She wakes up in the middle of the night and has to get a fix. Before she even gets out of bed in the morning she needs it. She sneaks her gear into the bathroom with her so no one will know. She leaves her dinner to get it. She knows it’s become a problem but she can't leave it. She hides it and denies she's using. Even when friends are round she has to get her fix. Everything else is secondary. It’s damaging her relationships with others, with her family, but it doesn't matter. It’s taking over her life and threatening to consume her.
What is her terrible secret? Is it Heroin? Cocaine? Alcohol?
No, its Social Networking.
According to a recent study undertaken by Retrevo Inc (a US consumer electronics shopping and review site) all of these symptoms are common amongst nearly 50% of Facebook and Twitter users (that they polled) and may be causing serious problems in their 'real' lives as it takes over more of their time and attention. Recently a bride groom updated his Facebook status and then tweeted from his Twitter account, that he was now 'off limits.' The crazy thing is he did it from the altar. "You may now kiss the bride" "Yea, I will just as soon as I finish this post!"
Andy Warhol famously said, "In the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes." Is this phenomenon the fulfilment of his prophecy? Maybe not quite, but many Social Network users now 'post' about themselves in the third person as if they have attained celebrity status amongst the circle of their 'friends.'
Not only are we already caught in the illusion of our body/mind/ego identification, now there is a real danger of becoming caught in this 'virtual world' illusion as we crave our 15 minutes. Could looking for Vaishnava sanga on the web be only another 'siren's song' of Maya leading us to yet another shipwreck in our life?
I have a Facebook account and admittedly I don't use it very much but when I do I am struck by the amount of utterly cringe inducing rubbish that I see. Don't get me wrong, there are many devotees who maintain perfectly respectable, chaste and dignified Facebook pages but for every one of those, there are ten which are at the best embarrassing and at the worst disgraceful.
If I am claiming to be a disciple (and proclaiming such on my Facebook page) then I should be aware that whatever I put into the public domain will reflect on my Gurudev so I need to be very careful not to be an embarrassment to his name.
One problem with the Internet is I can hide behind my computer screen and say things that I might never dream of saying or doing in normal life. Suddenly I lose all sense of modesty or propriety and with the click of a mouse I am exposed to the world.
Here I am in this photo the very model of devotion, my head covered, tilak perfect, sitting next to my Gurudev. Jai, what a lovely photo! Click on 'next' and oh dear there I am in a photo that wouldn't be out of place in a top shelf men’s magazine!
Here I am professing my undying devotion to Guru and Krishna and then there I am commenting on 'today's favourite lover' or letting the world know how 'wasted I got last night' or 'Wow you look so sexy in that photo. Awesome!"
What anyone does in their 'private' life is their own business but Facebook and other social networking sites are not private.
Self-control, chastity, modesty, perfect behaviour and morality—these are the qualities of the devotees. Without them we dishonour our Gurudev and all that he embodies.
Put down that mouse and pick up your japa mala. You know it makes sense.
Friendface - A diseased face of Friendship!
