…the above headline isn’t true, but I wrote it only to illustrate the crazy levels of fanboy-ism associated with the technology space today. This is going to be a rant, you have been warned.
Over the last few months, I have noticed that people go absolutely bonkers over some silly and frankly sometimes non-relevant news from the technology space.
See this tweet on my left? I wont tell you whom it was from but the person who wrote it is very well followed on Twitter. I still don’t understand why a business deal between Nokia and Microsoft is SUCH A BIG DEAL! The companies were into making phones and operating systems – nothing will change. Nor will it be game changing. Besides, 3 months down the line, we all know that nothing spectacular seems to have happened here.
Let me give you another example, 
the person who wrote the tweet on the right runs a very popular blog for entrepreneurs. When I saw it, I thought was – What. The. Fuck. Some stupid tit-for-tat war of words between 2 companies is what you live for?
I fear that we have become a bunch of retards – we, the children of the Internet. We even spend our weekends looking at twitter timelines, and then regret our lives not being interesting.
Its been 3 months now, I have made a conscious decision to switch off from all the technology; to give it less importance in my life. I have become a more private person and I would rather meet you in a coffee shop than chat with you online. I have aimlessly walked the roads around my house and I have noticed so many things I didn’t know existed! There is actually a world out there and there are interesting people to meet and talk to who are way better than interacting with a 3-yr old profile picture.
I am hoping to find balance.
@asfaq:twitter the trick is to find a balance between online and offline lives. Very often I take a break from twitter and facebook. I do this mostly when I change cities or jobs, because I like to spend the extra time I get in those cases to notice those small things you were talking about.
Knowing somebody on twitter doesn’t mean you should not meet the person offline. What are tweetups for? Hell most of the people I quoted in stories I did in the past three years came up from twitter.
Now speaking about nitpicking in the world of tech news. It’s like this, every person I know like to follow certain topics indepth. For my wife it’s bollywood news. For me it’s tech news. For a friend of mine its politics for another it’s photography. And if you set up a google news alert for each of these topics you will be bombarded with news which nit-pick on the most minor details. This news might appear irrelevant to those who might only be casually interested in it.
MS vs Google Vs Apple is like ToI vs rest of the Indian media industry for those in the tech industry. You can ignore it (block button) but you can’t blame the people for being passionate. Follow people carefully. If you don’t like to see tech tweets don’t follow people who post a lot of tech links. simple =)
If you are looking for irrational things in life, you will be bombarded with zillions of them. Why exactly people believe in god (and not ghosts)? Why do people worry about a terrorist than a careless driver? Why do we worry about tigers but not Siberian cranes? Why do people watch horror movies and take their BP levels high?
People have their reasons – they themselves may not know those though. Answers may entertain you. The trick is to understand that our thoughts are shaped by the surroundings – not just the logic alone. Thats our greatest strength as well as greatest weakness.
here’s something we don’t know we miss everyday
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arunv/5628047848/in/photostream
miss you on twitter, dude! atleast tweet when walking around! oh, wait…
Heh.. I know man. But we meet offline and I like it better that way 🙂
Dear asfaq,
omfg this is *THE* defining moment for group buying sites in India.
Sincerely,
Only reads the headlines and comments
OMFG, indeed.