MINE IS ALL YOURS

PRIVATE IS NO MORE PERSONAL
Once upon a time people used to write letters. Friends would long for and feel glad to listen the post man’s cycle ringing. Then times changed and mails took over the letters. Beautiful envelopes and well-decorated and scented letter pads gave way to key clicks. Being in touch with the world around through exchange of emotions has till date remained the social animal’s dear habit. What has changed however, is the arena of this wish. It was considered a bad tradition to read some one’s letter. If a diary was lying on the table open and fluttering pages, still only an ill-mannered person would dare touch it. Ah, it is personal after all and it is therefore private, we were told. The moral classes at school and the conduct lessons at home hammered the basic code of ethics in our minds, which was topped by the diction of never to read anyone’s personal messages or mails.
These conventions remained the same as we progressed to mails at Yahoo or Rediff. The internet mail services gave us an option to keep a password which we did not share with anyone. It was a secret code like that to our ATMs and credit cards. One could write hundred mails a day and keep them all limited to exchange between himself and the mailed friend. There came chat rooms and they brought privacy to new heights. They were so private and exclusive that even your own identity could be kept only to yourself. The person chatting to you in a chat room would not necessarily know who you were if you wished to keep it surreptitious. Concealment was an asset we thought, that the web world has brought to us.
Then one fine day, Orkut was introduced and out went the hush-hush element. We would still keep passwords to our accounts but there was no need to be reserved. Orkut became immensely popular, so much so that it was awarded the MTV Youth Icon of 2006 recognition. Suddenly social networking sites mushroomed all over the net. Facebook et al became the order of the day. The charm? Well, you could chat to a Brazilian woman or court a beautiful girl and let all your friends see it. The sharing of personal mails and scraps, got the youth rolling. One’s scrapbook was visible to everyone. There were instances when one had not seen his own scraps but others had. My, my! what an intrusion to one’s personal life and private space! Ah, give me a break… this is the in thing. Personal becoming pubic is the latest trend. Enhancements in the site features have provided options like locking one’s scrapbook, album or videos, but hardy ten percent of the users do that. It is fun to let the world get acquainted with you. It is cool if the whole planet, even those who do not know you can see what you did last summer and experience your birthday party. My favourie songs and my description about myself is for you to relish. What I feel, I now write on a blog rather that a personal diary (I just remembered, lock coded diaries were a fag during my schooldays), but now I don’t even latch it. I am not deliberating upon this trend being a healthy one or if the youth is inviting danger by becoming so open and available. All that I am observing is the possibility and acceptance of publication of private lives and conversations, of personal incidents and emotions. Maybe this is the concept of globalised lives that we dreamt of.