Love In 2014
Entry by: vinita18
14th February 2014
Technologically Yours
The other day the buzz in the neighborhood was about an online couple who had found perfect compatibility in the virtual world and when they decided to meet in real life they turned out to be husband and wife, unknowingly dating each other under false identities.
I think the story just about sums up the story of love in 2014. We are more distanced from our real life families than we are with online community of friends and well-wishers.
My son dons ear phones perpetually, so I've almost given up knocking on his door. I send him a text message from my bedroom to his, asking if he's ready for breakfast. The light of the message on his cell is easier to grasp in a world swirling with music from iPhones and iPods. Then, when we are face to face I have to use sign language to ask him what he'd like to have, because, of course, the ear phones are still on. I miss the sound of my voice in this house. Why can't I speak, talk and communicate like my mother and grandmother used to do? Why is so much sound inside our ears and heads despite the fact that our lips utter a word these days. If things continue at this rate and going by the laws of evolution which says that the least used functions of our body gradually disappear from our DNAs, then the human race is sure to lose its larynx pretty soon!
A lover once told his sweetheart that he had studied her skin like a blind man reads Braille. Every little bump under her skin and mole outside it was familiar to him. I have to say that this kind of intimacy would be something to die for, for anyone in love and indulging in physical foreplay. Sadly though, the lover still reads it like Braille, only his fingers are on the keypad, not on warm skin. He's either typing notes of love to his Facebook find or texting messages from his phone to some unknown friend with whom he feels this great soulful connection. I wonder if he ever gets up and greets the real people surrounding him...the physical entities present in his life. The same is true of women too - no gender bias here!
Love in 2014 is about 140 characters, worded to perfection on Twitter. It's about a timely reply to a narcissistic post simply begging for attention. It's about wall papers of romantic sunset points on other social media sites. It's about how many followers you have on these sites. How 'present' are you in this gigantic virtual world. Yes, Internet has made a global village out of this vast planet earth, but as His Holiness The Fourteenth Dalai Lama rightly said in this context - we know people sitting 8000 miles from us, but do we know out neighbors?
I think its time to return to the good old days of one to one contact, where eyes relay warm messages of love and the touch of skin is really pore to pore. It's time to send over your next batch of cookies to your neighbors and not send out pictures of it on Facebook where hundreds will relish its sight but none will taste it. It's time to get the family back to the dinner table instead of each member in their separate room munching tastelessly,,glued to television sets.
Alienation from the lives we really lead is a dangerous Frankenstein that Internet has created. It wasn't meant to be that way. Internet was a glorious tool of communication. It brought even the remotest corner of the world into the forefront of existence. It gave every individual an equal opportunity to express his views and opinions. It brought our loved ones who lived far from us closer to us through skype and viber. Internet was a revolution towards awesome development of nations and societies and it was all almost free of cost! What could be more beautiful than that! And how could something as dynamic as the internet ever be blamed for alienation?
Well, that unfortunately is the irony of our times! The tool that brings us all together under one roof, so to speak, is also responsible for our loneliest evenings and bleakest mornings. Everybody in the house is too busy making individual connections across the globe with tailor made, customized profiles to make efforts adjusting with a few flaws that exist in their real partners.
We don't want to invest in our relationships anymore! Investing takes, time, effort, soul searching and one big heart. It's easier to dump and move on in the hope that the next partner you meet will be easier to get along with.
Well, if the partner is a virtual one, she or he might be showing you a veneer and if you get up close and personal with them, you'll find yourself facing the same bag of adjustments this time too!
I hope that Love in 2014 will strike the right balance between the time we spend between our real and virtual worlds. I hope it will give us better perspectives
on the things that really matter in our lives. That tomorrow, if there's a medical emergency, your family and neighbors will be the first people to rush you to the hospital, that nothing can compensate for softly spoken words whispered with true feelings and a robustly beating heart.
Let our presence on the social media enhance and enrich our lives. Let it give us a better platform to express our views and share our achievements. But let it not leave us stranded in dark corners in our own homes. Let it not create walls in our precious relationships.
Let love in 2014 be a tender unfolding of a season of love that is ripe with long walks, hand in hand on the road strewn with pine cones, scenting crisp mountain air and real coffee nestling aromatically in a flask slung on the shoulders.
The other day the buzz in the neighborhood was about an online couple who had found perfect compatibility in the virtual world and when they decided to meet in real life they turned out to be husband and wife, unknowingly dating each other under false identities.
I think the story just about sums up the story of love in 2014. We are more distanced from our real life families than we are with online community of friends and well-wishers.
