Difference between connection and communication

Social media has changed the way we communicate. One can argue that it has increased our connectivity with the world which was out of our reach just a few years ago. Today, we can connect with anyone active on social media and initiate communication. But the question is are we really connecting with each other or just communicating. One of the reasons is that we are confusing communication with the connection. During my childhood, having more than 10 or 20 friends was almost impossible, we did not know that many people of our age. I and my friends used to meet almost every day and chat for hours, we used to spend so much time with our friends that our parents had to drag us back home. We used to get lectures from our parents regularly about time spent with our friends. Today our friend lists run into hundreds or thousands, but still, we feel lonely or disconnected. Why?

We now have platforms available for us where we can communicate and can communicate continuously if we want. However, communication does not always mean connection. Most of the communication on social media platforms has become a type of broadcast where one party says and another party listens, there is rarely a constructive dialogue. Some platforms have become a place to argue and score points over your opponents. There is a lot of communication, but hardly any connection. This is why even though people are busy communicating, they feel empty. Even though everyone is busy broadcasting how they are having a wonderful time, they have no avenue to discuss their stress and depression.  Even though people are texting each other continuously they hesitate to share their mental health issues. Even though we have these amazing communication platforms at our disposal, we rarely use them to establish a genuine connection, a connection that can stand by us in our time of need, listen to our worries, and comfort us. People have found tremendous ways to share their talents and become influencers, but we still lack ways to understand each other's feelings and share them honestly without being judged. This is why I have decided to focus on connections rather than just communication. I still write my blog and post on social media, but I make a point to connect with people that matter to me. I try to call or message them regularly and am available to talk to them when they need someone to share something. I listen attentively when people have something to say about my blog or about my other opinions and views. This has helped me a lot, and I hope these interactions also helped others who connected and communicated with me. I believe if you want help, start helping someone when they need help and someone will help you when you are in need. This is how we can build an ecosystem where compassion and empathy are organic and not just for display on social media. It is easy to show anger, pity, or sympathy, but it is not easy to show compassion and empathy. Communication will happen automatically when a connection happens, but it is not true the other way around. Let's be brave and try to connect with each other rather than just communicate.     

Thank you for reading and please share your views on this topic. 

© Vinay Thakur, All rights reserved, Vinay can be reached at thevinay2022@gmail.com

I am with you

I am with you. If you need any sort of emotional support, a shoulder to cry, a word of encouragement, someone to talk to, express your fears or frustrations, complain about any injustice, share your pain or happiness, or just a company, I am with you. We all need to be there for each other in a moment of need, this is an ideal I strive for, it may or may not happen, but there is no harm in trying. This post is not a reaction to the suicide of a young and successful Hindi cinema actor Sushant Singh Rajput. The post was planned and prepared much before that, I just felt the need to publish it after reading the news about this unfortunate incident. My views about mental illness and suicides were completely different while growing up in India and during my initial years in the USA, I used to think only weak people commit suicide. However, over the years I educated myself about the topic of mental health and learned a lot about it which I didn't know before. This learning changed my views completely and allowed me to look at my own life from a different perspective. Part of the reason for my ignorance can be attributed to the taboo associated with this subject in Indian society where I was born and grew up. Actually, it would be unfair to single out India for having a taboo associated with mental health-related issues, such a taboo still exists in many societies even today.

Mental health is a very complex subject. It is not easy for many to understand it, but everyone needs to make an effort to learn about it as we all may suffer from some mental health-related issues at some point in our lives. Whether we realize it or not, we all go through these things, the only difference is in some cases it is more severe compared to others. We all go through complex emotions, and our reactions can be vastly different towards the same incident, the intensity of emotions, and ways of expressing them differ from person to person. Many of us are vulnerable under certain situations, we feel insecure, scared, depressed, or anxious for some reason or for no reason at all. It is important to have some support during these unsettling times, it is especially important these days when families are nuclear and most people prefer to live a separate and independent life. It is not bad to be independent, rather it is a good thing, independence teaches us many valuable lessons. However, on many occasions, we need some psychological help and support, and if we are alone it is hard to find such support. We all need such support, we need someone with whom we can share our feelings, our fears, concerns, our highs and lows, where we can be ourselves without being judged. Even though we prefer to be independent and there is a physical distance that separates us, we can make use of technology to bridge that gap. Bridging this gap is now possible with the invention of social media, we all can support each other no matter where we live or how far we are from each other. Of course, it will be great to find someone like this among the people from our immediate surroundings, but if we can't, we should not hesitate to find genuine support in the virtual world.

