Reflections through my lens

Film buffs are ditching long queues at the cinema to watch movies online. This continues to be debated in India due to internet bandwidth issues and online piracy. But is it just that which still makes 28% of Indian adults go to the cinema halls*? Beyond the Dolby digital effects, there is more to the experience of going to watch movies in theatres. “Which is the latest movie that you have seen?” From status updates on social networking sites to the opening  conversation when boy meets girl for the first time, movies continue to bridge the gap of lack of information to build a connection. Other than posting pictures of holidays, the next active thing that most dormant FB users do is post their views on the latest movies they have seen. And of course this comes with the assumption that they watched this movie in the theatre. Who cares about what people have been watching on Tata Sky showcase or have been downloading from the net? Be it a date, catching up wit

News headlines and ad campaigns like “Prolonged use of social networking sites makes people unhealthy”, “Hamaare zamaane mein log facebook pe nahin, face to face baatein karte they”, or closer to home, my aunt complaining “nowadays I get to know about you only from my daughter through your facebook updates” are just examples of the widespread notion that social networking sites are making people unhealthy and unsocial. I belong to the so called “facebook” generation (disclaimer – I may use the term facebook here as a general reference to social networking) and I just don’t seem to be getting tired of it. While there is a lot of research published on the advantages/disadvantages of social networking, as a user, what is it that I love so much about it to make me login every day? I recently read in the newspaper that people get a sense of depression and lesser happiness in their own life as they see smiling faces of their friends on social networking sites. Isn’t jealousy inh