Even as the rest of teendom is busy posting, tweeting and thriving in the virtual universe, there is a small, rare and growing tribe of youngsters who prefer to be "disconnected." Making a conscious choice not to be part of the social networking world, these teens,
who don’t have Facebook and Twitter profiles or just let it gather cyber dust even if they do, say they prefer the "real world."
Shashank Bala, a 17-year-old student, says, "Creating online profiles has become a matter of being ‘cool’ for most. Many of my friends are addicted to the Internet. I, however, don’t agree with them. The social networking world bores me. When I’m free, I love playing classical violin, which de-stresses and calms me. Tweeting online on the other hand is a waste of time."
Shashank is not alone in his endeavour to lead a "non-wired" life. Anshika John, 17, a student of St Ann’s High School, is the first to agree that participating in extra-curricular activities is a better calling than to network online. "I am hardly ever online. I am not a very computer savvy person, in fact sitting in front of the screen irritates me. I have easy access to the Internet and the freedom to go online and hangout, but I prefer staying in touch with real people. Moreover, I am active in sports in school and play basketball religiously. With so much time spent outside, I hardly get a chance to surf the Internet. I do have a profile, but it is as good as redundant because it lies unused."
Having found real hobbies like youngsters did in the good ol’ days before the Internet, many teens are too occupied to network in a virtual world. 18-year old psychology student, Sophia Ahmed, says, "There is more to the real world than the virtual one. I don’t like going online on Facebook. It is a personal choice because I have taken on extra courses this time and I read a lot of books. I am carrying out research as well and that keeps me preoccupied."
These youngsters insist that they prefer socialising offline. Azhar Ahmed, a 17-year-old student from Bhartiya Vidhya Bhavan is contemplating the deletion of his online social networking account. "I have my own group of friends with whom I prefer hanging out in person. I want to deactivate my FB account as it’s a total waste of time and I don’t want to get addicted. There are too many ‘friends’ there with whom you don’t want to keep in touch.
N. Kartik Rao