LIFE OFFLINE & LESSONS LEARNT ON BETTER ONLINE BEHAVIOR – Mayur Puri

Few months back last year, I went in for what a lot of people call ‘digital detox’ these days. This meant going off social media. No Facebook. No Twitter. No virtual relationships.My detox was not ‘total’ though.I kept my instagram feed alive for a few close friends who could follow me and appeared passively on Quora – but in essence it was cutting

Social life is a two edged sword, innit? We want more friends but we also want to keep those pesky psychos and time-drains away. For film-industrywallas like us, Social Media is a necessary evil that we grapple with everyday. To make more and more people aware of our work is also a part of our work. But fame comes with a price. That’s why we’re the first people to read articles like “17 people you wanna avoid on FB” “23 mistakes people do while Tweeting” etc. :p

Being the geek I am, I’m one of the first people to try out anything new on the Internet. I had a Yahoo Id when we were struggling with the kkkrrrrkiiiiissshhhhhkooooooookwaaaaang of dial-up modems with abysimally low bandwidth. And yet, many hours I’ve spent on Yahoogroups… Oh! Those Yahoo Groups! I had one called – ‘Chai Garam’ where I must’ve posted almost everyday. I was also a regular visitor on ‘sawf.org’ – which had a section for poets. My friend Lajan Joseph introduced me to it and I started posting my lyrics there. But soon it became a MAS (mutual admiration society). I get wary of excess praise. On a scale of 1 to 10, I have Woody Allen level of paranoia. J So I just disappeared from SAWF promptly.

Though I was never on Orkut or Myspace, I was the first few to join Facebook and Twitter. By July 2011, I was already so sick of people harrassing me on Facebook, that I wrote a note, a bit stern in nature – telling my new friends how this was gonna work.

Dear Friend,

Welcome to my page. I’m glad to have you as a friend and I wish my notes below will only help us strengthen our acquaintance. I use facebook to maintain a blog of my life in general and to share stuff with like-minded people in particular. I have varied interests and I have groups of people interacting me on specific pages.

I’d also like to share 5 basic peeves before we start networking

1. Poking is so passé. If you really are missing me, want to chat, or share anything, please message me. Take the effort to write two words. I’ll take the effort of writing back 4.

2. Religious messages and political propaganda is a big no-no for me. Every time I get a religious message or a political message I feel like getting inside the computer-screen, coming out on the other side, squeeze the sender’s throat and spit in his/her face saying – ‘You moron! I have opinions of my own! I don’t need yours!’

3. Nothing to say? Don’t chat. If you don’t have anything important please don’t chat with me online. My facebook page is loaded while I’m checking mails and other important stuff. If you ping me or pong me or poke me or send me a chat question and I do not IMMEDIATELY reply to it, please don’t be bugged. It may look like I’m on Facebook but Facebook might be just one window out of the 17 that I work on simultaneously

4. No Forwards. Please don’t send me forwards/updates etc of games/apps/Farmville/poker etc. I’ve been on facebook longer than most people and I’m extremely bored and annoyed of all apps. Even if you are the developer – please no apps invites for me.

5. Not me? No Tagging. Please don’t tag me in any photos that do not actually have me in them.

Like I said, I’m glad to have you as a friend, interested in you and your life but your pastimes may not be mine. Anything personal is welcome but anything mass-forwarded is frowned upon on my page.

Time to time, I’d appreciate some kind of a personal Hi or Hello. Friendship doesn’t work if we just message each other as per our needs and whims.

Once again, welcome to my world and use the facebook for what its made – keeping in touch.

You may also want to check out my other pages:

MY FAN PAGE – where I interact with a lot of my friends and fans:

You may also want to check out my other pages:

MY FAN PAGE – where I interact with a lot of my friends and fans:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mayur-Puri/33755044303

STORY CIRCUS – an exclusive story-telling club for kids between 3-8 yrs:

http://www.facebook.com/storycircus

FILMGOA: this is my initiative to decentralize Filmaking in India:

http://www.facebook.com/filmgoa

Lots of love,

Mayur.

The note is still liked by many. I encourage people to share it and if you see the comment section, it has resonated with many of us. What do you think? Do leave your feedback.