Yourpast@TheInternet

On this merry day of Christmas, as I work at my office, I wonder at how the internet has profoundly changed our lives, loves and everything else.

One thing that particularly strikes me is that with the internet, we preserve links with our past like nothing else. Suppose you fight with a friend, or have a break-up, or any such situation crops up, your chat list still has that person on it, until you explicitly delete them, or make them invisible to yourself so that you are not tempted to shout at them, plead with them, even acknowledge them. Even then, the possibility of adding them back exists.

The internet, you see, makes you mature whether you like it or not, and whether you want it or not. Sooner or later, we realize that holding on to grudges is just not going to work, and there comes a point where looking at that name does not engender any strong feelings. At this point we double-click on that name and reconnect.

For people who we might have added randomly as acquaintances, or vice versa, there may arise a situation in which frequent chats end up bringing us closer with these people, who we once met very fleetingly.

In any case, and in many cases, the internet has acted as a great bringer-togetherer of people. People we kept out of our lives would have vanished into the sands of time, lost forever, by the time we realized it wasn’t so bad to keep in touch with them.

On the other hand, maybe the power of the internet to maintain contact between former cordials is a cause of tension in many relationships, by refusing to sever the ties that once were.