I want to be one such support for people who need it. Please do not hesitate to reach out to me and I will try my best to be a person who could offer the required emotional support. It is easy to get in touch with me, apart from this blog, I am on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. I believe that offering someone support or hearing ear or encouragement is not a favor but can be a very rewarding experience for both people involved in it. I have done it on multiple occasions, someone did it for me when I needed such support and in both cases, it has enriched my life. Emotional exchanges are not easy, one has to cross a barrier before sharing their vulnerable side with others. Crossing this barrier can be easy for some and extremely difficult for some, it's a personal journey and personal challenge. It is true that emotional exchanges cannot be a one-way process, there needs to be a connection. Unless both people connect with each other there can not be a proper exchange of emotions, and there cannot be a bridge through which emotions can cross from one person to another, such connection is crucial. However, establishing an emotional connection does not always mean one can feel the pain or fear to the same extent as the next person is feeling, it is important to understand those feelings. It is extremely hard if not impossible to understand what exactly another person is going through. I have learned it through personal experience, it's easy to say "things will get normal," "be strong," or "don't worry," but sometimes things never get back to normal, people don't want to be strong, or they cannot stop worrying. A person who is offering support needs to recognize these feelings and then only can offer any useful support to someone going through an emotional crisis.

Depression or any other mental issue is real and let's talk about it. There is no shame in asking for help when we need it. People of all genders, sexual orientations, and social or economic backgrounds might go through mental health-related issues. Let's try to support each other and devote as much time as we can to help each other whenever one of us needs such help. I know that not everyone will be interested in devoting their time to this nor everyone can find some time to do this, let's try to contribute as much as we can within our limits. But if it is please consider it, mental health is as important as physical health, and if we can develop a community that can support each other's mental health, let's do it. Remember, I am with you if you need me.

Thanks for reading and please share your opinion about this topic. 

Prevalent sexism on social media

I have noticed prevalent sexism in social media conversations, especially on WhatsApp. Unfortunately, I notice sexism very easily and I am very sensitive to it. I notice it multiple times a day, in many WhatsApp messages. I receive, jokes which people forward to me, comments they make on various social media platforms, traditions they talk about, traditions they praise about, and many other things. I tirelessly try to point it out to people around me, especially to people from my own family because first, I should make my own family aware of this prevalent sexism before I try to change rest of the world. Many times people who forward or say those things don't even realize that there is something sexist in it. The main reason behind this mindset is a deep cultural history of sexism in every society. Developed nations are taking conscious efforts to remove this sexist mindset but in countries like India with strong patriarchal culture, these things still go unchallenged. To give a simple example about this, yes I have to receive a single husband-wife related joke in Indian groups where a wife is not depicted as a money spender, totally dependent on the husband, non earning partner. By default, every joke or message has this image of the wife, occasionally there might be a message to praise sacrifice of women and laud their tolerance and dedication towards their partner, but this is again very stereotypes description of women.

I always wonder why people don't try to offer somewhat different perspective? Why even women don't take notice of such stereotyped depiction of their image? Maybe it is true that in developing countries like India there are still many wifes who are dependent on their husbands. It is not because they are any less capable of working outside their homes, but because their family structure or social and cultural settings doesn't allow them to accept any job. They are so consumed by household work, which is equally important and valuable that they can't do any other work. Traditionally, household work is valued as much as it should have been, and hence the image of stay home wifes is that they don't earn anything. This notion also results in the image of wifes as a creature who survives on husbands hard earned money without doing any hard work of their own, and all these jokes and sexist TV serials just reinforce this image on men and women's mind generations after generations.

