The Maze of Social Network

    When my 10 year old cousin asks me for my phone to log into his Instagram account, I am amazed! When I was 10 I didn't have Instagram infact I used to request my dad for a new bat, not a new and personal mobile phone. If I recollect correctly, I was in IX STD when I joined Facebook. It's been eight years. Back in school it had become a fad. Friends used to make fake accounts and send friend requests. That was hilarious. It was fun back then but today it seems quite a bore. But it's become a routine to check the notifications and browse through the news feed no matter how busy you are. Right from my siblings, my parents, uncles and aunts, even my grandfather is on FB. It has actually trapped everyone in its maze.
     Today there are 'n' number of social networking sites which offer nothing but the same and most of the times it's copied from each other. There is WhatsApp, Hike, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, LinkedIn to name a few.
   We update our status daily. We post stories about what we are doing, what we are eating, where are we visiting, what book are we reading, which movie or TV series are we watching and with whom. We also change our DPs regularly. We have DPs for every occasion. There is a Independence day DP, there is Mother's Day DP, there is a Diwali DP even there is a terrorist attack in Paris and Manchester DP. We have become stalkers to say the least. We need to know what Priyanka Chopra is wearing today or what Shah Rukh Khan has had for breakfast.         
   Something that really annoys me are the emoticons. The emoticons have completely over taken our emotions. Rather than meeting up and talking we prefer texting. Height of texting is when it's your birthday and you get a text 'HBD' along with an emoji of a cake wouldn't it irk you? If you are texting fine but atleast show some emotions.
   I have more than a thousand friends on FB, some I know, many I don't. Nearly three hundred contacts on What app whom I know personally. But there are a very few who I actually talk for hours with. So to speak the biggest positive of social networking is to widen the reach and contact but it's also it's downfall to some extent.
     I am not in any way against social networking users or sites because I'm also guilty of the same and can't live without it. I get really uncomfortable at home when the wi-fi is out of order. Yes, it's a waste of time. Yes, there are risks of fraud and identify theft. There can be cyber crimes or bullying and obviously there is encroachment of privacy but on the flip side there are advantages too. It builds up your multinational connectivity. Also it is used for online sharing and advertising.
    We are definitely caught up in this maze and there is no leaving it. But it's up to us to use the Social Network with responsibility.