happiness and food

I am totally aware that enough has been written about how internet has changed our lives and technology has brought us all together. This post is not about the world becoming smaller place with the advent of technology but how we have changed with Mark Zuckerberg’s invention.

For me it started with a word of mouth in 2006 – all that I heard was there is something better than Orkut out there and there is a wall to post comments. However, initially the “wall” concept confused me and I walled myself. In my opinion Orkut was the best and it was there to stay. Gosh! I can be so wrong! It took me two long years to create a profile of my own and start Facebooking. The reason – well, I never wanted to follow the fad.

The good things – Once on Facebook, I realized it was not just a fad. It was much more secure, had a stronger interface and seemed more matured networking site than the colorful childish themes at Orkut. You could not just write but like comments, adjust your privacy settings and moreover, everyone seemed to be getting on to it. Not just create albums, you could share them too. You could share videos and news with your “friends”. The more users got to FB, many more pages of interest – TV Shows, Movies, Music, Books, Shopping Sites, Restaurants etc. were created. You could be on FB and still be connected to the news about everything of your choice right there. This was a winning strategy. Then came the timeline and suddenly it was as if your life’s story was weaved. Starting from when and where were you born, to your education details then your first job, to when you first met a guy, then marriage and then just every little thing. All the dots were so comfortably connected. One research that I read recently in the July edition of Reader’s Digest suggests that the success of Facebook is due to the simple language used on the networking site – terms like cover, profile picture, what’s on your mind, how are you feeling, life event etc. resonate with each and every one of us and that’s the reason we are so hooked to Facebook 😉

Like everyone else, I have my family and friends all over the world. Till date, the best thing that I appreciate is being able to share pictures and in a way talk to my people without having to attach these pictures over a mail (get delivery failure mails) or upload on Picasa. This is just so easy for my parents to check out what I am up to 🙂 Facebook has brought so many of us back in touch together that it is hard to ignore the power that comes with it – protests, signature campaigns, awareness messages, consumer complaints and so much more is right there on one click.

Now, the not so good things – My husband feels that I am addicted to Facebook, though I have never agreed but sometimes, unfortunately I tend to ignore what’s happening right there when I am just busy updating my location at a restaurant. We wish each other on Facebook and miss that wonderful minute to talk to a friend on his birthday. The pictures all around are so rosy that sometimes, it gives a feeling that may be I am the only one going through stress and the rest of the world is a happy place. Marry a guy who works abroad and the next thing that you might be doing is travelling all over the world! It is sometimes that!

A lot of my close friends are not on Facebook or are not too active, and I am still super connected with them which is a good proof that I may have 1000+ friends on Facebook but still I have a world beyond Facebook. I come home to my idiot box but I do check on what’s up around. I like the way, Facebook gives me a count of all the places I have been till date and informs me how many people wished me on my birthday.

I am not the “New Girl” but I like being one with my smartphone giving me updates every now and then 🙂