This sexist behavior and attitude need to be questioned, I do it from my side. I get into trouble because of this, many times people get annoyed because of my net picking small small things. But the reality is, that these small things slowly build a sexist attitude in boys and girls which subsequently becomes part of cultural nuances of our society. These things then create rigid barriers, glass ceilings, gender stereotypes, and many other things which stereotype gender roles. The only way to remove sexism is to point it out and make people aware of it. If even after that they want to continue with those jokes and that attitude it's their choice, but at least make them aware that they are being sexist. This is one basic thing we all can do to curb the prevalent sexism around us and our own family or freind circle or social group is a good place to start this.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

Diversity in communication

"She sounds very grumpy."
"Be careful while talking with him, he doesn't like to talk with people."
"You have a very strong Indian accent."

Many of us either make such statements or hear them daily during our day-to-day interactions with people around us. We all expect to have some homogeneity in our surroundings as far as communication styles are concerned. Most progressive societies welcome diversity of race, gender, and socioeconomic background; but when it comes to communication they want some homogeneity. Maybe this desire comes for the sake of maintaining clarity or making sure that the message is delivered effectively. In my family, my parents and I spoke different languages with each other. We perfectly understood each other, but never felt the need to communicate in the same language. I know this is not very common, but we managed to do it seamlessly. Actually, I never realized we were doing this until one day I realized this unique aspect of my family. My parents never forced their mother tongue on me, I also didn't insist that my kids should speak my mother tongue. My mother tongue is Marathi, and my wife's Bhojpuri, but our kids speak Hindi and English. They don't know either Marathi or Bhojpuri. Diversity in communication is not only a noticeable fact in today's world, but it is a need of today's world. Mobility of people has increased a lot, people move around the world for their education and employment, in search of a better and safer place. This results in a formation of very diverse societies. Such societies are not only diverse in race, culture, and religion but also in the ways people communicate with each other. 

Different people have different styles of communication. Some like to talk a lot, and some are very stringent with their speech. Some people are loud, and some are very soft-spoken. Everyone has some sort of accent, either it is a local accent or a nonlocal one, therefore, I never considered having an accent a barrier in communication. Our accent is our identity, that's the unique way we speak. I never tried to change my accent and never expected that someone else should change their accent just to sound familiar to my ears. In a same way, different people have different ways to express themselves. Some might appear aggressive, and some really mild. But, this doesn't mean that one way is better than the other. These all are different ways in which people choose to communicate with others. Each way has its own flavor and its own specialty. We should learn to enjoy this diversity rather than trying to bring forced homogeneity. Try to understand others, be patient, recognize the beauty of diversity in communication, and then you will start enjoying every accent and every style of communication. Diversity in communication is a very beautiful thing, as beautiful as diversity in opinions and diversity in population, let's embrace it.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

Is it necessary to know GOOD English?

I came across this discussion with Indian author Chetan Bhagat on NDTV. One of the topics they discussed was whether is it necessary to know English or good English to make a mark in your professional and personal life? English an important language in India for decades. This might be mainly because of our colonial history, but English commands a special status in Indian society. A person able to speak and write English fluently is often considered a scholar and intelligent. Many people from India assume an English-speaking person is an intellectual. I learned to speak and write English very late in my life, my entire primary education was in Marathi, and even though in college the medium of instruction was English no one really spoke in English. I was first exposed to spoken English when I joined for my PhD at the National Chemical Laboratory where people from all over India were there so Marathi was not an option as a language of communication with everyone, and from there onward I am constantly surrounded by people speaking in English. One can easily understand by reading my blog posts, comments, tweets, or Facebook posts that English is not my native language, but I am very comfortable with communicating in English as it allows me to connect with people all over the world. At the same time, I am also aware that my English skills are not that GOOD in a conventional sense, but the question is, is it necessary to know GOOD English?

