From having the Y2K  era to instantly connecting on various platforms of social media, we have all come a long way. Somehow personally I had never been comfortable with this virtual space. I always felt this world to be deceptive and not real. However, everything changed and so did I. A lot has changed in me as I have grown with life.  But one thing that remains is meeting people and having quality interactions. Because without it I feel stagnant and have no scope for growth. Having said that, I love having a very close & small circle of people which I don’t like changing at all. I share my private life with very few souls but want to intellectually meet as many people as possible. And social media has made that possible for me. 

I was never a social media freak. Even today, I find it hard to operate all the SM handles that I have. I have a lot of respect for people who do it seamlessly. And for me as a content creator, social media is probably the only medium to reach the readers. But I find all the three popular mediums have their own set of personalities and I would like to briefly want to explain what I feel about each of them.

1)	Twitter: Feels like a friend who is ready to hear you out.  Twitter is my favorite & I feel like running to it if I have to instantly say something, grieve if I want to, be creative if I want to and somehow I feel connected to it. Sometimes it does get boring when the same post gets shared by multiple handles, some just copy-paste ideas from somewhere else, and the trolls &  unnecessary hatred is something that I despise. But what connects to me is the genuine thoughts, ideas, and creativity that people put out on the timeline.
2)	 Instagram: Feels like a glamorous newcomer and sometimes way out of my league: I  go on Insta for few times and find people just so happy, dancing all the time that I do have a smile on my face. I appreciate the effort that the content creators put in making a single reel and the dedication level is so high. But somehow I have never been able to connect on a personal level. It somehow feels superficial. Maybe with time, it will change.
3)	Facebook: Feels like someone is angry with me. I do not know the reason but I find it tough to understand my inhibition to read the notifications on FB & reply to it. I feel anxious while just logging in to the account. There are many active groups for writing communities and I am missing out by not being active there. But I don’t know what stops me from visiting it.  I have to push myself to change this habit.

So, I can say that all the three SM handles are very different but have one thing in similar that is they are a medium to connect one person to another. Sometimes the interactions are so good. And sometimes there are bizarre incidents. These SMs also help in forming bonds that grow with time and are great learning platforms, but only if you connect with the right ones. Otherwise, the connections can be so disturbing and can hamper mental peace to a great extent! 

 Thanks to Social Media, the feeling of sharing loneliness has become possible. People post their pictures not only to garner likes but also to say,” Hey, I am here! “ It is not always a call for attention but a need to connect with each other as social beings. The best part is learning from each other and this space can be also a great motivator.  I am thankful to have a beautiful community whom I have met on Social Media handles as of now and the experience has been always great. Hope this continues.

 Love,
Chinmayee