The death of conversation

Hardly on social media By which I mean essentially that you have no clue what I had for lunch today Also like many others Im more a passive rather than an active user mdash on an infinite scroll on the phone nonetheless Because how can you not Socialmed can be addictive mdash less than nicotine certainly more than NetflixWhats dramatically changed about it over the past few months is visible in the outcome of whats been happening over the past sixodd years It appears even Facebook and Instagram chiefly Insta stories are becoming the new Twitter Whats with armies lining up behind a single topic of debate primarily going pro or against as if that has a bearing on the price of onions in the kitchenThe topics could change from abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir to the citizenship row CAANRCNPR whatever be the chronology with the same lot collectively siding on such widely disparate subjects in absolutely the same way Nobody is discussing Everyone is dissingThis is quite in line with the egalitarian basis of electoral democracy Wherein one man equals one vote But that has gradually descended into how your ignorance equals my knowledge and where I can interrupt a Nobel laureate with my doctoral thesis from Whatsapp University Its all the sameWhos going to listen Those who agree given a confirmation bias and a resultant echo chamber Many are employed by political masters to be their rabid spokespersonssniffer dogs on the Internet I feel happy for them At least somebodys getting a jobThe rest reveal actual disguised unemployment figures given so many have all the time in the world to sit all day in primate position head down fingers on the phone rattling away all day feeling important with powers given to them to pose as experts on subjects that have never affected their personal life What would help is a more productive meaningful job to start withBut this gives some a group identity even if they choose to remain anonymous online A group can only exist because of an other How do you manufacture the other By reducing individuals and opinions into hashtags and groups mdash bhakt librandu chowkidaar antiHindu tukdetukde Urban Naxal proud nationalist antinational etc Its only mildly ironic when someone publicly announces their love for India while professing their deep hate for fellow IndiansSo does it matter whos talking anymore No They are bluntly abusive with the brashness and brusqueness reserved for your worst enemies Where did they learn this form of screechspeech From television news which is technically mainstream but has hardly been around long enough to have developed a legacy of any kind mdash let alone decorum and discipline youd expect from a medium humanely raised to merit a public discourse withEach night viciouslooking fellows with verbal diarrhoea take predictably similar positions on varied issues and unleash upon each other a stream of invective to score points on a debate where nobody understands or hears a word Either these are great actors or people with angermanagement issues who need immediate medical help Either way theyre supposed to be great television meant to only heighten the anxiety of its audienceThat is how they started out Do they affect our psyche They had an immediate effect on Twitter The craziespolarised in it began to gain the most followers transforming a social medium into a similarly mini verbal riot of sorts Was this a safety valve for the frustrated still Preventing a riot on the streets if you may The same way matches in sports replicate war for fans but seldom go overboard on an actual battlefieldDid think so until recently I saw this verbal mayhem cross over into a personal video of a former Delhi police constable in uniform Rakesh Tyagi asking for protesters on the street to be shot dead in pointblank range He was detained later But came out of lockup soon and declared he wasnt sorry for being a dabanng But more importantly he mentioned that a million people had watched his video and they were his supporters now And he was proud of that tooIve had a short story idea in my head about a bunch of old classmates from schoolcollege who after years meet for a reunion in a resort where they are holed up for days because of an avalanche By the time they step out these old friends are already willing to kill each other for their political viewsRecently I went to my school reunion to also sort of test my theorystory No nobody cared for the daily rubbish being pelted on socialmedTV But we were there for only a few hours Otherwise one often hears of friends losing friends acquaintances turning into enemies and families going at each other on WhatsApp groupsThis makes me believe we got to just shut up and listen Or in fact just step away if doing either is still going to alter nothing in our own heads Whats the point of a conversation if no one is having it anyway Try something new Meditation maybeMayank Shekhar attempts to make sense of mass culture He tweets mayankw14 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