Having a command of any language is great, I really admire everyone who has an impressive command of any language. This skill gives that person the power to put their thoughts in a very articulative way, they become masters in the craft of playing with words. Reading wonderfully worded articles and books is an amazing experience. A beautiful combination of words mesmerizes us, it leaves a deep impact on our minds. That is why there are not many successful professional writers. But is it necessary to know good English or any other language to express your thoughts in that language? I personally don't think so, we need some medium to express our ideas and thoughts, and language is one of those mediums. The purpose of any language is to allow us to express our thoughts in a manner that others can understand. If we can do that, then we all are smart and effective users of that language. I admire the talent of people who are masters of expressing their thoughts in beautiful manure, I will keep on trying to learn that craft but not being a master in that shouldn't stop me from sharing my views. As it is not only the right of people with a great voice to sing a song, it is not a rule that only people with good command of that language should write in it. We all can express our thoughts in whatever language we feel comfortable with. I see many people hesitate to communicate with others just because they think their language skills are not good enough, I always encourage them to at least give it a try and see how easy it is to express and connect with people, you just have to get over that hesitation and be honest with your expression. Just get over that initial hesitation and start communicating in whatever language you are comfortable with, after all, thoughts and ideas matter not the language in which they are communicated. If you want to say something, say it, the language doesn't matter, people will relate to it if the thought is genuine. Good luck.  

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

Links:
1. Dialogues with Chetan Bhagat

Reviving Sanskrit - Forcing it on students is not a solution

The main purpose of any language is to act as a mode of communication between people. Language also helps in preserving historical records and transmitting knowledge from one generation to another. No one can deny the use and importance of language in our society. The need for communication is very essential part of human existence and different languages serve this very important purpose. I don't know the exact count of world languages, but I am sure there are hundreds of them. Some ancient languages like Heabrue are even spoken today and some like Sanskrit are not. The languages that are not spoken in today's world are also studied as there is a vast amount of literature that can be useful even today. Sanskrit is one such language. It is not a spoken language anymore, but there exists a vast amount of literature in Sanskrit. Most of that literature is translated into many other languages and available for everyone to read, so, not knowing Sanskrit is not at all a hindrance in today's world to studying the literature that was available only in Sanskrit a couple of hundred years back.

I am writing this post on this issue because I have first-hand experience about being forced to learn Sanskrit. I was forced to study this language in 10th grade because Sanskrit was considered as a "scoring subject." During my school days, we had three language curricula, Marathi (regional language) and English were compulsory and one could choose the third language. We had Hindi and Sanskrit as options as the third language. I chose 50% Hindi and 50% Sanskrit. My favorite language was Marathi, but between Hindi and Sanskrit, I always liked Hindi better than Sanskrit and found it much easier to understand and study because I was more familiar with that language because of Hindi movies. But in 10th grade, I was part of so so-called scholar batch which was specially trained by our school to score better in the board exams and that is why everyone in that batch was forced to take only Sanskrit as the third language as it was supposed to boost our overall score. Our Sanskrit teacher was really nice, she was a calm and polite lady with a lot of patience, she tried her best to train everyone by taking extra classes at her own home but I struggled to understand even the basics of Sanskrit. I was not at all happy that I was forced to study it. I knew that it was not going to help me to boost my score but it would reduce my score, and that's what happened. I managed to somehow pass that subject by scoring 53 out of 100. I really hated the fact that I was forced to study Sanskrit. I was too weak or scared to register my protest in school. Neither my parents nor I had any clue about this language, they felt bad for my struggle but beyond that they couldn't do much. It took a lot of time and effort from my side to overcome my dislike for Sanskrit due to this bitter experience. The point here is forcing any language on students is not going to make them like or popularize that language. The same story was with English, many of my friends struggled in English because there was no connection with English, and we did not know how to read or speak English. Many of my friends struggled to pass English, it was the second lethal subject after maths that students used to fear. they studied it because it was compulsory and even after studying it for 5 years (from 5th to 10th) most of them didn't like or have any clue about it. 

