The Facebook Fairy tale!

This article has been submitted by Nandhitha Hariharan for the CLATGyan Blog Post Writing Competition. If you think this article is a good read, ‘Like’ this article on Facebook (the button is at the bottom of this piece) or post a comment using the ‘comments’ section below.

They are the ones who automatically have a problem when someone says “awww”. They are irritated when you have lovey-dovey conversations with your boyfriend on his wall. They don’t understand why your profile says that you are married to your best friend who belongs to the same sex and you also have six grandchildren. They fail to realize that when you change your relationship status to “it’s complicated”, the message is often for one person. Chat boxes exist for you to crack inside jokes, they criticize.

Annoyed with the girl who flaunts her boyfriend constantly? Think that the one who updates the most depressing status messages is pathetic? Fed up with the guy who acts like someone died every time his favorite football team loses? Welcome to social networking.

Why do we all love Facebook so much? The truth is that it is a place to show our lives in perfect light without being branded a “show off”. For some it’s a place to tell you that they are not ok and that they need some attention. For some it’s a way of seeking approval and for some it’s just who they are.

Even on your luckiest day have you ever had hundred people walk up to you and say that they “like” the way you look? The only place it can probably happen is on Facebook and that doesn’t sound like a bad deal to me. Not unless you are not the person in question. That just sucks.

So why can’t you just call up someone and tell them you miss them instead of posting absurd quotes on your wall?

On the lighter side if you can handle books where guys sing to their girlfriends then you can handle people talking about how they want to catch a star every time they miss their love. And seriously, we all need and love attention. If some of you can hog the limelight without making a “fuss” like you put it, good for you. And if you find someone who really needs attention, stop acting like it’s an offence. Spare them some time and attention if you can or if you don’t want to play Mother Teresa, you can always leave. Or you can stop, say something sarcastic and get some attention. That’s allowed.

“This is Facebook, not your personal diary”, a lot of people remark. Still we all follow celebrities on twitter waiting for a controversy to spark and a peek into another man’s bedroom is news for most of us. And yet we have problems with reading personal diaries or so we say. The very reason a lot of people claim to open Facebook first thing in the morning is because it has news that sells. News about people you know, like and loathe.

Facebook almost gives us this pseudo-empowered feeling. Update a cynical status about anything that is wrong with the country and you are already a responsible citizen. Another guy abuses a national leader; constantly talks about petrol prices, corruption, power cuts and everything that is wrong with the state. I agree that Social Networking is a powerful tool that does have the capacity to revolutionize, but my point is that it gives us a feeling of importance far more than we actually deserve. And, that is drama again!

Think about it, we all love the drama. Winning something wouldn’t be winning unless you could scream about it to people and thanks to social networking whether they care a damn or not they can’t live without knowing it. Calling up every person on your contact list to flaunt your achievement on the other hand would be social suicide.

And keep talking about how “drama” annoys you. That’s the drama I love the most.

So, what is it today? A new tattoo or another picture of the perfect couple cuddling? Sad cover photos that talk about loss of love or yet another relationship update? Oh, Clat results! Here is a tip. Be subtle and just update your college, throw in a hint about how you will miss your city, go easy on the smileys and let people do all the sweet talk. And worst case scenario, just bitch about the paper. Bring it on. We love the drama and it is here to stay!