Facebook : Social Network to Daily Chore

When I was first introduced to Social Networking 6 years back through Orkut, I was excited about it. I used to genuinely look forward to Log in to Orkut, Check for scraps, get immensely happy If I got one, stalk people’s profiles and uploading “real” photos used to be like the coolest thing ever. A person’s coolness factor used to be directly proportional to the number of scraps in his/her scrapbook, and the number of friends he/she has.

Then came facebook. It started gaining prominence around 2007-08. People were hooked instantly. The magnitude of the Orkut to Facebook migration of the human race will make the Emperor Penguins proud. Things were a bit different here, FB Chat replaced Scraps, Wall posts replaced testimonials, People could now stalk without the fear being revealed, and we got introduced to perhaps the 2 worst social networking Inventions of all time, Poking and “Like”. Facebook became the in thing, and the coolness factor was now measured by how fast one made this transition from “Boring Orkut” to “Happening Facebook”.

Then we had Twitter, Google +, So.cl (Does anybody use this?), Linkedin, Pinterest, MojoStreet, Instagram and a plethora of networking sites, designed for different purposes.

Things have changed though. Social networking has lost the novelty factor it possessed even 2-3 years ago. From being “Cool”, It has become a given to be a part of a social networking site. Also, with usage of smartphones and tablets increasing exponentially, one doesn't even need to have a Desktop or Laptop with them to get access to these websites. With such ease in access, people have become so addicted to these sites, that it has almost become a chore.  

With people logged into their facebook and other social networking accounts in multiple devices, the existence of logout button is on the verge of becoming a myth. We have traversed from “going online” to “being online”. As I said before, Social Networking has become a chore. It would no longer be a part of a person’s “To do List”. You eat, You sleep, You bathe, and similarly you facebook (Yes, It can be used as a verb).

There are many ways in which one can look at this. One can go on with the pros and cons of Social networking addiction and blah. The point here is we have surpassed the addiction phase, and It has now become an inherent part of life. As much as one would want to restrict themselves, there is always a limit to how much one can fast. Anyone with views, the comment section has been served to you on a platter.