Talking through wall posts

We all know who social butterflies are. They are the well adjusted, friendly, easily likeable people. I am now referring to the social butterflies in the context of the socially networked lives we lead these days. Every one of us may know atleast one or two such people. They all always 'logged' on, have funny one-liners to comment on most posts or photos. They might have been quite close to you in those days when social networking meant actually meeting people and spending time with them. You might have even known them well. But now, they have virtually become social butterflies, flitting and flying from one social networking site to another. Initially, it is fun interacting with them and liking their comments. But slowly you feel that you are being bombarded with information that you don't really want to like or comment on publicly.

You actually start to wonder if this was the same person who was once close to you. Does being a 'friend'  mean the same anymore? Every communication with them seems to be only via 'wall posts' and they are friends with almost a thousand other people that you don't really feel connected at all. Its like their entire life is displayed on the 'timeline'.  You start to wonder if any emotion is real any more. It is as though real life has to be replayed on the virtual world just to ensure that people know how good your life is. No occasion,whether is a family function, or a fun party or a festival is spared. Everything has to be put up for everyone to see, just to show how good your life is.

I have known a few people like this myself. It has been so strange that when I started emailing the person, the response was totally different than when I posted something on the wall. I do agree that Facebook and similar sites are very good at getting in touch with long lost friends and colleagues but then you realise what a shallow world you have created. It is just a bubble which keeps growing bigger and ready to burst as you add more and more friends to your 'list'. I might seem a little anti-social writing this, but I prefer the silent ones online, who just put up a few snippets of their life to be seen by others.