FLANEUR

A person who saunters around observing society, in my case I am a Social Media Flaneur .

In the last few days, I have been reading (trying to) the newspaper regularly and I saw quite a few countries trying to arm themselves with nuclear weapons or do testing of their nuclear weapons., and my spouse was telling me how intelligent human beings need to be to develop these kinds of weapons. And I just nodded my head thinking that there is nobody in this world as intelligent as my son who has just now completed 3 months because my son has got built in radar that can aim right at the target (the target being me when I feel like writing something or reading something or just watching mindless news on TV.) (Disclaimer: We are not PRO WAR or supporting war or any of these countries for becoming the supreme power),

There is absolutely nothing else that pleases him more than ensuring that I don’t get to do my “ME TIME”, a point in case being this Newsletter. Iam writing this since last 20 days and yet to complete it. Mentally, I plan to write during his sleep time (which is right after his feed, he sleeps for an hour) . But the moment my laptop boots and is ready to log in, he will start screaming at the top of his lungs. So, I shutdown my laptop (I think my laptop sends a beam to him) and his screaming will become crying and crying will become a kind of cooing sounds and he will fall asleep. And the sequence gets repeated if I pick up a book to read (I read a 325 pages fiction over a period of 40 days, earlier I used to read it in 24 hrs.) or pick up the phone to chat with people. Only thing which he allows me is to check my WhatsApp as I am holding him in my hand and checking it in another., so he still remains priority No.1.

I do therefore spend a lot of time on WhatsApp and through that other social media, so much so that you can say I have become a Social Media Flaneur

I check all the WhatsApp messages and the status posted by my contacts (in real time   ). And as I scroll down the statuses, I sort of started to categorize their mental state (imaginary) for the day.,

1. Few of them write messages which are extremely hard-core messages and they are actually undergoing therapy on status.
2. Few of them post links to other SM sites, which means they want to share with others their nuggets of discovery but don’t have time to translate it in their own words.
3. Few of them post videos which are pretty hilarious or thought provoking but due to the limit of 30seconds, leave a lot to imagination and asking for shares., digital nomads like me.
4. Few of them diligently ensure to post the entire video which shows they are disciplined people in life and believe in completing every task.
5. Few of them share their happiness as in terms of photos, their dances, their songs as they are happy to have met people or attended something or attempted something for the first time in their life. This kind of people generally are happy with the smallest things in life, they don’t go in search of happiness, happiness generally lives with them.
6. Few of them ensure that they convey their hurt, their anger through their messages on status hoping the right person reads it (while they can always shrug their shoulders and say it was a normal message, not intended at anybody)
7. Some post status which are CCP (Cut, Copy, Paste) but are incomplete, I feel these people don’t bother about other opinion or are too engrossed in their own judgement of self, that they are unable to complete what they start off (relationships)
8. Last but not least, these will post more than 10 status per day but will never read other’s status. I have not been able to categorize them so far, jury is still out 

Now coming to WhatsApp messages, there are quite a few who send regular good morning messages irrespective of the fact as to whether you acknowledge them or reply to them (My husband first job in the morning as soon as he gets up is to send GM messages to his contacts, every single day without fail). These are people who want the world to be a better place and do their own small bit without expecting much in return. I mean those who send one on one GM messages, not those who forward umpteen numbers of GMs in groups.

Next platform is Instagram, though I have been irregular visitor due to me being digital nomad, I love those reels as it shows people are actually out there making effort to put on makeup, dress up and shoot reels.

Earlier WhatsApp and Instagram and Facebook were means of keeping in touch with people or pass time but now for me, they have become psychology textbooks. And this has been possible due to my son who is teaching me how to develop patience.

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Sudha Rao