This post is more on a lighter note a research work - a general observation which I have made over time.. over lots of people and not just one or two individuals. Probably a combination of Psychology & Technology...Here is how it starts..
Long ago, in 2004 when I use to login to gtalk,my friend list use to be empty and little did explore the world of gtalk.But over the last 3-4 yrs gtalk has caught up like crazy, u can virtually be online the whole day and can definitely talk to all the people u have talked to atleast once in ur life. But there is a small catch here, over the last 3-4 yrs people have become exceedingly busy ,probably the work load in the world has increased over this span of time but surprisingly I dont feel it that much . Here is small e.g of a conversation (ficitious but close to true)
you : Hi wassup ... 10.00 pm
me : Hey !! long time.. i'm good . how u ..?10.01 pm
you : fyne .. 10.20( after 20 mins)
me : ok.. where ru located these days 10.22
you : USA.. 10.30 ( the most common reply - shud have guessed :D)
me : cool.. ( even I start using monosyllables by now ) 10.31
me : so hows life been there. .. ? 10.40
you : nothing much.. 10.58
me : ru busy ? 11.00
you : hmmm 11.15
Now this is just a small example of the kinda conversations I have on gtalk these days . The question is why the f*@# do u ping when ur busy ? U ask any individual and he/she would talk of their busy schedules for the rest of their lives.. Some of the quotes which I can remember justifying their busy days..
I have gotta a meeting coming up ( Yea yea we all know you gotta meeting with the Prime minister.. )
My client is different,they'd go mad if I dont deliver (yea baby.. This is a secret which You need to know- All the IT freaks in India give the same statement.. :D )
I have a presentation,assignment and 2 tests tomorrow ! damn shit loads of work ! (oops its the first time someones encountering such a big problem,my sympathies with u )
I have a fest which I'm organizing ... ( wow !you are the showstealer.. ! indispensable I know .. ! The fest would stop if u wud talk to any non entity on gtalk :D)
Again these were just a few of the comments I hear from people regularly..I use to always believe in 100% commitment when I'm talking to someone,it does not mean you stop all ur other work and chat,but there definitely is an art to make the other person feel that you are talking to him/her while you can parallely manage all ur work or other chat windows ( some people prioritize their chat windows - funny ).Ofcourse for the last 4-6 months I guess even I have stopped all this.. As they say - In rome,be a roman..
I 'm not sure if being busy is a measure of prosperity but it certainly is a must these days, now that I'm going through a MBA life, I can definitely vouch for the fact that life aint that busy as most of the MBA grads will tell u . Not that my institute is lax about anything.. the only difference being I dont talk about it .. cuz I do feel there is enough time for everything,I know of some who were constantly busy throughout the 2 yrs of MBA and would only talk in monosyllables or one liners.An MBA from any part of the country or the world cant be drastically different.Lectures,Presentations,Assignments,Teammeetings,Groupwork,video shooting on streets,surveys,skits,Exams,Quizzes,Vivas,Fests,symposiums,sponsorships,Elections ,Sports ,Parties,Outings,Hostel and people label this as busy schedules.. Yes,I'm a narcissist ,I believe in my abilities more than anyone else does, but its hard to accept that I could be so much more efficient than most of these other great souls who themselves are part of elite institutions. There could be one implication :
a. people give more than 200% in their MBAs and I'm just giving 50% which is not true.. i'm giving a 100%, probably I dont see the need for doing 200% (its shear waste)
Whatever it is ,I cant demystify as to why people have been so busy over the last couple of yrs, I prefer the old days when a friend called up once in 2-3 months to talk about his whereabouts and stuff.. rather than the 1 liners on gtalk,though I have adapted to their style of talkin in 1 liners , I dont enjoy it much & will continue with it only till I really get 'busy' or can find the reason as to why they are all busy :)
