Social  Alienation  Redefined

Gone are the days when parents found their children engaged in ‘adda’ with their peers for long hours and felt anxious  that studies were hampered. The elders of various age groups also used to assemble at a ‘theck’ or ‘rock’ chatting and gossiping for hours. The discussions covered anything on the earth, often far off from the respective domains in daily chores. It can not be denied that these interactions created connectedness, understanding, harmony  and  social bonding among persons having huge diversities.

These  face to face ‘adda’ and ‘theck’ are now replaced by walls and posts  as well as chats on social networking sites like Face book  and  Twitter at the click of a mouse. That in this web-platform  the ‘friends’ never get a scope to meet and groom the friendship over a period of time and to know one another is of no concern to the clients. The ‘Confirm Friendship’ click is enough to complete the process.

The social and cultural implications of  networking sites like Face book and Twitter  are becoming a matter of concern in as much as the clients of the network or ‘Friends’ can interact only virtually,  completely cutoff  from the interconnectedness in the real world. Quite often, these friends know each other but they prefer to get connected not in the face-to face ( F2F ) mode but in the virtual mode.  These so-called  ‘friends’   have no interest  to meet and talk.  The number of ‘friends’ keep multiplying at any rate one may wish.

How one can become a friend without knowing each other at personal levels , exchanging experiences and developing a sense of love, compassion and mutual respect is  hardly a matter of debate to these ‘friends’.   But despite  these  demanding ideas and time-tested traditions  which can not be written off , the huge popularity of social networking sites is a fact of life.

These recent developments appear to be a pitfall of ICT-driven globalization.   People, particularly, the most potential segment of the population or the younger generation, are becoming  more individualist, consumerist, non-political, ignorant of  social dynamics and, therefore, alienated from the larger society in which they have to live and thrive. The sense of fellow-feeling , harmony and bonding, be it  within family, locality or the larger society is declining at a fast pace because the people just do not care to think beyond the self. The family bonding which is a distinctiveness and  a significant hallmark of  Indian culture  is disappearing. The grooming of our children in educational institutions are often responsible for the end result. In the name of ICT- based educational pedagogy, the children are taught to turn towards the virtual world of web    and be more comfortable  there far away from hassles of the real world. The society is becoming fragile being crowded with  individualist and selfish elements. Ultimately, the alienation ,  a product  of the new life styles of the so-called Gen Next, is causing psychological disorders  to them because   no one can live without interdependence and social harmony.

The poor ASWATHAMA of the Mahavarata epic was cursed by  LORD KRISHNA telling that ASWATHAMA will become immortal but will never be able to enter into a human society and   will have to live alone in desolate  terrains. The life of ASWATHAMA was miserable. In the 21^st century , the  countries are becoming more and more populated, yet the curse is that more and more people are becoming introverts, distanced from the neighborhood and  living alone.  A mindset of social alienation affects the younger generation the most even though they live in densely populated localities due to inability and indifference to   draw a line between the real and virtual world and resolve the contradictions.

রামগরুড়ের ছানা হাসতে তাদের মানা  /  হাসির কথা শুনলে বলে  / "হাসবো না না না"