THE 21ST CENTURY NARCISSISM: SOCIAL MEDIA

If Narcissus was born in 21^st century, he would be the one with the maximum number of friends on Facebook, most frequent status changes, highest number of updates and the most elaborate photo album. He would be the one who gazes indefinitely on his laptop screen to look out for any notifications or friend requests. Doesn’t this sound like your own story?

Narcissism is a personality trait characterised by excessive obsession of oneself with his/her own worth, self-esteem, clout or public image. It’s an obsession to the extent of cutting yourself out from the exterior world and living in a paradise of your own. The aim of social media is to promote social interaction and bonding. If social media in any way promotes narcissism, it is something which is in total dissonance with whole purpose of its existence. In this article, we will be mostly talking about Facebook as an example for our discussion on social media because it has a reach and appeal unprecedented by any other networking site of the present times.

A number of updates from different individuals rapidly squashing in and competing on the News Feed doesn’t help us but think that our Facebook walls are nothing but big advertisements spaces where everybody is busy publicizing themselves and everyone has become an advertiser. Every guy is a photographer these days; every girl is a potential model just waiting to be spotted. Everyone can sing to perfection and anyone can dance to admiration on YouTube. We are too busy promoting ourselves and while doing so we do not care if people appreciate our talent genuinely or just mechanically hit the ‘like’ button. The definition of a friend has changed altogether. From a “Friend in need is a friend indeed”, it has changed to “The first one to like and comment on your updates”. There is nothing more shattering than your best friend not ‘like’-ing your photo which you very carefully and meticulously edited.

Social media is superfluous with superficial sentiments. Life is all rosy except for some occasional arousal of the real empathetic nature of human through the sharing of photos of missing persons or ailing patients needing donation. In those cases, social media shows its true worth and power. On other occasions it’s just about show offs. Tweets on critical issues are highest from those who do not want to leave the comforts of their couches and get themselves to act in that regard. Facebook is full of queer people doing odd things like wishing birthdays and anniversaries to their family members on Facebook rather than calling them up. Some people are a big fan of themselves and don’t shy away from liking their own updates. The whole purpose of trips and excursions has got constrained to the photography which is done in order to show it off to the so-called friends and to prove that we are the most happening bunch of people. Some people update each and every activity of theirs as if they are some celebrity and others are keenly interested in their way of life. Updates about checking into some expensive restaurant or spending night over some friends’ abode, Facebook knows it all. Everyone is busy faking how merry their lives are or how intimate are their relationships, how grandly they live their lives and how their stories are worth everyone’s envy.

While all this is true, a person glued to social media cannot be termed as a narcissist. These are characteristics of an addict who remains active because he believes that Newton’s third law holds true here. His each and every action will be followed by an equal and opposite reaction. It’s actually true since it’s seen that one is most likely to receive comments and likes if he himself avidly comments on other’s profiles. This chain of activity is a big stress buster and takes you away from the monotony of the daily routine. People find solace in the love that people bestow upon them by way of their likes and comments. One feels connected to the world when he is logged on to Facebook. Social media alone is not the cause of such an addiction. The whole internet world is addictive. Social media has just gone a step ahead by serving everything on one platter.

To love oneself is no crime. In fact wisdom says that others will love you only if you love yourself. But self-indulgence to such an extent that you become oblivious of world is definitely not advisable. There’s nothing wrong in seeking attention? Attention seeking syndrome is inherent in human nature. But you should remember that one gets it only if he deserves it else he doesn’t irrespective of how much hue and cry he may make.

There is a very thin line between well deserved acclaim and false vanity and it can be highlighted by understanding the difference between advertising and marketing? Though one may not be able to chalk out a clear separation line between the two, they are much different. Advertising is way of generating public awareness about a product/service. Marketing is a more wholesome concept which revolves around offering a value product. Advertising without any marketing effort is useless; similarly, excessive usage of social media without any specific purpose is detrimental to one’s brand value. Marketing ourselves is not narcissism. After all, this is what every corporate is using social media for. It’s not bad to do personal branding. If you have substance, flaunt it. But no one likes to listen to the noise of empty drums. Every organization keeps on saying ‘Like’ us. Does that mean they think too highly of themselves or are narcissistic? No, they aren’t. It’s just a marketing gimmick and a strategy to come closer to potential customers. The ‘Like’ word on Facebook is actually a misnomer. The word actually means ‘get to know me, I have something to offer’.

