The world became more complicated yesterday. Till day before yesterday, we could actually segregate friends and acquaintances. But since yesterday, we are finding it difficult to distinguish between the two.
Notice how we now have a large number of “contacts” on social networks who are more than an acquaintance, but definitely less than a friend. An unintended consequence of this is that we now qualify friends as close friends, hence making ‘friend’ to be a synonym for mere acquaintances.
Why yesterday? Because it was yesterday when it was observed that traditional "Deepavali" greetings evolved to becoming just a status update on people’s Facebook profiles! This evolution has undertaken a rather short journey from hand written greeting cards to phone calls to emails to mobile SMS to now this – a status update. In days of yore, friends deserved a personal greeting (a box of sweets, a phone call or even dropping in for a chat) while acquaintances had to do with a mere greeting card. But now we have become so impersonal that everyone (except maybe for the very select inner circle) has to do with a status update.
As we become more impersonal (as in the status update greetings above), lines between friends and acquaintances start blurring and we do not distinguish between them in our interpersonal behaviors.
This naturally gives rise to a new category – the FRICQUAINT™ (FRIend + aCCQUAINTance: not to be confused with ‘frequent’). Fricquaints are people whom we know more about than traditional acquaintances because of voyeuristic (?) purveying of their online profiles, but would be loathe meeting in an informal offline world like a traditional friend.
How will this rise of the Fricquaint change us and our society?
For one, it can be hypothesized that we will be more networked but equally less connected with fellow human beings.
Welcome to a socially inhibited world. Too extreme to become a reality? For once, I sincerely hope so too.
Subu..very well written.Couldn't agree with you more. But don't worry ..you are..& will remain.. a FRIEND(..without getting into the whole 'closeness' issue!!)
ReplyDeletefrighteningly true.
ReplyDeleteGood point. This phenomenon has also affected the depth of our interactions. Many status updates are quite trite - stuff like "am getting into a plane" or ""am tired". With lots of people informing the world about the meaningless events in their lives we now know more and more (useless) things about more and more (unfamiliar) people. The volume of our interactions remains the same. The breadth has increased vastly. Obviously the depth has to go down. Leading to shallow and superficial relationships.
ReplyDeleteRight? Perhaps not.
I don't think social networks are replacing traditional interactions. The time spent on facebook is probably obtained from sacrifice in other areas (reading perhaps, or TV). So as long as Ramadoss does not declare prohibition, we will always have time for intense and er.. spirited discussions and meaningful exchanges.
your point subu, gets further magnified if we were to imagine us go through the process of evolution (without any asteroid hits) - say for another million years.
ReplyDeletephysicality would probably have a lot less meaning. hopefully by then we would have learnt to connect meaningfully in a non-physical way - ok, we wont have any hugs and kisses - but maybe we will outgrow them - maybe we will find more energy efficient ways to feel the same way!
True. and somehow from camaradrie its becoming voyeurism as well.
ReplyDeleteSome more reading on the topic from the opposite end of the world - http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/26/magazine/26lives-t.html?pagewanted=all
ReplyDelete