From Yaps to Texts

            You ever been in those situations where it suddenly gets extremely quiet and you look around you and all you see are heads down, fingers tapping, headphones locked in the ears? Normally you’d be one of them, but today is one of those rare days that you’re not glued to your phone and rather want to look out the window, and take the wonders of the world in. Just the other day, I saw this awesomely inspiring clip called ‘Look Up,’ encouraging young people to get off their phones, and go play, through an incredible love story. Yes, it’s the tech savvy generation, where everyone’s all about their iPhones, Google tablets, 2G, 3G, FG? And the list just goes on…but have you ever just stopped and wondered what is it doing to our communication skills?

            There has been more than one occasion where I have come across people who are extremely chatty via ‘Whatsapp’ or ‘FB,’ but when it comes to being face to face, they shut down completely! I feel like there are people nowadays who just do not know how to have a face to face conversation, because they’ve gotten addicted to the virtual world! Indians in general are WAY MORE social in nature than Westerners. So it’s understandable that most Westerns close up and take more time to socialize when they’re beyond their comfort zones. They’ll adapt an ‘I don’t know you yet, so I have my guard up but I'll still be as sweet as possible,’ personality as they venture into the course of making friends. Then of course, when they’re comfortable, there’s no stopping them ;)

            From my experiences coming here, I feel like the Indian youth is also becoming less and less social. I sure hope not, because, one of the major qualities of our collectivist culture is the ability to make friends quite easily. But, I feel like ever since Whatsapp, Viber, Line, and all these social media apps have started trending, a lot of us have just forgotten to be social. We may come to our college barely glancing or acknowledging the same person, who we spent hours texting with, the night before. Calling has also just gone out of the window, as with busy hours, or simply to avoid the awkwardness, we just TEXT our close ones. I admit it, I am guilty of this, but I do try my BEST to give my 100% attention to the person sitting next to me, rather than the technological device in my bag. And yes, it stays in my bag, for the most part: 1) because I rarely have pockets, and 2) because I want to stay focused on more important things. This tends to bug the “bejezzus” off my friends who claim I NEVER pick up my phone (but that was only in college)…

            We spend so much time and attention on our devices sometimes that we almost start reading between the lines! Was that message intended with sarcasm, bitterness, or good humor? Did he really just send me the ‘winky face?’ What did I say that made her send a one word reply?! But, it shows the double check mark... is he ignoring my message?!?!?!? These are burning questions we must ask ourselves. 

            God forbid, we don’t completely forget to socialize. A fast paced world, efficiency, or sometimes just plain boredom make us resort to our devices. But, I will say I have seen acts of socialization and mingling WAY MORE in India than in the states. It’s refreshing to see a throng of teenagers huddled together, chit chatting, and laughing along at each other’s jokes. Only with true social interactions, without our devices, will we truly become closer to one another.