Like Really?

Looks like I was un-friended for not liking her likeable pictures.

Going by the social media tradition, if you don't click the 'like' button on my posts, I will un-follow you. You un-follow, I shove you on the restricted list. You shove me on the restricted list, I un-friend you. You un-friend me, I block you. A blow for a blow. 

Sometimes perceptions of ourselves are built more on 'likes' and retweets. Lately, I find that the ‘Like’ button is losing its likability among like-minded people. There was a time when you were a nobody unless a hundred ‘Likes’ popped up on your update. Not anymore. Overall, I sense Facebook and blogging fatigue. Do you?

Moreover, youngsters detest the fact that oldies have captured their sacred turf – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. A US based social media analysis says, “Facebook is the third-oldest social platform, behind Yelp and LinkedIn, with only 20 percent of its users under 24”. Going by this study, I can totally see myself as a pestering Aunty. Almost Mataji-ish. I wouldn’t blame the young for abandoning social media and moving towards dating apps like Tinder.

Now that the ‘Likes’ are not the same like before, the Urban Dictionary tells me about a flirting option on Instagram called ‘Deep Liking’. This is where you scroll through personal photo collections of your muse and ‘Deep Like’ the pictures as a sign of interest. For the ignorant, ‘Deep Liking’ is like Chetan’s Half Girlfriend. It is an emotion stronger than ‘like’ but not as strong as ‘love’. Get it? No? Ignoramus, looks like you are above forty. 

Urban Dictionary also tells me that ‘Deep Like’ is a way to say ‘love’ while avoiding cheesiness. Frankly, to me, this ‘Deep Like’ looks exactly that - cheesy. And creepy. See, its fine when teens ‘Deep Like’ pictures on Instagram. Given that we are an emotional Shaukeen nation, what if we end up ‘Deep Liking’ everything that has boobs? It can be traumatic for some.

Far away from the digital age, I belong to a generation where any fascination for the opposite gender was expressed via Archies cards, song requests and awkward questions, ‘Can we be friends?’ Back then, being a friend was special - unlike the present times where a virtual friend’s pet dog can also send you a friend request. Of course, flirting with a ‘Deep Like’ button is insanely easy compared to risking a tight slap from the girl. In all likelihood, this button is called ‘Deep Like’ because it takes a lot of patience and dedication to scroll past scores of pictures. Today, in the digital age, 'Deep Liking' is like writing handwritten love letters. Imagine the pain of actually finding a pen, straining the carpals while writing legible alphabets, occasionally checking the dictionary, sealing the envelope, licking images of national icons in order to paste them and traveling long distances to find a letter box!
But times have changed. Like, really. So even if you feel that I sound like Sunehri from Dhoom - like a dumbo, do like the post on social media. 

Did you just ‘Deep Like’ it? Let’s leave that to the teens.

 Like is good. 

Trust TOI to tell us all about Deep Liking