Virtually yours

Nora Soriño .

ILIGAN City–The kids Rolando and Ben were best friends. They swam the length of the river they loved near their homes, picked guava, climbed   mango trees, and  played rough kid games together.

That was, when there were no classes. They were classmates, too.

It was all fun, Rolando could see.

Until one day, Ben did not go with him anymore. In the classroom, his friend had become remote and  withdrawn. Ben suddenly became a stranger. What was happening?

A few days later, he knew the answer. His good friend Ben was glued to the TV always. His friend was swallowed by television! His friend was no longer his friend. No thanks to TV which was then a novelty.

Now, as I observe the young ones engrossed in their gadgets, even while riding public vehicles, I remember that lament of Rolando over his friend, Ben as he wrote about it years later. I can see that the situation is still true today. Only that the TV has replaced, the smartphone, the tablet, the iPad and whatever.

So, I think that we have lost the young ones to a virtual world which to them is more real than reality itself. The reality of conversing face to face.

I recall a 10-year-old kid, George here in this city whose cousin Dave came to this city from Agusan del Sur for a visit. After some greetings of very few words, they spoke to each other now via chat. They could not even wait for a few minutes of parting from their gadgets. And in a matter of seconds, they now were chatting with their gadgets, George from his laptap in one room, and Dave on another room in George house!

Some of the come on of these gadgets read: “Capture the real you.” It should have been, “capture the artificial you.” Or “capture the edited you.” Or capture the photoshopped you.” So, I kind of think that these gadgets appeal more on the ego, our big egos! More on selfies, groupies, whatever. The text or call feature are just “pakapin.”

But excuse me, I  because I got a notification from FB, ha ha ha…