Guest Post #1: FREEZE!

Welcoming my super talented, ultra gorgeous, chirpy-bubbly-lively, and a very sweet friend Rashee Pandey for the first guest write-up on Spusht.

Rashee is a Communication Arts-Advertising student in the final year of her undergrads.  Seeing her passion for media, she teamed up with a couple of friends to launch the YouTube channel rasheetweet in which they script, shoot, and edit videos on various topics in their free time.

Rashee gladly agreed to kick-start my Guest Post series.  After reading her write-up, I realized Alok & I have a similar issue and usually complain about it to each other but neither of us changed our habits. *sigh*  So people, here's a "Thought for the Day" message for you.  (And a reminder for us too!)

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FREEZE!

Have you ever been stuck with one expression for 30 seconds like the protagonist of Indian soap operas? Well, as much as I hate to admit looking like those too-good-to-be-true daughter-in-laws, I experienced that a few days ago. My iPhone decided to freeze out of the blue and signaled me by just lighting up Apple’s logo. Being an advertising student I believe in repetition. However, fifteen minutes of constantly staring at that logo can actually harm your health. Or so I realized. 

So as I was panicking and googling (<-- that just underlined itself in red in MS Word. But trust me, this word is going to be defined by dictionaries soon), I finally did find out the solution in a blog and within thirty minutes my phone was back to ‘life’. I happily skipped around and gave my phone a tight hug (don’t roll your eyes), and then I had some tube light moments. Was this my love for non-living things? (yes, Yes, YES!) Or was this just materialism? (NO! No, no…) Or was it? 

I have personally never associated the term ‘materialism’ with any kind of positivity so it was quite a blow for me. I wondered whether my life centered within 2.31 x 4.5 inches. Sounds suffocating, doesn’t it? 

Being a 21st century young adult, I recognize the relevance of technology and honestly, I can’t imagine my life without the internet or my little touch screen toys anymore. However, I also feel that maybe somewhere we are so caught up and are overwhelmed by its presence that we have forgotten our priorities? Our brain’s never at rest. Our eyes flick open in the middle of the night and the first thing we check for is a notification on our phones. I mean, look out the window! Maybe you woke up cause the weather Gods were warning you of a storm! Or wait. Maybe you DID look out the window, spotted a huge black cloud, clicked a picture and posted it on Facebook with a caption ‘Yawn. You woke me up!’ and went back to sleep. 

Anyhow! All I want to say is, maybe we should realize the limits of everything. Reflect sometimes. Actually freeze time (not really) to comprehend all that has happened or is happening in our lives. Strike a balance between spending our time using technology and not using technology. Not be so materialistic. Give our minds some rest. 

Moreover, let’s not completely forget the good old days as we proceed to our virtually-inspired futures… the simple pleasures life has blessed us with. Breathe in fresh air for ten minutes in the park, cycle in the neighborhood, or walk your pet. Let us bring with us the values, the games and everything else we appreciated in our time to pass it on to the younger ones… Let’s not create a world they’ll see only through screens, but through our eyes too. 

So the next time you see someone using their phone on the dinner table, shout ‘FREEZE!’ 

And great! My iPhone’s signaling me Apple’s logo again. Any ideas when iPhone 5’s coming out?