Living Online

 Living is a relative term according to one's background- be it social or economic. To earn a living is again relative, in the sense that the process of earning a living yields monetary satisfaction to some, the desire to earn a better living to some others and lastly, the craving to earn a living better than that of others to the rest. In such a world, it may have been impossible for people who lived a few decades ago to think of  the intervention of something almost intangible in nature and addictive in character called 'The Internet' to have become a part of our living. But the impossible became the possible that you and I cannot live without today. On-line was a term formerly used to convey that somebody is waiting at the other end of your telephone line. It no longer is so. With the birth of the Internet, 'online' now refers to connecting oneself with the world that is connecting back to you using the Internet connection and its means- wired or wireless. The Internet connection available on our PC's, Tablet's and phones enables us to access the world wide web that lays various platforms for people online. To name a few, Social Networking, Blogs, e-commerce, Trade, Search engines fall under the umbrella term called 'Online'. So what is after all, this need we have developed to be connected to the Internet or simply put, to live online, and is that actually something that can be called living? 

From 2-line Facebook statuses to 2-page long Blogs, the online world has provided a comfortable environment from those who write to those who vent. The best part of online journalism is that anybody who has access to the Internet is given the platform, undetermined by factors that demean humanity such as religion, caste, creed, sex, language, nationality etc. Everybody has a voice online, which is most often not the case in reality. In such a scenario, living online and expressing online is a great privilege. Unless one gets so bored with life itself that all that he/she does throughout the day, is update a status or tweet every hour telling the world what he/she is doing, where they are going or how they feel; in such a case is that actually called living or just merely existing? Online journals have been born, online news is available, and one can even make a living by sitting at home and calling himself a freelancer who writes online. To those who are more of an on-screen performer than an off-screen writer, the Internet has social media like YouTube and its sister websites where one uploads videos of their own or videos of others. These videos again let you do anything under the sun, call it talent, get a million likes and again, earn your living by living online. A housewife who missed the episode of her favorite soap opera can watch the same online, a teen whose hands and legs do not function without music being fed to them is always a slave to the Internet which gives access to all the music that has been ever made in the world, all that anybody has to do is go online to learn anything new; be it a new hairstyle or some DIY (Do-It-Yourself) or a new language. Entertainment has always played this important role in our lives and not denying it, online games and movies have aided this. One can pay their bills, video call their dear ones on the other side of Planet, obtain information about every single particle living or dead in this world, buy clothes/shoes/home decor/gadgets/groceries/furniture/beauty products/ just anything that money can buy online and all it takes is ironically one click. In our own ways, we all are living online. 


Aristotle said, Man is gregarious in nature. We seek company of others and are thereby living our life one day at a time, or rather one website at a time. A quick food for thought here, has our gregariousness lead us to a few blind blunders too? Have we started judging people purely based on their profile that a social networking site shows us? Has a most sought after emotion such as love, which could only be won by those who wrote half a hundred sonnets to their Muse once upon a time, now is won by showing a fake picture of yours 'online' and saying a few cheesy lines that were again copied 'online'? Are we becoming fools day by day or rather, friend request by friend request? Our access is open to all sorts of information, to all sorts of entertainment and to all sorts of e-commerce. Children today, mature before maturity and also, die before death. I intend to throw some light on the ill-effects of technology by the above sentence- the strain on the eyes, the effect it has on the brain and the larger effect it has on the human chain. People hold relationships over the Internet and are cheated upon; pay a share of their hard earned money to a promised item available online and yet again, cheated upon. How many cases have we seen like this? No, the number is not countable on your fingers.  


Every coin does have two sides and every person does have two wolves inside them. It does depend on you, which side you wish to see and which wolf you wish to be. But that is no conclusion to any topic. Living online has become an integral part of us. But what about our real world? What about your problems that stay problems when you turn off your internet connection? What about that time you lost in reality when doing something virtually? Has our creative thinking depleted because of the Internet which supports our lethargy and does everything? Has our ability to analytically think paused? Have our talents been muted? Have we stopped talking to the person living next door and started talking to someone at the other side of a skype call? Are we aware of this trend we have collectively brought in as the X,Y,Z generation? Our communication is no more face-to-face and direct. It is now merely phone-to-phone or through e-means. Moreover, how boring is it to get up and check your phone like it’s the morning newspaper, to remember memories using your iCloud or Google+ account, to be online and available all the time? If its not yet boring to you, you have probably not reached the limit to using the Internet like me. This essay too, is using the Internet to reach its destination. Yet somehow, it feels better to write on paper than on a Microsoft document.  


Indeed, living online has given us a life of comfort and leisure; one can do the e-aarti to their favorite deity of a temple or pay their taxes online instead of going there physically and standing in long queues. Yet, the concern creeps in when the number of hours we spend online is on the rise. On an average, every individual living online spends more than half of their day checking their phones, tablets or PC's all the time. Where is the time to do something outside the virtual world? What are we giving back to our Creator? How are we making a difference on this Planet? What is the difference between the animals and the evolved if we don’t use our intellect to its highest potential? Why are we compromising on our capabilities for after all a monthly paid connection? In my opinion, the Internet has given us fruits of comfort and speed to our lives, but it freezes only virtual time. As an individual who also lived online, I cannot deny the fact that life online is great! Yet, there are greater things you and I must do than just surfing the web. 


So, grab that physical book you’ve been eyeing, try a new recipe in your physical kitchen, make coffee for your coffee-loving mother, take time out of your busy virtual schedule to go to your child's annual day, visit your grandparents and ask them about life during The World War or The Emergency, design a piece of chart paper instead of an e-greeting to your friend, go out and gain some Vitamin D instead of draining you brain to a Candy Crush or a Temple Run, help your younger sibling who needs his homework to be done, try your hands on a new talent- say painting, poetry or gardening, write that letter you have in mind for your loved one and do it physically with pencil and paper and you'll be amazed how a physical thing you do today can make someone feel so loved and special. Its rarity today, which we can use to our benefit and make our near and dear ones happy. Time gone losing your Internet connection can still be revived once it re-connects but its not the same with time gone losing the relationship with your loved ones. In conclusion, my question to all of you with a life only online, are you actually living?