friends and suddenly everything becomes better. Remember, you might get by with a little help from your friends but it’s a two way street.

I came. I saw. I tweeted. Nothing happened.

When a Tunisian man wanted change, he burned himself to ignite the fire of change within everyone. But when Japan needed help, everyone ‘clicked’ a button, and another button, and another button… but nothing happened. Why? Because we have become clicktivists who are content just sitting behind a box, ‘liking’ words on mentally degenerative social networking sites.

Off late, we have begin to live under the misconception that it is the tweet or the Facebook post that is making a difference in the world, but even today, the might of the sword, the power of physical unity creates a bigger impact than any set of 140 letters. The tweet is simply a few well chosen words that represent your emotions on cyber space and you claim show positive intent on your part to those in strife. Correction ignorant social networker. The people in strife don’t have access to social networks; they’re not clutching their blackberries and mindlessly browsing websites… so your tweet or Facebook post is effectively irrelevant.

Moreover consider 150 students of an institution  decide to make a group expressing their discontent at the potential cancellation of an event. Words cannot combat an institution, just as ideas cannot combat tanks simply because the institution can simply ignore indignant comments. But if these students stand united outside the humble abode  of the unjust leaders, then like Egypt, Tunisia and many other nations, change will be witnessed. Real Change. Not cyber change.

So next time you sit down to permanently borrow a genius’ quote to convey your emotions, remember John. F. Kennedy and Nike ‘Ask not what your country can do for you? Ask what you can do for your country’ and then ‘Just Do It.’