I am not against teaching any particular language in schools as some of my friends got this impression when I was debating with them about this issue. In Indian schools two languages are compulsory (the regional language and English), so they already teach two languages to students. The third language is for academic purposes, so let students choose which one they want to study. Students should get a choice, let them choose which Indian or foreign language they want to learn as a third language. If they opt for Sanskrit then by all means teach it to them. I am sure it is a wonderful language like many others. Even though I studied that language for 3 years I am in no position to comment about that language as my opinion will be very biased. Sanskrit or any other language can not be revived by forcing people to learn it, this is not a correct method to revive any language. Spread awareness about the merits and demerits of learning Sanskrit, create enough job opportunities that will require people to know that language, and then people will learn it on their own. Forcing it on students might create more students like me who dislike that language just because they were forced to learn it. I hope school authorities offer Sanskrit as an option for a third language rather than making it a mandatory subject. Every language deserves to be taught in school but proper platforms should be developed and methods should be used so that students don't suffer. I hope the interest of all students is taken into consideration before implementing any such decision. 

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

Links:
1. Make Sanskrit compulsory: Singhal
2. German row: parents move court

Pappu

Pappu is my friend from our village Rajapur in Bhadohi (also called a carpet city, a town in the state of Uttar Pradesh). I meet him every time I visit Rajapur, rather he makes it a point to meet me whenever he knows that I am in Rajapur. He can't speak or hear, he was not born with these disabilities, but he lost his hearing ability (and hence speech also) because of some serious illness during his early childhood. People from the village also say that if he had received proper treatment on time, he would have regained these abilities, but it didn't happen due to the lack of resources and knowledge. He is more than 30 years old now, and he is physically very strong and does most of the physically demanding work. He has his own method of communicating with people around him. Because of his condition, he couldn't go to school, there is no separate school for people with special abilities near my village and other schools don't admit students who are not "normal" according to them. Therefore, he couldn't take any formal education in any school this is the reason he also doesn't know the sign language which people like him use all over the world but this didn't stop him from inventing his own sign language which he can use to communicate with others. I don't understand his sign language but most people (even small kids) from the village can understand this special sign language and can have normal conversations with him. I need an interpreter who can explain his gestures and then translate back what I say to him. Fortunately, I always find someone willing to do this job happily for me. My interaction with him is always interesting.

His desire and ability to communicate with others are amazing, he can talk on almost every subject from politics, family disputes, and village gossip. As mentioned, he mostly does physically demanding work like farm work, taking care of cattle, cleaning the home, etc. Many families from the village call him to perform some tasks like milking a cow which has some temper issues, or help with lifting heavy objects. Maybe they call him because they think it is not safe for people from their own families to engage in these tasks and as Pappu is used to doing these types of jobs he readily agrees to do these things. But his sign language is very specific to our village and anyone from outside our village cannot understand it. He can manage to communicate well with people from our village but he can't do the same with anyone who doesn't belong to our village. I feel bad because his life is confined to this small village, and he is confined to performing certain types of jobs. It is not that there are no facilities in India where people like him can get proper training to overcome any disabilities and live their life like any other person but these things are not accessible to everyone, especially in villages there is a lack of awareness about these resources. This situation persists even today in many parts of rural India and I hope it changes very soon.

Pappu is living his life to the best of his abilities, he is trying to make the best of whatever society has offered to him but he still has a desire to get married and have a family like many people of his age around him. He got married once but his wife died recently because of hepatitis. He was not happy with his marriage as his wife was also with some disability and he thought he deserved a "normal" wife like everyone else around him. Even today he expresses his desire to get remarry and most people around him don't think it is going to happen. Pappu also doesn't want to marry a girl who is not "normal" he was not happy with his first wife, maybe he thinks that his kids also won't be "normal" kids if his wife is not "normal." This is such flawed and outdated thinking but he learned these things from people around him. People like him don't need sympathy but they need fair treatment and equal opportunity. They are often considered "abnormal" by people around them and this should stop. There are many examples all over the world (including India) where people with disabilities display their capabilities and talent if given proper training and opportunities. Unfortunately, even these examples failed to change the attitude of society towards people like Pappu, still, they get a lot of sympathy but no equal treatment. Pappu doesn't need any sympathy. I find him capable enough to do any job if he is offered proper training, but he is confined to do particular tasks which he does excellently. I wish people like him were given the freedom to explore their talents like everyone else around them. I am sure there are many Pappus in our society who can not explore their true potential just because of society's attitude towards them. The situation in cities is slightly better but in villages government needs to carry out aggressive awareness campaigns like they did for girl's education. Despite all odds, people like Pappu fight and excel in whatever work they do, this shows that they have immense potential and talent. I hope that people in India change their attitude towards people with special abilities and offer them proper resources and a fair chance to explore their potential.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

