When I like what I like…

Character Soliloquy¹ — Social Media

I like what I like and I don’t have to like anything else,
Dictate the designers of social media.

If I like only what I like and if I don’t have to like anything else,
Then I don’t have to know anything else that I don’t like.

If I don’t have to know anything I don’t like,
Then what does truth or reality matter?

If I only have to like what I like,
Then I become an unquestioning conformist,
Impervious to truth or reality,
Living in a bubble of incurious apathy.

As I live in the bubble of incurious apathy
That is impervious to truth or reality,
I am coddled, spied upon by social media;

Where Facebook mongers hate and division, which I ingest as news,
While Instagram peddles me useless things with celebrity peddlers,
As I gather with the birdbrains on Twitter in angry cacophony of this and that.

As I wallow in the bubble of incurious apathy
That is impervious to truth or reality,
Pliant to faceless people who cash in, on my ignorance –
My brain turns to a dustbin that corrodes my soul.

All because I wallow in the inertia of liking only what I like.

¹Character-Soliloquy: Similar to the technique employed in plays, where a character is channeled  for demonstrable effect. This character is fictitious and created for the purpose of this piece.

Note: What is happening on social media is nothing new. People have lived in bubble-worlds long before social media. What information technology brings to this type of insular personalities, is a highly sophisticated level of customization.
On a personal note, I have to admit that I have accounts on FB and Linked-in. I used to have a twitter account, which I deleted because it became unbearably shrill for me. I use social media to help promote my writings.

© Lekha Murali 2019