Social media is undeniably the real face of globalization. It has made people come closer like nothing else. Facebook is breeding a culture of liking and appreciating the minutest things in life. Mutual appreciation spreads love and strengthens bonds. Facebook helps sustain relationships by remembering birthdays, helps open up to people easily, helps keeping in touch with long lost friends. Most importantly it helps share smiles and laughter. Social media gives us a sense of belonging to the global society. After all, man is a social animal and social media just feeds into this desire of ours.

As far as the criticism goes, we must not forget that every new invention comes with its own set of drawbacks. It’s on the user to pick out the roses from the thorns and make the best use of it. We all have learnt PLC (Product Life Cycle) in our marketing lessons. Running parallel to this Product Life Cycle is another important cycle which can be termed as the Product Usage Cycle.

When a product (or a service) gets freshly introduced in the market, it generates a fresh fervour and buzz in the market. Innovators rush in to try out the product. This can be called as the ‘Amuse’ phase. In the second phase (‘Use’ phase) the relevance of the product gets established and people find the significance of the product in their lives. In the third phase known as ‘Overuse’ phase, the product becomes so overtly popular that it catches the attention of every tom, dick and harry and makes countless buffs out of the masses. In the ‘Abuse’ phase, due to unwarranted excessive usage the detrimental effects start to mushroom, leading the way to the next phase, the ‘Accuse’ phase. Questions are raised about the real worth of the product. The next phase is marked by stability in usage. It’s when the entire furore settles down with the controlled and well-aimed usage. This we can call as the ‘Choose’ phase.

The topic of the article itself is a testimony that Social media is probably beginning to enter the ‘Accuse’ phase. So, this denigration of social media in regards to promoting narcissism is not uncalled for. It’s just a phase and will pass if not given in to. The gist of the whole debate is that one must know where to draw a line between the good and the bad and make proper use of every innovation.

 

The Laptop Lament

Today is Vishwakarma Puja - the day to worship our tools and weapons. This festival is marked by worshipping the God of Architecture and Engineering, Vishwakarma, by industrial houses, artists, craftsmen, weavers etc. According to mythology, Vishwakarma, the son of Brahma is the one he who created the entire universe as well as the heaven and the earth. Vishwakarma is also credited for creating the missiles used in the mythological era, including the Vajra, the sacred weapon of Lord Indra, from the bones of sage Dadhichi. He is regarded as the architect of ancient cities like Hastinapur, Indraprastha, Dwarka and Sone Ki Lanka.

Being a Computer Engineer, my greatest tool is my computer since all my work revolves around it. My whole world comes to a dead halt when my laptop stops functioning properly. So, I have decided to worship it on this pious occasion by lighting an incense stick nearby (but carefully so that I don’t end up burning its parts J ), putting some petals over it and invoking prayers, all for its long life.

My laptop has troubled me from time immemorial. The most irksome fact is that it used to work fine and fantastic the whole semester but give up at the last moment during the practicals, when I needed it most. As a result I was often forced to borrow my friend’s laptop or their parts during exams. Sometimes it was the OS crashing, the adapter not working, keyboard malfunction or the erratic behavior of touchpad; I have experienced it all!

Despite its unreliability at decisive moments, my affection and devotion for it has never ever diminished, not even a little bit. I still love it from the core of heart and can’t spend a single day in peace without it.

Presently, my laptop has been diagnosed with a very serious disorder. The power jack of my laptop is damaged, perhaps one of the pins holding it onto the motherboard has dislodged from its place, causing to break the solder around it. The sad thing is that it cannot be repaired as a repair would mean replacement of its motherboard which would cost me around 13000 bucks, a little less than the price of a new desktop PC. I have just two options to bank upon, option one, go to a metro city like Delhi or Mumbai, and get the power jack soldered properly in its place (which is not an easy task either) or, two, keep using it as it is and be a witness to the scene when it takes its last breath! (The problem can cause further damage to the laptop.)

As of now, I don’t know what course of action I am going to take, but I really hope and pray that my beloved laptop gets well soon. God bless my lappy. Amen!

Love you dear Dubba J

Reservations and its Repercussions

Today the UP government took one additional step towards deepening the trench between classes. It has strictly ordered UPTU to waiver their entire tuition fees as well. Why do all SC’s ST’s and OBC’s need a fee waiver now? Don’t they get their admission forms at half the price of what a general category student gets? Shouldn’t these provisions only be for children of financially backward families regardless of the caste they belong to?

