To Socialise or Not to Socialise

www.kopihangtuah.blogspot.com

SOCIAL engagements have always been the retreat from hectic lives. In the old days of the British Isle, men would wind down at a pub after a long hard working week (or day). The word "pub" was derived from the word "public" for which the pub was meant to be, a place for public. A place to interact with other human beings not on business matters but on casual social matters.

The word "socialise" has taken many forms of manifestation in different cultures as well as in different era. In the early Roman Empire, bathing is a public agenda. People do not have bath alone. They have bath with many friends in a public bath pool and casual chats happen. In Japan, the same thing happens in a sauna room. In Malaya, a joget session would suffice for the same reason.

Fast forward to the modern age of internet and electronics, socialisation has emerged in its most diabolical form ever; the social media. Whilst the kids of the 70's, 80's and 90's (Generation X and Y) embraced physical forms of social activities such as cycling, football, "Polices and Thieves", "Galah Panjang", "Gasing" and playing marbles; their counterparts since the turn of the millennium have been and are still being possessed by virtual tools such as facebook, instagram, twitter and video games.

Why is it diabolical? Firstly, the modern social media takes away the direct human interaction and forces the users to voluntarily rely on electronic devices. Secondly, it forces us to voluntarily abandon the avenue to burn the excess sugar we have in our bodies that could have been burnt otherwise. Thirdly, it forces us to voluntarily make irrational conclusions about news we receive everyday without proper regard to authenticity, integrity and reliability. In the end, we will all (if not yet) be non-independent, fat and gullible society. In short, zombies.

Just one glance at everyone in the train is enough to portray a fantastic snap shot of zombies whose heads are 45 degrees downward looking. A family dinner has ceased to be the forum for fathers to check on their kids' school life because both parents and kids have the same 45 degrees head syndrome. Soon the parliament will also start showing the 45 degrees rows of heads. Worse, you might even see the same happening to the drivers in the cars surrounding you in the traffic jam.

What have become of us? Do we now embrace this new form of socialsation or not? That is the question. You would probably have noticed that the earlier paragraph on why it is diabolical has two contradicting words in a sentence - i.e. "force" and "voluntarily". We are inevitably forced to undergo the unhealthy lifestyle when we have voluntarily chosen to adopt the lifestyle itself. Which means, we are not doomed yet. We can still "volunteer" ourselves not to be dependent on social media, not to foresake physical forms of social engagements and not to be gullible to conclude everything we see or read on the social media.

Imagine the benefits that we can earn by being moderate when using social media. Time will not be wasted. Telephone and internet bills will show lower costs. More fat can be burnt. We will not spread lies nor react unnecessarily to irresponsible propagandas. We will talk face to face with friends amd families like what human beings are supposed to do. Fathers can catch up with their sons and daughters regularly. More work is done in the office. Less insomnia. Husbands and wives cherish each other when those supposedly romantic nights are not invaded by late night facebook postings. The list can be very long indeed.

So, are we to socialise or not to socialise? With the sixty million mobile devices currently in use in Malaysia, even at the young age of two years old, it is almost impossible to socially reject social media; just like if we are to reject televisions or radios. Malaysians have been ranked as one of the top users of social media globally (relative to the country's population) and statistics show tremendous potential growth in digital behaviours and this is met with an inverse trend in traditional media. We cannot fight it. But what we can do is, ride on it wisely.

* kopihangtuah

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