Witerati | Phir bhi overkill hai Hindustani

Think freedom, and some newly married stars of B-town who have not yet been blessed with parenthood tidings may be wishing for freedom from the torment of trolling and malicious memes that put their wombs and fertility quotients under scathing scrutiny the moment an Alia Bhatt puts out photoshopped, curated collages of her ultrasound of to-be-mommyhood

Freedom in Season 2022 may mean different things to different Tweeple. Think freedom, and the new hottest pair on the block Sushmita Sen-Lalit Modi may fervently be wishing for freedom from parochial mindsets that brand a woman as a “gold digger” the moment she lands a moneyed man. Mindsets that smack of moral policing, for better or for purse.

Think freedom, and the new hottest pair on the block Sushmita Sen-Lalit Modi may fervently be wishing for freedom from parochial mindsets that brand a woman as a “gold digger” the moment she lands a moneyed man. (Twitter)

Think freedom, and some newly married stars of B-town who have not yet been blessed with parenthood tidings may be wishing for freedom from the torment of trolling and malicious memes that put their wombs and fertility quotients under scathing scrutiny the moment an Alia Bhatt puts out photoshopped, curated collages of her ultrasound of to-be-mommyhood. (Baby bumps have long since become a much-paraded public ‘commodity’, even midriff eye candy, be it midlife or pre-midlife. But have we become such slaves to the social media that even that ultrasound moment heralding the inception of a new life is no longer private and sacrosanct?)

It’s old hat that we are now slaves to a contemporary colonisation. Colonisation of our mindscapes and socialscapes by the social media. This is a colonisation far more expansive and exponential than other forms. For, every minute or millisecond there’s a new App and all that crap, annexing our mindscapes before you can bat an eyelid. Be it BlinkIt or Box8.

Sample this. Sometime back, we were savouring the salubrious surroundings of the Himalayas. Sunset hour saw yours truly catching up with friends, awaiting our Darjeeling tea. The ideal cosmic setting that poets would cherish or chronicle as the moment of sublime la vie en rose.

Tea meets tête-à-tête.

Alas, after some snatches of small talk over the clink of colonial-era bone china, one noticed the friend snatching compulsively at the phone.

Thankfully, it wasn’t WhatsApp. Mercifully, it wasn’t Twitter & Co. The expected party poopers. The established game changers. The customary colonisers.

Here was a new name for slavery.

Barely had we exchanged a few words that she was consumed by a new addiction. Whilst yours truly was left gazing at many a mountain Warbler, the friend grappled with Wordle. Sunset sublimity stumbled upon touchpads of digitalised sensibilities and slipped into the arms of a new dusk.

The curious case of being at a loss of Wordle.

Of stylised slavery & social media

We all are guilty of some degrees of slavery to the social media and sundry apps. This slavery comes couched in curious brags and hashtags.

The 24x7 slavery:

The ThinkPad or touchscreen of these Tweeple kind of resembles a DJ console with a zillion knobs. Plug into a karaoke, plug out to another remix if that’s not okay.

In between #WFH or #WFO, these multi-tasking Tweeple simultaneously tap into several social media platforms, get bored of this slavery, gravitate to other forms of digital slavery, so on so forth. By the end of 24 hours, their system may resemble less a DJ console, more a stuck gramophone record.

Stuck on a solo score. Instagram or FaceTime or WhatsApp non-stop.

The 1x7 slavery:

These Tweeple are loyal slaves. They prefer to stick to a single form of social media slavery. They’ll spend about an hour or two daily for a tryst with their trusted addiction among Twitter & Co. Scarcely shall they be seen experimenting with alternative social media slavery. Rarely shall they succumb to colonisation by a repackaged app or crap.

Unless and until a voice cooes to them, “Honey, while I’m at my online bridge session, can you please order on Dunzo some chini, on Nature’s Basket some zucchini. While you are at it, will you be a dear, go on Instagram for a change and post a throwback to our cruise to Tuscany!”

The curious case of Chakh Le, India.

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