On the march of forwards....

Social media thrives on patronage. Once used to this fingertip wonder of a whirlpool, the patrons literally crave to stamp their presence. With just a casual look around, one can witness the two handed, two finger typo dance, over the display screen - mimicking a Russian ballet dance on the go! Of the numerous dance forms, this defies definition and rules!

My heart beats with the touch screen, with or without the scratch guard, and the multiple mega pixel camera lenses. The smartphone designers would not have dreamt about the tough workout for the hapless touch screens. No doubt, the designers must have walked off with a Guinness record for heaving a collective sigh of relief!

With the "hands on" experience on call, the patron is now confident to exhibit the acquired skills. It starts with simple messages to relatives and friends. Emojis are shared to gladden or sadden each other at supersonic speeds.

With practice leading the demand, more and more time is spent with the cell phone. The cell phone is smart and the patron.....learning to become one? 

Appetite for more is satisfied by ferreting out hidden features of the media and cell Phone. Mounting, self-inflicted pressure moves the boundaries beyond greet and wish messages. Why to leave the unearthed features to be under exploited?

Every waking and walking moment of a social media savvy, the touch screen suffers, without breathing time. To keep the multiple cameras in good humour and be impartial, the user clicks pictures and shoots videos of whatever catches his or her fancy for the "forward and forget" messages! 

After a while, the generated "selfie storms" weaken on the borders of mediocrity. To keep the kettle boiling, forgotten and long-lost acquaintances are renewed and added to the roster. The hidden reason for this frantic enlisting is - the patron has been "blocked" out by many from his first list! The craving to stamp one's presence nosedives when even the "forward and forget" messages get ignored.

Like a seasoned hunter looking for prey, the patron trains the media gun on images, information and exhortations. Received messages and videos, fits the bill for instant "forwards". In desperation even news items get the chance for multiple electronic journeys. Now what happens? The inevitable expectations peep, beep and galvanise the sender to check for replies. Instant replies are welcome and delayed ones acceptable. Some of the messages probably got deleted. No matter what, the user keeps the chats flowing! 

Not to be put down so effortlessly, the sender then checks on the social media activity of non-responsive recipients. The sender has learnt to be a spy, on the smartphone! The talented individuals are drawn into the "interest" group and take it upon themselves to get into each other's smart phone. The enthusiastic ones get into as many groups as possible and merrily continue with their craft. Number of such groups formed rivals the growth of weeds. With various "interest "groups actively travelling the labyrinths of social media, the service providers smile, and the networks experience electronic stampede.

After some time, the shocker comes - on the same day and on getting the same "forwarded" messages many times over. Since everyone in the group is doing the same thing, it is not at all embarrassing to anyone! This the tragedy of being in many likeminded groups.

Slowly the initial euphoria evaporates. Disenchanted users embrace dead silence to postings in the group. Some "brave" ones quit after a decent interval- out of timidity! Still the merry churning by the group goes on with diehard activists - numbering a dismal two or three. 

It is anybody's guess why the group does not fold on itself. How easily the social media platform becomes crowded like the busy Railway junctio? Happy gathering (withering) of collective indifference?