DESPERATELY NEEDING A BREAK FROM SOCIAL MEDIA








What is good for the mind is good for the body. And, its opposite is, also, true – what is good for the body is good for the mind.

If I feed junk into my belly, the body will, surely, react with discomfort… sooner or later that is. Similarly, if I keep feeding junk into my mind, won’t my mind react with discomfort… irritation, anger, sadness, prejudice, hatred, loss of empathy, even violence? The interesting thing is this: Just as the junk-food habit has crept into our eating system, over a period of time, the habit of junk-thinking, too, has crept into our thinking system, slowly, over a period of time…

All of us, by now, are these junkies… endlessly surfing those useless videos and forwards… one after another then another and then another. We do not need the idiot box anymore… We do not need the ‘hall rooms’… Even the toilet will do… Even the holy places and the grave yards!

Many of my friends have begun to realize what this frantic addiction to social media - and its insane amount of information and misinformation - does to mental and physical health. Yes, many of them have either chosen to completely stay off it or restrict themselves to the minimum…

The sleep is not normal… the shoulders and fingers are not normal… the behaviour is not normal. Yes, these are the familiar complaints. There is this constant anxiety and mood swings… Many of us are on the edge, constantly – very touchy, very reactive and have turned into easy gullible or even stupid bigots…

Didn’t Life go on so smoothly, for so many centuries, without so much information overload? In a special moment like our child’s b’day or our intimate dining, why are we so desperate to broadcast to the world? Not long ago, just before we went to sleep and just after we woke up, we used to remember Almighty God… thank Him, seek forgiveness from Him... And, now?

Now, even a Mass and a Puja is broadcast! It doesn’t touch our hearts, but… It cannot. Worship is like a shy bride. Now, we have made it loud, showy and vulgar. If God appeared to tell us honestly how He felt, He would surely tell us what we should not do…

There is no one spared from this Game of Throne… grandparents and little babies, teachers and students, doctors and patients, convicts, cops and jury… Hey, even the beggars on the road and the soldiers on our borders… Yes, the kings and the subjects are all subjected to this. This disease!


A dear friend of mine, a while ago, posted on FB this status:

‘Desperately seeking break from social media.
I will be back in an hour.’

My heart smiled! How often, it has desperately yearned to take this ‘break’… And, how often, it has desperately yearned to come back!

I do not know about you… I have, my friend has… We have desperately wanted a break only to be desperate to come back!

Chalo, let’s smile at least… a simple, sincere and loving smile, I say!






GERALD D’CUNHA

Pic.: Chetna Shetty

Video: Charlie Landsborough/MsMaria6363


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