2018-11-01

Is WhatsApp or social media defining new age relatonships?



Online space is defining and reinventing the way we love, connect on a deeper level and giving an altogether different meaning to friendships. As cliché as it may sound, Hare ek friend zaroori hota hai! A date could be set on Facebook or to a lesser extent on Twitter but have you thought about meeting on WhatsApp! I feel it’s safer to connect on phone. 

Nothing new about it. Of course, during the older days-I already feel like a monument-we flirted through SMS what with the Extra talk time package or free messaging-getting to know each other or meeting up. Love in the time of WhatsApp is the real deal. I’d still go for a relation carrying no burden or guilt.

Friendships carved without meeting someone face-to-face and the blogging connection cemented our bonds, taking it further on WhatsApp. A random encounter with a girl on Facebook and we added each other on WhatsApp, with harmless flirting, calls and voice recording. Yet, nothing happened for we realized we had nothing in common after some point. The fact that we are based in different countries didn’t really help us and we called it quits.

The WhatsApp romance is quite tricky and complex, making me wonder whether we can take things ahead. Quite a tough nut to crack and though, there is no denying the fact, people actually dated through this blind encounter. I just made a new friend on Whatsapp. Don’t get colorful ideas. It’s just platonic friendship and sharing things with each other for there is no scope for something serious. She has her life and I have my mine. Friendship and romance are two different coins, pretty much like western and central railways that never converge. We can make awesome friends that bear no place for a relationship. It’s about being each other’s support system and always good to connect with souls having similar interests, unlike the classic Facebook tagline.

We need friends or people to nurture an emotional quotient. One good thing about social media friendship and growing closeness with no strings attached-I don’t mean it in an intimate way-is that it brings us back to the distant past of college friends and creating memories, to add happiness and spice to break away from the monotony of a stressful life.

The countless forwards, funny memes and videos shared with hundreds of connections seem mechanic at times. Some like it. The rest will just ignore them. A fleeting chance that one of your connections will take the opportunity to strike a conversion and bang, this moment dawned that you can really connect and have so much to share beyond repetitive images. A chance encounter to take things ahead may be meeting for coffee or movie date. Classic tale, right.

Romance or plain friendships, Whatsapp is reinventing the way we see our relationships with folks or getting to know new people. Granted, social media has killed old age friendship or romance of meeting someone in a public space but getting to know each other through the smartphone is a deal. Quite an open question on how the digital world is altering our equations.  Can it lead to a stronger bond or something substantial remains a big interrogation mark?
 

No comments: