Online People...

So ‘Red’ broke up. Pretty sad, I know. I wish I could do something, but sometimes it is best to let life take its course and not plan anything. And that got me thinking.

We've got technology, we've got the gadgets. We have got everything to make the day easy and the distance short. We have everything we dreamt of and more. People can stay connected to anything and anyone, anywhere. If it exists, you can have access to it. Get the best music, best movies, sitcoms and anything you would like to watch and watch it anywhere. We tweet moods, thoughts, facts, news, discoveries, conversations, creations, pictures, movies, jokes, the good times and the bad. We link and network to anyone and everyone on Facebook, we share, we say, we comment, we play, we laugh and sometimes just exist as alter personalities. We can choose who we want to be, anyone we like or want to exist as, if not our own selves.

We text and we talk, we Skype and we blog. We say so much and hear so much and feel so much and block so much. And we can live complete parallel lives online. Reality has blurred online and offline. I see my friends glued to their Iphones and BBs n middle of movies, conversations, drinks, and functions and parties and dates and work. All this connectivity presents a respite, an outlet you can access whenever you want to come up for air. It represents ideas, the new, the shiny and the fancy.
It presents ‘a connect’ where I can instantly get any information I want, if the people out there have it. It presents a forum to say and be heard.

So the question is, we are connected 24X7 and to everyone we care about, but do we get any closer? Are our relationships any better? Do we trust better, confide more and stand by our loved ones better now? Are we there for them, now that we don’t have time, communication and distance constraints? Do long distance relationships work now, better than 20 years ago? Do we listen better, reach out more and hold on more? Now that we can connect and talk about anything to anyone, anywhere, do we talk our hearts out easily? Do we let people in easily? Has it become easier to ask someone out, make it work across continents and time? Do we forgive and forget better now that all we need to do is block, unfollow or delete? Are we more sincere in our love, now that we don’t need to put major effort or money to keep in touch and keep up with time differences and space?

Would Raj in DDLJ do things very differently now, given that he doesn’t need to fly down all the way to Punjab? They could just Skype!!  And Simran could just tweet all the time and be on Facebook. They could share playlists and blog. Would they need to fight as hard today as 20-30 years ago to be together? I doubt that. And yet, it makes me wonder if they would fight as hard today even if took much less effort.

Or I guess Raj would want to do a Harvard MBA and Simran would be a journalist wanting to work in Iraq. And then two of them would get so wrapped up, that all this tweeting and texting would not fill the gap, Love Aaj Kal types.
So the question is, with all this ‘connect’, are we really getting any closer?

p.s: Image courtesy Kaurwakee: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kaurwakee/