Relationships In An Ever Changing And Transient World

It is 1 am; he is desperately trying to get some sleep, when a WhatsApp ping disturbs him, ‘What are you doing?’ He doesn’t give a damn to it. ‘Are you there?’ she pings again; no answer yet from him. After few text messages, he texts her, ‘I am trying to get some sleep, I am too tired. We will catch up tomorrow.’ And he goes on his slumbering trip.

Obviously, the day had been tough. Next morning the first thing he does when he gets up is to check the WhatsApp messages, the last message flashes, ‘Who are you chatting with?’ Then the bell keeps ringing, she is incessantly calling him and ultimately he answers her desperate calls. She speaks in an indignant tone, with a lot of suspicion and anxiety; he has to face a deluge of questions. He simply hangs up and avoids all communication with her since then.

The dynamics of relationships have changed in this tech savvy and dynamic world. Everything changes in a blink of an eye. In this transient and the ever-changing world, our relationships too are short-lived. We can connect so easily and quickly today. Oh! Is it? Hmm, a thought to ponder upon.

We love everything instant. Our life is like instant coffee or the famous two-minute food ‘Maggi’. We need everything quick; fast food, quick transport, and a casual date that gets fixed in few minutes. Social networking sites and messenger services are some eminent platforms and breeding grounds to get hooked, have a relationship or sometimes have casual relationship/sex. A couple of them get transpired into marriage or strong friendship.

At the Pune police’s Family Courts and Women’s Grievance Redressal Cell, the number of familial problems, conflicts and disputes due to cell phone and especially messenger apps, have risen drastically. Couples suspect each other due to text messages and phone communications, which spring into disputes. Couples are busy glued to their respective cell phones and hardly communicate.

It’s pretty easy to get connected to someone these days. Isn’t it? The moment you exchange your number, you get connected on WhatsApp. If you don’t wish to keep answering someone’s ping, simply ignore or block the person if you don’t wish to keep in touch. This is rude, downright rude according to me! Why in the first place did you exchange your number? Social manners you see. On WhatsApp, there is a long list of groups, irrespective of whether you wish to contribute or not to the conversations happening there. Sometimes, you can’t tell your friends that you don’t wish to be a part of a particular group.

Today, relationships are hardly long lived. People meet through the interface of technology, instantly chat but, rarely understand each other. Suspicion and anxiety rule over these relationships because, time taken to understand each other is meagre. Everyone is in a huge hurry, immaturity rules over relationships. Each relation has to bloom slowly; space has to be given to each other. If you don’t trust a person, how can you have a relationship? But, it’s also true that infidelity is common.

After being hurt, no one wants to take time and ponder over what exactly went wrong. We are all in a hurry to move on. Today’s world doesn’t let us take a breather. So we rush and are forced to move on. We get into another relation with our mind fogged with the negative feelings, we have carried from the previous relationship. Then how do we expect to have a successful relationship again?

It’s a great sign that we all move on fast, almost instantly. It’s a positive sign to forget the past and get ahead. But, giving ourselves the time to introspect for a while is equally vital.

I ask why are we looking for the permanent relationships at the first place in a transient and ever-changing world?

Remember Boy Dylan singing, ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’? So if times have changed, we better move with it. Our challenge is to have transient relationships but, yet part respectfully as we choose to walk on different paths.

Featured Image Source: HuffPost