The world of communication has developed so much that we now interact with friends and strangers at times sitting half way through the world. This brings me to the phenomenon of social networking sites likes Facebook and Orkut. Now we have come to either be so reliant on it that some of us love it to the point of poking/scrapping at every other minute, or we hate it so much that we try and try to stay away from them at any cost. Love it or hate it, these sites are here to stay and well if that means that people are bound to forget what it was to meet and greet in real life face to face then be it.
I like facebook and orkut as it has made me find lots of old school friends who I lost touch with since I left school. There was this overwhelming sense of excitement hearing from them, getting to know what they are doing, where they have been and recollecting all the old memories (ok so that does sound like I am a bit ancient.....but I am not!!).
I was reading an article in a magazine which had divided it into two sections and posted something like a debate on loving/hating facebook. A guy had said how he loved it as it had helped him make so many friends even before going to the university that he felt like he had been there for years. He also went about how communicating with everyone got easier too as all he had to do was update his status so everyone could know if he did not respond to calls instead of calling everyone back and telling them why he couldn't get back to them. On the flip side a chic wrote in saying how facebook had practically taken hold of her life the minute she created her account and how she would have to check it every other minute so as not to miss any messages or actions from a friend. She further describes how this made her so socially insociable (that's my word...coz i like the way it sound!! :P) that in real life she became a recluse only communicating in the virtual world.
Now whatever said and done I think I like the blokes version of why we should love facebook as much as he does coz he used the technology in his favour. He used it to make friends and went to uni and met them. He used the technology to communicate with people why he's away and can't be contacted or whatever he needs to tell them. He didn't become so involved in it (well hopefully not) that he like this lady started to isolate himself from people around him.
When we deal with anything in excess it becomes a problem so whatever we do we should find the right balance and this is no exception! So the next time you do poke someone, try and call some other friend and talk to them also just to maintain the balance!! :P