The government is fostering communalism rather than eradicating it by supporting quota system. Students from general quota have started despising those who are getting undue advantage of this reservation system. People have started to suspect the capabilities of SC’s, ST’s and OBC’s. Whenever such a student makes it to any top educational institution, we tend to say - ‘Oh him… he hails from a backward class, he is there only because of reservation.’

Why most of the Indian population is still economically downtrodden? Why the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer? Why we are technologically incompetent when compared to other countries? It’s because our government is invariably failing to identify who deserves to get a benefit out of the quota system and who does not. And the result - people lacking the requisite caliber are occupying offices, while those having it are roving on the roads.

I agree that the socially unprivileged classes have faced decades of oppression and their poor plight needs to be given a thought. But what about those who are already occupying high posts in government and private offices and are simply carefree about their children’s future; thanks to the Indian quota laws! Why doesn’t the government simplify things by making reservations completely income based?

Fortunately, 63 years old Independent India has been witnessing an absolute change in the mentality of its citizens towards the socially unprivileged classes. Today if you ask someone what caste he belongs to, you would be looked down upon by many eyes. Those who differentiate people on the basis of their castes are considered backward and impolite these days. So if the Government really wants to lend a helping hand to these unprivileged or should I say privileged classes, give them benefits at the elementary level. Make their education free up to class 12. But after that, let only the brightest shine!

If Government continues with its present reservation policies, soon there would be many undeserving Mayawatis holding key positions in the country and doing nothing but blowing their own trumpets shamelessly by erecting their own statues here and there!

Clarification: Posted above are the personal views of the author. No offence intended to any community.

Kalpavriksha in Kashi

Did you know that kalpavriksha exists in real? Yes, this morning I was bewildered after reading a newspaper report which said that there is a Kalpvriksha in Kashi and that too just a few steps from the doorstep of my house. People have already started thronging the Varanasi Cantonment area with hope of getting their wishes fulfilled. For those who are still unable to associate with this name – Kalpvriksha/Kalptaru/Devvriksh(wish fulfilling divine tree) is a mythological tree which finds its mention in our holy scriptures. Popular belief says that if you sit under the tree and desire for something, your wishes get granted. Hindu folklore has it that along with the Kamadhenu, or 'wish-giving cow', the Kalpavriksha originated during the Samudra Manthan or "churning of the milk ocean", and the King of the gods, Indra returned with it to his paradise. Symbolically, the Kalpavriksha is the symbol of one's identity and its potential. The roots are the deeper spiritual dimensions and the trunk one's constitution. The branches, leaves and fruits represent our constitution, abilities and skills, actions and achievement. Until today I used to believe that this is a fictional tree which might be present on this earth thousands of years ago but it’s not existent on this planet anymore. But the Dainik Jaagran report corrected me.

I had happened to pass by this tree many a time but had never imagined that it would come under the spotlight someday. The tree is peculiar enough to catch one’s attention on the first glance itself. I remember discussing about its peculiarity with my mom when we first saw it during an evening walk. The swollen trunk of the tree gave us the perception that it was not just one tree but two or three such trees are entwined together. The trunk is so thick that a motorcycle or even a car can pass through a hollow made through it. The body of the tree has a silvery sheen and is huge. Leaves resemble that of a bel tree. The tree looks very ancient. Kalpavrikshas are believed to have a life of more than 2500 years. There are only about 7-8 Kalpavrikshas known in the country till date. This one is the latest discovered by a team of forest department officers in Varanasi.

After reading the news I couldn’t stop myself exploring the internet to get the details of this mystic botanical species.

KALPAVRIKSHA

Scientific name: Adansonia digitata, Family: Bombacaceae

Common Names: (English) baobab, cream-of-tartar tree, guinea tamarind, lemonade tree, monkey bread tree, sour gourd, upside-down tree; (Hindi) gorak ali, gorak amla, gorak lichora, gorakh-cinch, gorakh-imli, kalpa-vriksha, khura-sani-imli

Physical Characteristics: The tree is characteristic of thorn woodlands of the African savannahs. A digitata is resistant to fire, termite and drought, and prefers a high watertable. Adansonia digitata is a large, round canopied tree with a swollen trunk, about 10-25 m in height, often with a bole of 3-10 m; bark is soft, smooth, fibrous, reddish-brown, greyish-brown or purplish-grey. Leaves are dark green, with short, soft hairs. Fruit has a hard, woody shell, covered with yellowish-grey velvety hairs. Flowers are waxy white with white, silky hairs inside, large, crinkly, spreading petals and bear an unpleasant scent. Digitata means hand shaped, referring to the shape of the leaf. The flowers are mostly pollinated by bats, which probably get attracted to its strong carrion smell. Natural regeneration occurs when the fruits fall off the tree and crack. Ants enter the fruit and feed on the pulp. In this way, soil is introduced into the fruit and it becomes moist with the onset of the rains, thereby allowing germination to take place.

