Have we become more connected in the last few decades or have we become very disconnected? Answer carefully for there is a high chance your response will betray your age. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. We may have a 100 rants about the current times, ageism is not one of them. There was never before an age that encouraged people to act as per their feelings and not as per their age. Let haters hate. As someone of a much younger age than mine would put it.
If you chose disconnected for your answer, chances are you have a frame of reference to compare these times to. A time when the only modes of telecommunications began with ‘tele’ – the telephone and reserved for situations of extreme urgency, the telegrams. Many of us look back to those simpler times and feel we were all a lot more connected then. We fondly reminisce when people remembered birthdays early enough to go to a greeting card shop, write a note in it and post it in time for you to receive it by your birthday. When the ‘pop-in’ was a socially accepted ritual, at least in countries like India – that is if you happened to be passing by someone’s home for some reason, you would pop in on impulse, for a quick hello which may or may not extend to a high tea and a meal. When people regularly planned all day shopping trips or picnics to neighbourhood locales.
The generation that did not experience such a time, feels the same warmth of a phone call in frequent post ‘reactions’. My grandma who is 86 often asks me if I am in touch with my cousins in Bangalore, I say yes. Because we all follow each other and we all stay reasonably updated on what’s going on in each other’s lives via our posts, stories and whatsapp updates. My grandma’s follow-up question however makes her conclude differently, “oh! That’s nice..so you all meet regularly?” And I say no, we never find the time to physically meet. The last we all met was at another cousin’s wedding which my grandmom herself also attended.
What does this mean? Is she right in concluding that people have no time for each other today? Or was I indeed truthful when I answered in the affirmative about being in touch? There is no absolute answer. As an experiment I organised a lunch at my place one Saturday and invited about 12 of my cousins who are in the same town as me. 8 made it. So there! I feel pretty connected. I personally don’t know of anyone who truly appreciates the ‘pop-in’. So that’s a change for the better.
The jury is still out on whether we are growing more connected or more disconnected but the undisputed truth is that the dynamics of connections have changed. Rejoice at all the reel making around us. Celebrate that one person who loves taking wefies. A wefie is a group selfie. That is how we keep in touch today. Some argue that people are more focussed on clicking pics than on cherishing the moment. Even though those are the very pics that help us stay up to date on the lives of the ones we love (or stalk. Stalkers are not new. Before they used binoculars)
Sure, we need to make appointments to meet even our closest relatives and friends but that’s mostly to ensure we find them at home after making it there, navigating traffic jams and signals. Sure, there is no way to know who remembered our birthday on their own. But, most still value those who choose to leave a wish for us, irrespective of whether they were notified to do so.
The way in which we are connected has changed. What matters is genuine intent behind whatever new ways of connecting are available. Same holds true for brands connecting with people. Response to TV ads may have dwindled but brands have a 100 new ways to bond. We are not disconnected, but connected in new ways.
The views and opinions published here belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the publisher.
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