VIRTUAL REALITIES!!!

The term “Virtual Reality” is not comparatively old, just like the Internet. But suddenly with the advancement of social networking sites like Orkut, Facebook and many more, it just became so REAL. Limits between the VIRTUAL and REAL world are blurring and new horizons are appearing, new dimensions are getting added to this ever popular term by the minutes. In this article, I have tried to take a fresh new look at this term and tried to redefine it in the context of today’s REAL world.

I was born in the late 70’s, I can say the old world. And the term “virtual reality” at that time was associated with some fancy electronic gadgets, a big goggles, a metallic hand, a shiny body suit, a 360 degree revolving chair etc etc. It was seen only in Hollywood movies (if at all they were available for us to watch in India) or some high end video games.

The world around me has changed many times since then. Be it in the 80s with the entry of TV in a common man’s life in India or opening up of Indian economy and introduction of the Internet during the 90s or the rising of India Inc. in early 21st century. Well, I have tried my level best to keep up with the change and I would say, I have done fairly good so far. But one thing that completely baffled me and continues to do so is to cop up with the emerging new VIRTUAL world of social networking and blurring limits between the VIRTUAL and the REAL world around me.

I took the plunge into this new and emerging world very early in 2006, or should I say, quite late may be, as timelines are becoming so relative now a days (A complete new breed of people emerge every two years and five years age difference is considered “generation gap”). Since my first encounter, I have been trying to establish myself, trying to build my identity in the virtual world of Orkut just like I have been trying to do so in the real world ever since I was born. However, I realized soon that it is much more difficult, much more competitive and much more challenging to establish myself and create my own identity in the VIRTUAL world than there in the REAL one. I felt so, may be because I have a mind that is adapting and flexible to change as per the new world but a heart that was born and a value system that was practiced during the late 70’s. Nevertheless, let me share some of my “Experiments with Virtual Realities”...

It all starts by creating your profile, giving a face to your personality. This is the acid test. This is where your value system gets tested. Your hidden desires come to foray because there is so much scope for imagination, honesty and untruthfulness at the same time. You can portrait yourself as someone you are or you are not, and the choice is entirely yours. There is no one to validate but your inner self. This is where you decide to bare yourself or hide behind a mask in front of the VIRTUAL world. This is where you create a VIRTUAL you. This is where you choose from one of these – “Jo hai woh dikhta hai”, “Jo dikhta hai woh bikta hai” and “Jo bikta hai wohi dikhao”. This is where you decide to draw a line between the REAL and VIRTUAL you or you decide not to have any such line at all. This is where you imagine, you assume, you contemplate, you think and you create. What more, you can create multiple copies of yourself!!!

Next comes, joining a community (or a group) or creating your own. I can join any community I want to, or can create one of my own. A community is a group of like minded individuals joining hands to work in a desired direction. And finally, you start building relations - Friends, family, activity groups, love and hate too.

But then, it is not as easy as it looks. There are so many unanswered questions like - Who controls a community? How like minded people really are in a virtual world? Who is projecting his/her true self and who is not? How can you judge someone? How can you get into the REAL mind of someone operating a VIRTUAL profile?

So the universal rule followed, it seems is - “do not trust anyone”. Well, if you do not trust anyone, how can you call it a “community”?, because a community is always based on mutual trust, understanding and courtship in the REAL world. But, that is where the VIRTUAL world differs. It has its advantage. One can pretend to be in a community but remain an individual – a true self. Something that is totally unacceptable, if not banned, in the REAL world. This is where you find thousands of profiles and hundreds of communities being created about alternate lifestyles – gays, lesbians, swingers, nudists, drug addicts, terrorists and many such activities that are considered to be the dark side of life in the REAL world. The social networking sites have no longer remained a place for “meeting your old friends from the REAL world and keeping in touch with them”. It is widely being used to create new contacts, new relations, new personalities, new communities a completely new VIRTUAL WORLD. A world full of contrast – possibilities vs. traps, opportunities vs. risks, freedom vs. addiction, fun vs. threat and so on.

It is a brave new world out there. But who are the members? Mostly youngsters. Indians, it seems, are one of the biggest users of these sites. I ask myself, “Is it just because we have tech savvy young generation?” And the answer is - No, it is not just that. It is because the young generation is changing. They are demanding a change in REAL world through the means of a VIRTUAL world or may I say, they are already changing the REAL world? The world around is surely changing faster than we can think of or imagine. If not, than a person like me from the old world, adapting nicely to the changing REAL world, would not have felt the need to write this article.

Time is not far before we see a new disease being added to the books of psychology called “Virtual Reality Disorder” or a new religion being introduced as “Orkutva”. May be, I myself, would like to open a commune for the people “affected positively or negatively by the effects to Virtual Realities”. Ultimately, it is the experience from the REAL world that counts in the end!!!