The Virtual Persona

I recently watched a website where they discussed and talked about seeing things in a different light and in a different dimension , and as they challenged, it really opened up my eyes to a whole new world of endless possibilities and viewing things in a different angle. This blog is inspired by one such talk!

Have we ever given a thought of what are we doing when we post our pics to FB or upload a video onto a social networking site say like You Tube? We are creating an online open personal Diary for the whole world to view and peep into ! And if you think , you have put in those privacy settings and locked your profile, let me make you rethink and understand that anything put up on net is never Private ! Someone's watching you all the time.

So what would happen to all those things that we have left behind on the NET, when we leave this world ! Active website turns into Archives. Billions of people on this planet actively use social networking sites. Some profound implications are really worth exploring here.  All of us are creating an archive which is something very different and unique than anything that’s done by our past generations. Considering few stats given below (which I searched on the net)

Youtube : 48 hours of Video uploaded per minute

Twitter : 200 million tweets posted every day
FB : Avg user posts 90 pieces of content per month

Parents grandparents might have as well used the technology for preserving photos, videos or simpler still a diary lying somewhere in the box in one corner. But we have created such an archive using digital technology in this invisible cloud that is definitely going to stay years after we’re gone ! What happens to that personality after you've died? Could it ... live on?

Now you wont believe what I am going to unveil here. There is actually a site called Ifidie.net, a Facebook Application, where in you can leave statuses, videos and messages that will get flashed in your profile after you die ! Creepy as it may sound, that is digital technology for you today !  “Death can catch you anywhere, anytime, Leave your If I die message before its too late” is their Tag line.. how far have we gone to make this big ?

And this is not all, Technology’s ability to understand our statuses and posts and predict about what we might do next is what the scientists are cracking into further. Just observe how Google has narrowed down your search and also predicts and shows you exactly what you want to see while you are searching. You create your profile on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Youtube, Orkut.. that is what you are leaving behind for others to see when you die. They are all the Archives, on which your people will survive further without you !

Your Virtual Persona is much bigger than your actual one, don’t you think? And we are actually living two personalities in our life, an actual one and a virtual one. At times one gets so obsessed by this virtual persona and the virtual life that it starts bothering you , if there have been no comments on your FB post, or no one posted a thumbs up on your picture. And then you realize something more important, and probably, even more sad: that all that time you were obsessed over it, you could have been doing things with your family, or reading, gardening  or drawing, or painting, or ANYTHING.

Well now that’s life for you these days ! You prefer online chatting or scrapping and messaging over direct phone calls , you prefer to upload pics for the whole world to see rather than cherishing it with only a chosen few, you post something that will please others first, next you J . But then you are leaving behind an amazing archive of yourself and your life for your loved ones to cherish forever. Virtual Persona will still continue to live on even after you are gone now that’s something to ponder upon !