Purpose of language is to unite people please don't use it to divide them

Our ancestors invented language to use it as a useful tool for communication. Like every animal on the planet, we also need to communicate with each other, and efficient communication is the key to our survival. Spoken languages were invented to satisfy our need to communicate with each other. Humans are social animals and we like to communicate with each other more compared to other animals. Our body language might be universal, but there are thousands of spoken languages and different dialects. Spoken languages differ from country to country and region to region. The spoken language is a very good medium to form bonds between people and communities. India is such a diverse country and pluralism in every sense whether it is language, religion, food, clothing, or culture is a unique feature of India. Even today in India, most states speak different languages and have very unique cultural features, even within the state there are different dialects of the same language. Diversity and pluralism are unique features of India but these things also pose very unique challenges. India doesn't have any national language, so sometimes, it is difficult to manage in states where people don't speak and understand the local language. Hindi is spoken by more than 40% of people in India, and it has the status of the unofficial national language of India. But there are many states (especially in the south and northeast) where they don't understand and speak Hindi. I don't think India needs any national language because of its unique diverse nature. Hindi is already one of the most popular languages in India and its use can be encouraged without making it a national language.

English is also a very popular language in India, especially among the educated class, this is mainly because of its demand in the job market and its status as the international language. The dominance of English in higher education (especially in the area of science and commerce) has created unique challenges for students who get their primary education in a regional language. They face the mammoth task of getting familiarized with the English version of various concepts and terms when they enter college. I faced a similar problem when I started my higher education and believe me it was not an easy task, for the first few months I had no clue what my teachers were teaching in class. Current protests of UPSC aspirants against aptitude tests in the English language is another example of a complicated language problem in academia. Students coming from regional language medium schools feel discriminated against when they see unfair advantages offered to students from English or Hindi medium schools. This issue is very complicated but is also a very important one and I hope our government can come up with some viable solution where students from regional language schools don't feel discriminated.

The Belgaum border dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka is also because of language problems, in spite of Marathi being a spoken language among the majority of its residents Belgaum was included in Karnataka rather than Maharashtra. This has created a border dispute between these two states which is still going on. The matter is pending in the Supreme Court, no one knows when this issue will be resolved but a lot of politics is already being played using this topic. A recent lathi charge by Karnataka police on a protesting mob confirmed once again the urgent need to attend to this issue. The purpose of any language is to connect people, not to divide. Language was invented to communicate with each other not to discriminate each other, this politics using language to divide people should stop. I always wonder why two states belonging to the same country fight over a piece of land, after all that part is a part of India how does it matter if Belgaun is with Maharashtra or Karnataka. Trivial matters like this get stuck in a political deadlock. Even though the state governments from both states belong to the same political party there is no progress in resolving this conflict. Ultimate sufferers in all these types of issues are common people, they suffer as their daily lives get disturbed by all these protests and actions taken by the government to curb the agitation movements. Various political parties try to reap benefits by instigating people's emotions and sensationalizing the issue. They should take some concrete steps to resolve this issue rather than sensationalizing it.

Border disputes or exam issues related to language are avoidable or easily resolvable but the wasted interest of some political parties or organizations doesn't allow any resolution. People who are suffering because of these issues need to realize this and act to protect their interests not the interests of selfish political parties. Respective governments also should stop their attempts to crush any peaceful demonstrations by using brutal force. People have the right to express their grievances peacefully and as a government, they have to listen to people's problems and try to find some reasonable solutions. Ignoring any problem only aggravates it, no authority (government or private) should discriminate against people, and discrimination on any basis should not be used as a political tool to divide people. The role of language is to unite people, please let it do its job of uniting people.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]

