The Silent Spectator

Welcome to the peep culture! The webbed foot of the internet has spread to every nook and cranny of our dearest planet knitting it together like never before! Social networking sites and their tributaries, as a means of keeping in touch have become a rage online. What with the growing popularity of blogging, orkutting, facebooking, tweeting, digging, buzzing and the like influencing us, moving towards the virtual world seems only natural. Of course, there are innumerable advantages of these connecting people sites earning and working hard on a hell lot of things. Getting in touch with an old buddy, acquainting with like-minded people, maintaining relationships, remembering birthdays, following celebrities, getting updates on ‘world affairs’ and just looking around-everything comes easy! Yet, the irksome narcissistic attitude displayed is just hard to ignore.  Projecting one’s image (if there is one) seems to take the top slot!  So, how does it feel to be a part of the bandwagon? What if someone wasn’t an active participant, but a mere observer – a silent spectator?  She* can as well be considered dead! Lifecasting, mindcasting, egocasting, silvercasting, screencasting, Godcasting and all other the newly coined terms are trivial for her. She was just curious about the happenings around and didn’t want to lose out on the online race. A taste of it is enough to satiate her. “Curiosity is the very basis of education and if you tell me that curiosity killed the cat, I say only the cat died nobly” is a quote she believes in. And that curiosity keeps her going, keeps her alive (online).  She is a staunch supporter of worldly, humanly, literally touchable and changeable things. Certain exaggerated personal details turn her off. Stupid things being sensationalized appall her.  Yet, she’s happy about the instant access it gives to a lot of funny, relaxing and de-stressing modes of life. Although she can digest the unwanted things that come along, it takes time. Let her survive!

* The ‘she’ notation is subject to change, according to the reader.