The Lost Connection

When did we last check the “likes” on your social media posts?

When did we last send/ receive “Add friend/ connection” request?

Most of us, in all probability, would answer “not too long back” to the above 2 questions.

Doesn’t the above clearly highlight our “obsessed” self and also indicates that to create space for ourselves in this digital cosmos we must take an oath of allegiance to “Attention” and “Connection”.  Quite characteristic of this cosmos (digital) is the chaos created by our craving for “popularity” and “likes” in our bid to remain visible and relevant in the parallel digital social world.     

Akin to the hyperconnected nature of the digitally connected world (Internet), our lives also, in this digital world, thrive on the ability to network so as to derive the best from this gigantic superhighway of (social) communication. The hyperconnected world characterised by WWW, Internet and various Social platforms has broken barriers of communication to such an extent that it just takes 3-4 hops to establish any new connection. Somewhere, our existence and relevance also, now seems to be substantiated only by the number of connections we have. “Recommendations and Referrals” has become the new currency of professional success and CNF (Connections, Networks and Friends) is assumed to be the panacea for all that we seek during our existence in this digital world.

But in all this hype about more connections, expanded network and more friends, we seem to have let go of the most important connection i.e.  the connection with the self. Agreed, the CNF (Connections, Networks and Friends) help us achieve and accomplish a lot but at what cost? The price we pay is huge, in terms of compromising on our most robust support system - our “inner self”. No doubt, man is a social animal and needs to connect with others for survival, but hasn’t this over-reliance and dependence on others gone too far under the garb of being trendy and to align with the needs of social platforms?  For few, it provides an opportunity to mask their inefficiencies, incompetencies and thrive solely on their skill of “networking” whereas for others, the competent ones, it lands them into this so called “popularity” rat race, where the focus is on maximising the likes, and incrementing the CNF (Connections, Network and Friends) at the fastest possible pace. A closer look at the downside and we can realise the intensity of the impact this over-reliance has on our personality by way of severely denting our self-esteem/ self-worth and also derailing us from our quest to evolve and grow, just to mention the key ones.

Isn’t it time to ponder whether disconnecting with the self is a reasonable price to pay for the paradox we are living, where what we are seeking is exactly what we are found wanting in ! The more attention we seek through CNF (Connections, Network and Friends), the less attentive we tend to be becoming; the more connections we are adding, the less connected we tend to be becoming. The need, at this point, clearly is not to get lost in this illusionary world of virtual existence where the crisis of losing our real identity looms large but to connect with our inner self, where the real world resides. This connection with the self may definitely turn out as panacea to the ills and after effects of digitally obsesses living and we can’t afford to let go of this crucial “self-connection” if we plan to smoothly surf this gigantic superhighway of information and connection.

The following few steps could easily help us establish and sustain the “self-connection”

·       Building regular self-time in our routine to focus on self-reflection

·       Practising mediation, mindfulness or any other similar practice to develop acceptance, acknowledgement and observation

·       Observing digital downtime to experience living in the “real world”

·       Replacing digital usage time with any hobby that helps build self-esteem and self-confidence

·       Practising an agenda driven digital consumption to avoid digital overuse

·       Practising independent decision making wherever possible to develop self-reliance and self-efficacy

·       Practising Minimalism and Essentialism to help develop the habit of “living with less”

Let's realise the potential that lie within us and harness the power of self-connection to beat the blues of obsession filled digital living !