Oooooooh…Orkut!
The green dots on Google chat were bad enough. Then I had to go and discover the pleasures of a message board where everything you said could be seen by the whole world. Was that why it’s become so hugely popular? It’s not just the ‘scraps’ that are a magnet – though I must admit that as soon as I get a message on my gmail that I’ve got one, I just can’t resist going there and replying. It’s also the many communities, the threads, the posts. Suddenly in a whole big ocean of diverse people, you can, if you want, find your own level. You want music, you got it! You want a particular type of music, you got that too. You want to talk about world politics, start a topic on one of the communities where you are a member. No sooner do you do that than everyone who has an opinion on the subject comes running. Many who don’t too. But that’s OK because if you get bored, you just don’t need to go to that topic or that community anymore. You do just what you want to do. Such a relief from everyday life. The masks are off, it’s what you like and what you want to do that matters.
Suddenly, you’re existing on two very different planes and it feels good. The real plane could just get a lot richer because you’ve met really great people who you want as part of your flesh and blood world too. And there’s another world out there where, like I said you can be yourself and yet it is a kind of a dream world. One which you can switch on and off. Pushbutton living at its very best. Or very worst? Because it can be addictive let me warn you. And unless you are very strong willed, you’ll be hooked – day after day, night after night. If that world out there sometimes seems more real than the one you’re living in, I don’t blame you!