The effect of social media on us

Today the presence of social media (Facebook, Twitter, blogs, etc.) is felt by everyone in our lives. No sector or section of society has managed to remain unaffected by them. The revolution in communication technology in the last few years and the spread of mobile phones to the remotest corners of the world have made these things accessible to a vast number of people. Social media has changed the way people communicate with each other, it has modified the ways we interact with each other, and for the first time in history, we have written or recorded data for conversations of common people. All those tweets, FB posts, blog posts, comments, or chats are written records of our conversations with each other which never happened before in the history of our civilization. For the first time in our history, we are talking to each other so much by writing rather than speaking. In the past also people used to write long letters but the percentage of literacy was not that high in many places around the world and this mode of communication was limited for special reasons and occasions, but now we mostly chat with each other by recording our conversations in some form (SMS, FB, Twitter, Orkut or whatever). This is really unique, today we have the power to communicate anytime with anyone, anywhere in the world who has access to an internet-connected device. Anything we communicate today is recorded somewhere, stored somewhere, there is proof of what we express whether we know it or not doesn't matter, it's stored somewhere. We are generating a tremendous amount of data every day, that information is enormous and the speed with which we share our thoughts with each other is also phenomenal. One tweet, a blog post, or an FB post can reach millions all over the world in just a few seconds. This was not possible in the pre-social media era even in the presence of TV or radio. TV and radio also revolutionized our lives but that was mainly in the area of entertainment and news, but social media took the level of our communication with each other to a completely different level. We now live in a virtually well-connected world.

Politicians, celebrities, and even common people like you and me are using social media to communicate our thoughts to our friends and to people who don't know personally. We can share our thoughts more easily now, and many serious discussions can be done without meeting each other personally. Some political parties or organizations who ridiculed these things in the beginning as some temporary internet craze and didn't take these things seriously are also trying really hard to make their presence felt in this virtual world. Establishments and big corporates are using this medium as an efficient tool to attract new customers. Social media websites (like Facebook) are highly valued (worth a few billion USD) this is just because number of users associated with them. Nowadays many debates discussions and business transactions take place online, where actual debaters or buyers and sellers don't interact with each other directly or don't even know each other, but things work out smoothly. This is an amazing transformation of our society. Just a few decades back these things were considered impossible or can be seen only in fiction movies or books, but now it's reality and we all are living it, we all are part of it.

Social media and the internet have given us a parallel virtual world, which is very different from our real world. This virtual world is a place where two strangers can interact with each other at various levels of intimacy. Where relationships can be formed or broken, bonds can be developed, and almost every emotion can be shared privately or publicly, such is the power of this medium. Technically, one can spend their entire life interacting with people they will never know or will never see in their entire life personally. This was only possible in dreams or for very few people (like popular writers or actors who respond to fan mails) but now anyone can do this. This is a tremendous change that is already having a huge impact (positive as well as negative) on our personal and social lives. There are some similarities between the virtual and real world, like in a real-world in the virtual world also there are predators as well as saviors, people can transform each other lives positively or negatively, and they can torture and abuse. The only difference is that in the virtual world, they can do this anonymously without coming into physical contact with the victim, and this is the most dangerous aspect of this medium.

This technology has given us the ability to expand our horizons. We can be in touch with people who are physically far away from us, we can chat with them, and see them in real time. At the same time, some people indulge in this too much, they are so absorbed in this virtual world that they don't even realize that they are neglecting their real world, sometimes families suffer, and relationships break because of this. This medium is so powerful that's why its effects are also very powerful. It can even assist in creating mass movements against ruthless or corrupt establishments, and it can spread rumors faster than ever before. These are a few of the reasons why many governments are worried and concerned about the power of this medium and some of them are even thinking of censoring or controlling these things (like Facebook and Twitter). I guess they think if they can control this medium effectively they can have better control over their citizens, such is the impact of this medium.

This medium has also given us a unique platform and opportunity to create or invent new things. It was never easy to become a writer, storyteller, or inventor before as it is now. Now we have this very powerful tool in our hands and we are free to use it in whatever way we want. The choice is entirely ours, we can use it either to connect with friends and relatives, spread awareness, spread love, freedom, a message of equality, fight discrimination, or spread hate, fanaticism, inequality, and polarize society. The choice is all ours, the medium will work in a way we make it to work, so let's use it to bring positive change.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]