No More Social Networks

I have been spending an inordinate amount of time on social networks, upto 12-14 hours daily. The ridiculousness of it all struck me just yesterday and in a fit I almost deleted my orkut account. But then I calmed myself, spoke to a few people who advised me not to act so rashly as I’m bound to regret it a week later. Which was true of course. The dependence on social networks is scary but real. I need my daily kick as do a lot of other youngsters. Which is scary ’cause it’s as addictive as drugs or cigarettes and has similar symptoms of withdrawal like anxiousness for example. I certainly feel it. These so-called social networks have made me more a social recluse than anything. I’d rather sit at home and chat and play games online than go out and actively socialize with people in the flesh.

Not that it doesn’t have it’s plus points. I’ve met some wonderful people through these websites and there’s no denying that fact. But the ratio of the number of people I’ve eventually met to the number I’ve chatted up is abysmally low. The effort I’ve put in to try and build relationships with most people has been absolutely wasted. The time and effort would have been better spent strengthening the relationships I’ve already built. Not to mention how much loss I’ve suffered in the amount of social intelligence that I could have gained from real approaches and meeting new people in the flesh. That’s going to change now and I’ve promised not to log onto my orkut profile for a couple of days at least. I’m going to make do with facebook for now. And limit the time I spend there as well. Also I’m going to make the effort to go out to meet my area friends at least once every day for an hour or so in the evenings. Need to get back into the game and make real friends as opposed to virtual ones.