Thursday, August 2, 2012

The Green Dot

Today’s blog talks something that most of us can relate to, online chatting. We spend hours glued to the computer typing line after line building conversation talking about things we like and things we don’t. We chat with our friends, sometimes enemies and even the category of friends who are now no more than strangers who come into this list.

I shall be talking about the exact same thing, but as is the case with me, I shall do it in a different way. I’ve been on both sides of the fence so I won’t take sides. Chatting online is an important tool to help build conversation but at the same time making inroads in a face to face conversation is key. This online-offline setting is different with each relationship a person has. What is my stance regarding her, I shall discuss someday else. Not today.

What separates chatting from other modes of conversation is that it isn’t face to face so it gives people that are shy a better chance to open up. This is something we see a lot around us; people who can’t open their mouth when it comes to a face-to face conversation are the kings of the online world when it comes to chatting.

Calling/messaging the person are the other options one has. But in these cases the person might be busy, sleeping when you try to get in touch. But this is not the case with chatting. You see, there something that tells you the person is ready. 

Yes my friends, I am talking about that small green dot you see besides your friend’s name on Facebook. If you ask me, it’s much more than a small green dot. That green dot is the difference between a good mood and bad mood. Do I think about the conversation I just had with her after shutting down the computer or is my mood fucked since she wasn’t online. Everything depends on that one green dot.

This green dot tells you that the person is not busy, not sleeping and is on the computer/device wanting to talk to someone. Are you that person, well that depends on one click of a button. This is exactly what I’m going to talk about.

Be it at home or college (thank you Mumbai University for the Wi-Fi) I spend a good 5-6 hours online every day. This time is spent tweeting, listening to songs on Youtube, and checking email. But majority of the time is spent on Facebook where I post jokes (will get better and better), comments on certain groups. This Facebook time is further divided into ‘Facebook chatting time ‘which takes up more than 80% of my total time spent on the computer.  

I spend hours chatting with people the entire day. But I don’t see that green dot besides her name. This if you ask me is the reason why I spend so much time online, because she isn’t online and I am waiting, waiting and waiting. Due to this I pass my time chatting about the most basic things with my friends. This goes on and on and has to because should that green dot appear after I turn down the computer then the entire ‘effort’ goes waste. No gain, no pain (Daddy pays electricity bill). This is the power of that one green dot.

You want that green dot to appear next to her name . You want to chat with her . She , at that point of time means everything to you . You will give anything for that dot to appear besides her name . There is so much inside that you want to tell her . She might not be online now but there is that uncontrollable urge to talk/type with her is what makes you stay. You know you want to talk , sometimes much more than talk , and thus you know you have to wait . You have no choice . This is why I love , love . 

So the entire day is spent just waiting for that green dot to appear besides her name. If you’re having one of those days, you’ll give up and shut the machine down.  But that moment when you see the green dot on the right of her name is what makes up for all those hours of waiting. All those hours of waiting and frustration goes out of the window just by seeing that green dot appear now . The girl you like is now online. Let’s have a fucking conversation now !!!

And it’s due to this, you spend hardly a second clicking her name and typing something (girls, this is exactly the reason why guys initiate Facebook chats, because they have been waiting) thus starting a conversation.

And then there’s me – I sometimes wait the whole day waiting for that green dot to appear. After hours of waiting, that green dot appears, and I go offline. Pyaar Gazab ki Cheez Hai .

Have a nice day …