What if I say, "I like you”? What will be your response? Of course, a sane mind will be surprised by a sudden expression. But the same thing is being done on daily basis via social media apps. However, the intensity is gigantic: ranging from three to five billion. Yet our hatred and bitterness for each other is not dying.
Imagine it this way, someone, after years of hard work, has got a dream job. And that someone posts it on Facebook. In response to this, we simply press the “like” button. Now that person cannot even complain that you did not congratulate me or my success or stand with me in my grief. Because after all, we did press the like button.
(Picture taken by me. Emphasizing freedom of thought and limitless such as sky)
Like Button is Dehumanizing us!
So we keep pressing the like button in a disinterested manner and keep moving along with this pretentious behavior. It is turning us into reactionary machines, where we see everything, press a button, and move on. We cannot truly feel someone’s grief or joy. Moreover, you can see how, to some extent, it allows us to escape responsibility. It is the same as we are driving on the road, seeing the poor and simply shrug it off. We move ahead thinking some miracle will happen and somehow the situation will get better.
Now that (driving) force is known as a scrolling force. Whatever happens, just press the like button and move on.
Limit Language; Limit Thinking
Geore Orwell, in his 1984, talks about a peculiar language “Newspeak”. A language that was not beautiful; rather terrifying, because it had words, still their meanings were suffocated. The modern world has also adopted this peculiar language. The like button has replaced: “Congrats”, “Amazing”, “You have done a great job”, etc. It does have a surface, but no deep meaning exists.
We used to say, “You did something remarkable”, now in its place there is just the sound of a "click” button. We have become distant observers of emotions. We do not consume or experience emotions anymore - we only observe it. Just like in ancient Greek arenas, where people fought with their lives, blood was shed, one succeeded, and people clapped. Another suffered, and they reacted accordingly. That’s all. And now we are spending our time in a similar manner.
Myself: Elite Beggar
Now look, someone who posts after achieving great success spends the evening counting likes, just like a beggar taking coins out of a bowl, counting how much he collected today. (No offense) And someone who shares sorrow looks at how many sad emojis they received, how many likes. And then there is someone with the laughing react, just for the love of the game. Now the author will keep on wondering, “Why did someone react with laughter?”
They do not realize that the person who pressed like may have been just as disinterested as the one who used a funny emoji. Because all of us are just pressing the like button and moving on - like running on a treadmill, without thinking about what lies ahead. Because there is no “ahead” on a treadmill; it keeps you in the same place. At least, it helps to keep one in shape.
So, we are running on this treadmill, repeatedly pressing the like button in an utterly disinterested manner. A situation where our soul is not fully present. We are not truly feeling anything. We are only observing pain from a distance, observing happiness from afar. Maybe we are doing this because we are just bored, and to entertain, we are consuming others emotions.
And as a result, people’s biggest moments, their major experiences, and their life-changing events are increasingly becoming hollow. Earlier, when such moments were celebrated socially, in the real world, there was energy, gatherings, and presence. But now they are posted online, and the celebration has become: 300 comments and 2000 likes.
The problem is not this attention or advancement, rather a choice by us. We have forgotten to live with a balance. In this contemporary world, no one stops to think, I did not meet anyone. No one personally patted my back. There was no real presence. No one wiped my tears. No one shared laughter with me.
In the end, Ahmad Javed beautifully said: after removing all mistakes, shortcomings, all layers, man still remains man. But if even one layer is removed, perhaps he no longer remains human. And that layer is connection.
Social connection, which once existed in the real world, is now dying. And we social animals need it back.
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Peace 🕊