We are firmly in the grasp of the technological revolution, and ideas which would have been thought of as fantasy merely a few decades ago are now reality, and more is happening in the world of innovation and tech than we can keep pace with.
The world changed with the advent of computers, and it further changed with the introduction of mobile phones, but in the decades since then, we’ve progressed much further as a race than at any other time in history. Earlier, communication with friends and family was only possible through the slow process of letters, for which you had to wait days and months before it arrived, and in case of emergencies, the telegraph remained the only option, later aided by telephones, but today, friends and families are but a click away with the aid of modern technology and the help of apps and sites such as Whatsapp, Facebook, Skype, Snapchat and the like.
The first two of these are highly dominant among the youth, and have bred a new age of connectivity and social contact. Staying in touch with friends after moving to different schools, colleges, jobs, cities and even countries was earlier a difficult task, and falling out of touch with those who made the formative friendships of a person’s life was often a sad experience, with the next meeting being but a hazy hope in the mists of the coming future.
However, with the aid of these social media sites and instant messaging apps such as Facebook and Whatsapp, it is possible to stay in touch with your friends and family even if they are on the other end of the world. This is a boon for the youth, who are just leaving school and are unhappy at having to leave their old friendships behind as they move forward into a new life, same is the case for those college going students moving to different cities and countries for further education or work. In this case, these apps not only help stay in touch with friends, it also gives a sneak peek into their lives, what they are up to since they last saw each other, and a chance to gloat through pictures and status updates about the quality of their life (in a healthy banter-ish kind of way).
More importantly, as the world gets smaller and more global, these forms of instant communication will continue to grow and be in vogue, as they help transmission of information about recent events, terror attacks (such as the Paris attacks), sports news, and more in a timely manner, and immediate reactions can follow to the ones which are relevant to people.
The youth, being the first to get exposed to these new developments, and being opinion leaders, are the targeted audiences of these apps, and they have managed to make themselves indispensable to youngsters with the many engaging features, connectivity, games, photo uploading and tagging options, which help its users seem cool, hip, living the grand life, portraying their lives to their lists and turning them into mini-celebrities, thereby continuing to rule over young Indians.
