A Sign of Times!!

Here's an interesting thought that I had today.

Is physical proximity becoming less and less relevant with regards to social interaction?
In general, on a working day, the only face-to-face conversations that I have are with my TL when there is an issue that has to be sorted. And my life hasn't yet reached such depths of insipidness that I start calling such conversations, "social interaction".

Ranking by propinquity, the next level of interaction is through the internal office messenger. (The button's of which say 'Fire' and 'Intercept'!! I am still damn kicked about that!) I think that the IP (short form for internal messenger, don't ask me why) has the singular honor of being the funniest tool ever created by Mankind. For one, the messages that are exchanged over IP consist largely of "hehehehehe!!", or "lunch?", or "Please Close XYZ file. I need to use it." The second and more important reason is that these messages are exchanged between people sitting NEXT to each other. If you turn to speak to the person who sent the message, you'll find them staring expectantly at their screen. Then, to make the absurdity complete, when you say something, they only turn around to face you with extreme reluctance… almost as if they want to say "Do you mind, I am working here!".

Don't get me wrong, these are perfectly nice people, and let me also clarify…I am a big fan of IP!

Moving along, the next level of social interaction for me, is through SMSs. When the day's work is done (the chickens locked up and the horse droppings swept away) I lie in my bed and often find myself wondering what my friends might be upto. Since I am too cheap to call up anyone, I shoot off a highly intimate "How's it Going? Delhi is very hot man! Are you coming here sometime?" to buddies in different parts of the country. Sometimes, I add an abuse to make it even more intimate. The girls tend to call back and the guys generally reply sometime around 3 when I am no longer missing anyone. Besides these highly intimate messages, I also receive 30-50 communiqués from banks (offering easy loans to ease all my financial troubles), pizza joints (offering an extra pizza on every purchase of a pizza exactly large enough for me), and the Caller Tune people (trying to convince me that all that is wrong with my social life can be fixed by downloading Punjabi music and making people who call me listen to it.) I can't decide whether SMSs constitute genuine interaction or do they only help to cure the anxiety that one may be losing touch with people.

Next up, we have online discussions through this Blog on raging current issues like… well... read One Lump or Two? . Besides, there is the adorable PaGaLGUY.com a brilliant discussion forum for MBA aspirants and good fun for everyone. I like it even when I find myself arguing that perhaps all poor people are NOT lazy and cerebrally weak with yet another guy who thinks he's got the world figured out because he's just read Ayn Rand.

These forms of interaction are in some ways even better than real face-to-face discussion! Firstly, they are protracted over not hours but days!! Generally, people who participate in my Blog discussions talk my type of arbidness so the chaos is familiar and heart warming. By the way I think Batman just kills the scene! And, at PG, you can pick what you wish to respond to or talk about… they even have a thread on "Right Woman to Marry" though so far, I've keenly resisted the urge to add my comments there!

Now that I am here, there is much to be said about the wonders of the Information Age. The free speech, the free porn, the almost free means of communication, and of course, the huge amounts of knowledge that one can pick up from the comforts (tight pants or not) of one's swivel chair.

Keep watching this space, for more on that.

PS: Not Literally!! You can go pee now and then.