People crave popularity, with which comes fame leading to limelight and ultimately media frenzy. These are all highly addicting factors in their turns. Once tasted, the person gets hooked on to their toxic powers. Politicians crave them, actors go crazy for them, ones in power run after and the rest yearn them.
I call them vices, because they dig their tendons deep inside everyone. The desire to be popular, being the most powerful one. It starts residing in a heart as early as childhood. With a few exceptions, almost everyone dreams of being the apple of all eyes. Commoners look at celebrities in awe for their achievements. Polls, surveys, ratings, ..., all, are measures of popularity and trends.
Popularity and fame come at a price, as any historian can tell. Not only it can go to one's head in extremes, but even in moderations, it marks its imprint. There's no end to it's quest. Like a strong intoxicant, it leaves the effected panting after it. It's overdose takes away fair judgement, as witnessed by time through the pages of eons passed.
In aristocratic families, the elders used to make sure to instill strong moral values in young generations. As loving parents, each would want their offsprings to achieve popularity but knowing it's vulnerability, they would try to prepare them by character building as protective shield. Children were raised and youngsters were watched carefully before letting them step out in the human jungle of societies, with years of training.
World we live in, is changing at a speed unknown to previous generations, thanks to modern technology. Internet has altered the whole ball game. Traditional norms no longer apply. Modesty, privacy and interaction are in need of new definitions and restrictions. Popularity and exposure are no longer protégés of celebrities alone. Social media has made every person a star in their own right.
Selfie crazed era is a self obsessed era. People are no more content on being ordinary. They are obsessed with social media, which like all toxins, carry pros, when used cautiously and correctly, in measured doses, but can be highly damaging if indulged. Unfortunately, youngsters and children are getting high on it without realizing it's after effects.
Everything is being done for a show. From food, to looks to hobbies, each and every action is finding a way to be showcased and applauded on social media. Likes and comments are valued and scrutinized as indicators of popularity. They effect human psychology just like intoxication. A rise in their numbers elevates while a drop deflates human mood. Their fickle nature plays with the person's self confidence in silent ways. It's effect is so powerful that even the mature ones, the ones who proclaim to be aware of its insignificance, can also not remain unaffected.
No one knows the end result of this hype, but one thing is for sure, the shape and face of societies will no longer remain simple, plain and pure. Future generations will learn their own lessons, shape new laws and face new challenges. All the while history will smile, for she knows that after every fall, comes rise. Cycle repeats itself. In their due time, moral conduct will find it's way back into societies as a champion to rule. It's a promise that time always fulfills.
Shamsa Anwar