Uses: Food: An edible white, powdery pulp found in the fruit is very rich in vitamin C and B2 and makes a refreshing drink. Young leaves are also rich in Vitamin C, contain uronic acids, and are high in demand in West Africa as a soup vegetable and a condiment. The small stem and roots of the seedlings are eaten as vegetable. Having high water content, the wood is chewed by humans and animals in case of extreme water scarcity. The wood can be used as a salt substitute. The acid pith is used as a substitute for cream of tartar in baking, to curdle milk and smoke fish. It is also roasted and used as a coffee substitute. The seeds contain appreciable quantities of tartaric acid and potassium bitar; they are refreshing to suck, and when soaked in water make a palatable drink.

Fodder: Young leaves, fruit, pods and seeds provide fodder for game and domestic animals. During drought, donkeys and game animals chew both the bark and fibrous wood for sap.

Apiculture: The tree is a source of fine quality honey. Wild bees manage to perforate the soft wood and lodge their honey in the holes. In many parts of Africa, the hollow trunks are used for beekeeping.

Fuel: The long-fibred wood is suitable for firewood. The shell and seeds are also used for fuel.

Fibre: The fibre from the bark used to make excellent cordage, ropes, harness straps, mats, snares and fishing lines, fibre cloth; musical instrument strings tethers, bed-springs and bow strings. Strong, tough and tear-resistant paper is produced from the fibre.

Timber: The wood is whitish, spongy and light. It is used for making canoes, rafts, insulating boards, wooden platters and trays, boxes and floats for fishing nets.

Gum or resin: Glue can be made by mixing flower pollen with water.

Tannin or dyestuff: The wood contains some tannins, and the acid pith is used to coagulate rubber. In East Africa, the roots produce a useful red dye.

Lipids: A non-drying, golden yellow oil of agreeable taste, which may be obtained by distilling the seeds, A.digitata seeds are also used as a substitute for cooking oil.

Alcohol: The Wasandawe of Tanzania uses the liquid from the pulp for brewing beer.

Poison: The bark is boiled for days to extract a substance poisonous to ants. Fruit pulp burns with an acrid, irritating smoke that can be used to deter insects troublesome to livestock.

Medicine: Hyposensitive and antihistamine properties are present in the leaves, which are used to treat kidney and bladder diseases, asthma, general fatigue, diarrhoea, insect bites, and guinea worm. Leaf and flower infusions are valued for respiratory problems, digestive disorders and eye inflammation. The seed paste is used for curing tooth and gum diseases. Gum from the bark is used for cleansing sores, as an expectorant and a diaphoretic. The bark is used in steam baths for calming shivering and high fever. A decoction of the roots is taken as a remedy for lassitude impotence and kwashiorkor. The bark is boiled and taken as a cure for body pains. This infusion is also used to treat colds, fever and influenza. Seeds are used to cure gastric, kidney and joint diseases; they are roasted then ground and the powder smeared on the affected part or drunk in water.

Other products: Ash from the shell, bark and seed, rich in potash, is widely used in making soap, prepared by boiling the bark and fruit ash in oil. The shell can be used as a dish, water dipper, vessel for liquids, snuffbox, fishing float; it also makes an excellent rat trap. The powdered husk may be smoked as a tobacco substitute or added to snuff to increase pungency. The pulp extract can be used as a hair wash.

Soil improver: Decaying wood of a tree that has died of old age or from lightning is spread on fields as a fertilizer. Ashes from the shell bark and seed are rich in potash and are useful as a fertilizer.

Ornamental: A. digitata is a popular species for bonsai specimens.

Other services: In dry regions, A. digitata plays a vital role in water storage; a hollowed trunk may hold 400 gallons, water stored in them is said to remain sweet for several years if the hollow is kept well closed. In East Africa the trunks are hollowed out to provide shelter and storage, and in West Africa the hollowed trunks are sometimes used as tombs.

With the plethora of uses cited above, the tree truly deserves to be called kalpvriksha because of its ability to amply provide for human needs. So next time, when you plan to visit Kashi, don’t forget to add this tree to your must-see list.

