Social etiquette of the 21st Century

As a society, we are bound to evolve. With the introduction of new technology, and it's constant evolution, the way we interact with each other has also changed overtime. Communication has many routes now, most of them being digital. And we have adapted to this change quite well.

The majority of 90's kids have experienced the advent of the telephone (in India), TVs getting thinner and school bags getting heavier. We saw the old phones, which had a wheel on them, then moved on to a key-pad system and then the 'cordless' phones. We can see that the cordless was the harbinger of the mobile phones we extensively use today.
So most of us (90's kids) remember that we had systems of missed calls, even before caller id's were in use, to signal a certain person's call. We've seen the God of all phones, Nokia's initial range of mobiles, and the games in it; most of us have played on it for hours, because the battery never ran out.

We have the front seat to this show and it hasn't ended yet.

As technology found it's way into our everyday lives, the way we handled things changed a great deal. So much so, that now you can even WhatsApp (btw, this word is a verb now) your kabaadi to buy newspapers from you.
 
So here's a quick observation on how I've seen the scenario change; some of these moves may result in social suicide in the Digital Age:-

*Disclaimer- Some things have been exaggerated for dramatic effect, please respond accordingly.*

1) Replying with "K" is generally an invite to getting blocked or never getting a message again.

Source Yeah K.

2) If you're talking to a person in real life, still you keep texting another person, be assured the former will get pissed off at you. This is really rude. Don't text someone else while talking to another in person. Please.

Source 

This has an explanation though (sometimes). I've done this to avoid talking to people. Sorry.

Sorry. (Source)

3)Incessantly texting someone, even after you can see they are busy otherwise. No.

4)Tagging in really stupid group photos when you're not even there. Huh.

5)*Purely personal* Using any type of wrong usage of a language, not restricted to English. Please read a grammar book.

*Burns with anger*

6) Texting in only emoticons/emojis. This confuses me a lot because I don't know what you're saying since most of the emojis have no damn relation to what you're saying. Please type something, you won't die from that.

You're not this cat. I hope. (Source)

7)*Another Purely personal* People who post ambiguous statuses, photos, etc. (FB, Insta, etc.). To quote the great Justin Bieber, WHAT DO YOU MEAN?

8) Game invites. I'm guilty of these (in the days of yore), and I literally thanked the lord the day I read a post about how not to get them. Saved brain cells.

9) When people don't add any details to a photo you post on Insta/ FB. What am I supposed to understand?

Umm what? (Source)

10)When you type "Hi" or "Hey" and then don't reply for a 100 years. That's all you had to say huh?


In that case,

Source

That's all for now!

Stay Awesome \m/

11th of the Month special - Pranav Kumar, "Not JUST a designer".

Hello peeps of the internet!

   People who know me know that I have the utmost respect for those who work in the creative fields, like writing, painting, etc. So when it comes to someone who is harnessing technology to put forth a much more visually appealing presentation, a modern twist to normal designing, I was eager to find out more. By sheer happenstance I made a friend on Facebook a year ago, who is a brilliant graphic designer.
You might have seen a lot of memes floating around the internet on several occasions, have you ever thought who made them? Who gave a thought the platform to manifest?

Meet Pranav Kumar, a 21 year old Delhi-ite, currently studying B.Tech Computer Science at SRM University Chennai, who in a year's time has amassed over 12 thousand likes on his page on Facebook, titled - "Minimalistic Soul".

"Less in more"

His passion for designing had a rather comic beginning. Pranav says that "I started designing because my camera was broken and I was bored. I didn't know about Photoshop or designing before I joined college". His journey started when a senior of his Srijan Sharma, who is also the CEO of 365 Degrees, took time to explain to him about the various tools of Photoshop. Rest of his knowledge he attributes to YouTube videos and constant practice. A website he finds inspiring is The Minimalist.

 After dabbling for around 7-8 months, he created Minimalistic Soul in 2015, his page on Facebook, to reach out to a wider audience for his work. In his words, graphic designing is "a way to express one's thoughts, emotions or even to convey the message." When asked about his first success as a designer, he considers a feature piece in Indiatimes online published in April 2015 to be a milestone. You can check it out here. Over the course of more than a year, he has managed to create a fan base of more than 10,000 people, and attributes his progress to the constant criticism he receives from the people on his page.In August 2015, he decided to take his initiative further and now through his website he offers a variety of designing services. 

   Along with creating cool designs himself, Pranav is also active in teaching others to do the same. He has taught in Graphic designing workshops under 365 Degrees' initiative, Mirus. It focuses on organizing creative sessions in colleges to help students understand different creative domains. Pranav says the experience was particularly nostalgic for him, as it brought back memories of the times he was first introduced to the world of graphic designing. This helped him to understand the students better and teach accordingly. 
Apart from being a funny guy and designing cool stuff, Pranav is also an avid photographer and keyboardist.

As a message for aspiring graphic designers, Pranav says -
"If you're reading this and you're really trying to enter the world of graphic designing, Beware.
Those who are about to start I salute you :') 
P.S. Have a lot of patience. Rome wasn't built in a day."

Here's wishing Pranav all the best for the future!

Stay awesome \m/

P.S - (This post is a super special one as this is my first attempt at an interview. Feedback is most welcome!)

Check out Pranav's blog here to know more.
Follow him on Twitter! - @gareeb_designer
Connect on Facebook - Pranav Kumar