My son dons ear phones perpetually, so I've almost given up knocking on his door. I send him a text message from my bedroom to his, asking if he's ready for breakfast. The light of the message on his cell is easier to grasp in a world swirling with music from iPhones and iPods. Then, when we are face to face I have to use sign language to ask him what he'd like to have, because, of course, the ear phones are still on. I miss the sound of my voice in this house. Why can't I speak, talk and communicate like my mother and grandmother used to do? Why is so much sound inside our ears and heads despite the fact that our lips utter a word these days. If things continue at this rate and going by the laws of evolution which says that the least used functions of our body gradually disappear from our DNAs, then the human race is sure to lose its larynx pretty soon!
A lover once told his sweetheart that he had studied her skin like a blind man reads Braille. Every little bump under her skin and mole outside it was familiar to him. I have to say that this kind of intimacy would be something to die for, for anyone in love and indulging in physical foreplay. Sadly though, the lover still reads it like Braille, only his fingers are on the keypad, not on warm skin. He's either typing notes of love to his Facebook find or texting messages from his phone to some unknown friend with whom he feels this great soulful connection. I wonder if he ever gets up and greets the real people surrounding him...the physical entities present in his life. The same is true of women too - no gender bias here!
Love in 2014 is about 140 characters, worded to perfection on Twitter. It's about a timely reply to a narcissistic post simply begging for attention. It's about wall papers of romantic sunset points on other social media sites. It's about how many followers you have on these sites. How 'present' are you in this gigantic virtual world. Yes, Internet has made a global village out of this vast planet earth, but as His Holiness The Fourteenth Dalai Lama rightly said in this context - we know people sitting 8000 miles from us, but do we know out neighbors?
I think its time to return to the good old days of one to one contact, where eyes relay warm messages of love and the touch of skin is really pore to pore. It's time to send over your next batch of cookies to your neighbors and not send out pictures of it on Facebook where hundreds will relish its sight but none will taste it. It's time to get the family back to the dinner table instead of each member in their separate room munching tastelessly,,glued to television sets.
Alienation from the lives we really lead is a dangerous Frankenstein that Internet has created. It wasn't meant to be that way. Internet was a glorious tool of communication. It brought even the remotest corner of the world into the forefront of existence. It gave every individual an equal opportunity to express his views and opinions. It brought our loved ones who lived far from us closer to us through skype and viber. Internet was a revolution towards awesome development of nations and societies and it was all almost free of cost! What could be more beautiful than that! And how could something as dynamic as the internet ever be blamed for alienation?
Well, that unfortunately is the irony of our times! The tool that brings us all together under one roof, so to speak, is also responsible for our loneliest evenings and bleakest mornings. Everybody in the house is too busy making individual connections across the globe with tailor made, customized profiles to make efforts adjusting with a few flaws that exist in their real partners.
We don't want to invest in our relationships anymore! Investing takes, time, effort, soul searching and one big heart. It's easier to dump and move on in the hope that the next partner you meet will be easier to get along with.
Well, if the partner is a virtual one, she or he might be showing you a veneer and if you get up close and personal with them, you'll find yourself facing the same bag of adjustments this time too!
I hope that Love in 2014 will strike the right balance between the time we spend between our real and virtual worlds. I hope it will give us better perspectives
on the things that really matter in our lives. That tomorrow, if there's a medical emergency, your family and neighbors will be the first people to rush you to the hospital, that nothing can compensate for softly spoken words whispered with true feelings and a robustly beating heart.
Let our presence on the social media enhance and enrich our lives. Let it give us a better platform to express our views and share our achievements. But let it not leave us stranded in dark corners in our own homes. Let it not create walls in our precious relationships.
Let love in 2014 be a tender unfolding of a season of love that is ripe with long walks, hand in hand on the road strewn with pine cones, scenting crisp mountain air and real coffee nestling aromatically in a flask slung on the shoulders.
Feedback: Average score: 140 (28%)
Marker comments:
Marker 1
- Feedback: I don't consider essays to need much atmosphere. That's not an essay's primary purpose.
All seem to be written in a similar style, which I think this approaches, and which I would describe as quite simple and well laid out with clear points to make. It is, however, very much a telling of one's position rather than an attempt to understand or perhaps come to grips with a difference - of opinion, of approach. And yes, there are ironies.
It's a difficult subject to address. So much has been said and written already, with neither side showing any inclination to even wish to understand the other. I began reading with interest, and with hope that the essay might offer something fresh and different to this wearying discussion, and was disappointed to find old ground covered.
Marker 2
- Feedback: There is nothing really new about this sentiment. I hear it everyday from, usually, the middle-age generation. When writing about something as familiar as this sentiment is it would be good to hear something from a fresh approach to it or at least a comical angle that gives the reader a chuckle.
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