//Muley Brahma twachaa Vishnu shikhayaam Mahadev, patre patre devaaye Kalpavriksha namostutey//

Source : World AgroForestry Centre’s Tree Database, Wikipedia

Wasn't Orkut Enough?

I joined Orkut in 2006, two years after it registered its presence in the internet fraternity. One could join this social networking site only through an invite at that time. I myself had asked one of my ‘member’ friends to send me an invite, so that I too, could become a proud member of this vigorously burgeoning family. I still remember the kind of sentiments that this nascent site had invoked in me. I didn’t have a net access in my room that time and so I spent hours sitting in my internet lab either searching for long lost buddies or sprucing up my social profile. I didn’t even mind waiting in never ending queues in front of the locked doors of the room to be the first one to grab a seat. Believe it or not, personal thank you messages were sent to all visitors who used to land up in my profile either by chance or by choice. Rejecting friend requests was out of question; be it from a stranger or a mere acquaintance. Celebrations followed when the number of friends hit the hundredth mark. Number of scraps was the newest exhibitive among friend circles. Fan count became the status quo. Joining coolest communities became a rage.

Facebook saw me as its user a year later, at the end of 2007. I did not join it on will; circumstances pushed me to do so. The incessant e-mail requests and reminders by friends pressed me to check out this latest fad. Though it was creating ripples in the virtual societies, it failed to inspire a thrill in me. Instead I was very unhappy to see new competitor sites coming up. I used to get anxious and annoyed when people talked about joining Facebook, Minglebox, Mypace or LinkedIn. Perhaps I was well aware of the future consequences of this latest trend. I didn’t want my contacts which I found after so many years with so much difficulty, to get drifted away to some other site so easily. After all, it meant my own migration as well because a network would be nothing without friends that constitute it. Keeping pace with one social network was in itself a big commitment with respect to time; I was not at all in favor of giving another chunk of my precious time to a site which served exactly the same purpose. I reluctantly joined in, but pledged to keep my loyalty with the elder brother. The extent of my despondency is very much clear from fact that its 2009, and I haven’t even filled up my profile information yet. I am there just because my friends are there.

I know for sure that majority of those reading this post would say that they prefer Facebook over Orkut. Facebook has become choice of the sophisticated whereas Orkut remains the love of tenderfoot. Those giving a preference to Orkut are looked upon as technologically backward. One of the possible reasons could be the false pride that Indians get by following American and European culture. Facebook is highly popular there, in contrast with Orkut which has a fan following majorly in Brazil and India only.

Recently I have been spending a lot of time on Facebook trying to uncover the basis of my mental bias against it. Some of points that I came across are as follows:

1. First impression is the last impression. The mundane white and blue background with painfully small fonts, make the user interface unappealing.
2. The whole space looks cluttered with all of the quiz and game results, comments, advertisements and updates thrown unkemptly at the same place.
3. Quizzes and games, albeit addictive, seems to me a total waste of time. They keep you unnecessarily logged in without serving any fruitful purpose. If am fond of gaming, I would rather play nicer and challenging ones elsewhere rather than satiating myself with the limited ones provided by Facebook!
4. There is a restriction on the amount of information that you can view about a stranger. This feature, in a way, hampers the basic purpose of a social networking sites as it becomes difficult to ensure whether a person is familiar to you or not. And social networks are also for making new contacts; how will one decide whether a particular person is worthy of making a friend unless he/she knows a little bit about him/her.
5. Navigating around in Facebook is a pain in the neck.
6. Too much of updates from friends, becomes irritating.
7. The additional features that many Facebook supporters argue about are nothing but time wasting tactics. A networking site is just meant for catching up with old friends and not getting trapped in the virtual arena all day long.
8. Orkut communities score far over Facebook groups because of features like discussion forum and polls.
9. Privacy control, which was earlier an issue, has now been incorporated in Orkut. You can sensibly choose for yourself what to conceal and what to reveal.
10. Some may put forward this agreement that Orkut is copying Facebook nowadays, I say, even Facebook is not lagging behind. After all who came up first with the innovative idea called “Social Network”
11. I am a strong believer in the ‘KISS principle’, Keep it short and simple. Orkut fits better to this definition.
12. And last but not the least, Google has established a brand value among its users in the recent years and I just love Google products.

Although choosing one out of the two is matter of choice and personal taste, your pick certainly affects your friends’ preference and so on. Now whenever I come online, I need to open both the sites to stay in touch with the latest, which is not something I approve of. So guys, what do you say –“Wasn’t Orkut enough? “