What was missing was a certain clarity about my unease with the various online social networks and instant messaging apps. I knew something was not okay, but could not put my finger on it. Till the clarity came in, I was going along with the trend- almost like bowing in to the latest fashion trends much against personal tastes, affordability and comfort.
There is a crisis of meaningful, direct, soulful communication in the midst of information overload and chat, more aptly, chatter.
There is absence of one's presence in a perverse abundance of information exchange. One is left alone in a saturated soup of electronic connectivity. There is a contact without there being any connection.
Not only this, there is a constant anxiety associated with online activity. You are worried about what could be possibly going on on some group of which you are a member- this when you are in the presence of a significant person in physical proximity; you are anxious that you could miss something important online, or, that you may offend the person with whom you are present physically. That's a double edged stress. Even when online in a relatively uninterrupted state, there is still a background anxiety that you are 'eating up' time that could be spent with a person in physical reality- a family member, a colleague, a student, a friend- any one of whom could just be around and would certainly welcome a live, realtime, physically here and now meeting with you, perhaps with a hug or a handshake.
Constant preoccupation with online activity and interaction precludes deep work: be it thinking, planning, execution of important tasks or implementing important projects. Certainly, online activity comes at the expense of important tasks that can only be got done offline, in real life. Some of the most important of life's such tasks are parenting, being a spouse or a child, and most importantly, the exquisitely delicate and important activity of living a life. Is there anything that can equal the last activity in terms of depth of involvement required?
Also once you miss the time with a person, in person, the chance to connect deeply, meaningfully is lost in all this busy-ness and its attendant anxiety. You are physically present but not available- a lamp post could do a better job.
For peace of mind, for better productivity, for sanity, for balance, for richer & real interpersonal connections and relationships, for the calmness and stability that comes with being present, for being a better human, I am advocating a self-imposed and considerably restricted- rationed- online presence and activity. If your job is online, then this applies even more so. And it most applies if your job is off line, because the most meaningfully rich life certainly is offline. Just a few years back this used to be called being here, being available, being present. In its most subtle and yet most exalted expression, it is also called being Mindful.
Lastly this being compulsively online on various fora is the electronic equivalent of a chemical or substance addiction. Addictions, as recovering addicts, and relatives of active addicts will testify, ruin lives- that is more than one there!
