ABOUT ‘FACE’ BOOK!
One day, our children, when asked how they liked something-
maybe a dish we lovingly cooked for them or a favourite story we read, will not
reply with words. We will get a silent thumbs up as a reply and we can then
point one accusatory finger at Facebook, since our thumbs will be busy pointing upwards and the other digits
equally busy keying in nonsense on Facebook! Ironically, the very vehicle that
was supposed to facilitate easy, instant communication has reduced our
vocabulary to one gesture- the infamous ‘like’ sign. Who bothers to write
anything original anymore or dare to express an original thought?
There are roughly
four categories of people on Facebook-
‘THE PROFILICS’-
these are those jobless people who keep changing their profile pictures and
posting them (prolifically!) and like Pavlov’s mutt we instantly press ‘like’
and give the written thumbs up...
‘THE TRAVEL HOUNDS’-
Hound you with photographs of all the places they travel to on holiday or
business or who-cares-anyway? If its information you seek for a dream
destination to holiday in, how does a photo of your friend posing amidst
stunning scenery give you anything but heartburn? I would rather watch Nat Geo
or Fox Traveller than see my friend astride a donkey with a silly hat in the Andes...
‘THE CHOW HOUNDS’- this
lot feel that strong urge to document and display the food they cook. Be
thankful they spare you the horror of tracing the journey of their food to its
final destination...
‘THE REGURGITATORS’- and
this the most irritating of the lot. Like a vulture they prey on sensational
news, chew it and spit it out like bolus, for us to stomach. They just love to
‘share’ a sickeningly sweet story, a wise old saying (preferably by Buddha or
the Dalai Lama, because they are blank) or vent against a politician in case
your newspaper wasn’t delivered.
Amidst all the trash, there are however a few who post funny
videos and long live their tribe- anything that makes you laugh in the morning
is a blessing. And, all of us are suckers for those simple home remedies
because while we are deaf to our grannies
and moms, our senses are fine tuned to that one all powerful fount of
silent, faceless wisdom which you can instantly affirm with a thumbs up.
Don’t be surprised when, in a few years from now, a parent
asks their child “What is your favourite book?” and pat will come the
reply-“Facebook!
”
Nimmou Nilakantan
