Caffeinated Conversations

"Why are people online so addicted to over-sharing?" a friend, downing a shot of espresso so ever casually, openly blurts out. He says this with a tang of contempt, bewilderment and bemusement. "Need we see another update on what flavor of cupcake she had?"

"They are asserting their existence." I reply half-bored, partially intrigued as to where the conversation will skew.

"Don't you think it's too much?"

"Depends on your present mood. Some days it gets tedious scrolling on stream  of the most mindless, banal updates. Some days you feel bad that people would rather connect on the most impersonal way, online, than actually meeting up in person, having actual conversations and listening to someone like you whine about people online while downing overpriced coffee."

"Ass. Seriously. It can get annoying. Here take a look."

His phone's social media feeds appears like Paris Hilton and the Kardashians got cloned and all erupt into an updating spree.

"Well?" He presses on trying to extract a reaction or a sweeping manifesto on the sheer mindlessness of online life.

I continue reading my book.

He continues downing his coffee grimly,  his sulk rising every second.

"They are asserting themselves." I say, half mocking his bratty high-mindedness. "The more you are sad and feels that there's nobody who'd ever fully see through your carefully-crafted facade, the more you'd hunger for some kind of recognition. You should be more indulgent to these mindless updates. It's a plea for love. Someone wise used to say: 'The most cruel thing you can do to another human being is to make him/her feel s/he doesn't exist.'"

"Really, Socrates?"

"No, it's actually my Microbiology professor who said that."

"So the people who are not updating a lot are so secure and happy?"

"They are equally sad. They just do not see the need to hang their sadness for public viewing."

"Are they? Who is the happy person then?"

"Finish your espresso. Then take a sedative."

This freak of a friend is giving me equal measures of headache and existential crisis.

 


P.S.

I still need to finish the Dimsum Chronicles. Argh.