Vanity
September 26th, 2006
Recently, I abruptly deleted my Orkut account. People asked me the reason behind this sudden decision to which I replied that I just felt like it so I deleted the account. It was more an attempt to avoid further questions than anything else. In reality, the main reason behind this decision of mine was a growing sense of frustration on my part regarding how blatantly I wasted my time on Orkut. At this point I should make it clear that I never consider anything that I do, a timewaste, till it brings me some kind of pure, unadulterated pleasure. As an example, I have been spending atleast 6 hours daily, browsing for news, pictures, trivia etc. about Audrey Hepburn for the last 1 week but I do not think that it is a timewaste. I do not really care what others think as long as this activity makes me happy.
On the other hand, the problem with Orkut was that I was never able to devote any time to it without a sense of guilt. This guilt emanated from my subconscious realization that most of the things that I did on Orkut or that others do, conceal a veiled sense of vanity. The whole purpose of the site is to cash in on the most evil and most prevalent of all human shortcomings i.e. vanity. And this was precisely the argument which embarrased me, scolded me, jerked me and finally woke me up. I almost despised myself for falling into the trap. So I simply withdrew my account.
This brings me to my all important questions. Where does this vanity begin and where does it end ? How much of it should be acceptable before it gets vulgar and blatant ? In what forms does it reveal itself and finally, is it necessary for the existence of society ?
These are big philosophical questions and I would not dare go into their answers with my limited knowledge and understanding. The one thing I can say is that the fact that I want people to read this itself is a form of vanity which in effect defeats whatever I have been talking about. Maybe I will have to stop someday.
A very interesting thought. I guess vainity stems more from our need of acceptance & praise. We want to be acknowledged as being good at something. So is it right to say that vanity is utterly a vice ? May be not. As they say : Have it, flaunt it.
Besides if you are vain without reasons to support that vanity I would rather call it false pride, isnt it?
But as it is with every other attribute - too much of any thing would always be detrimental.
Anurup
PS: I never opened a orkut account albeit for other reasons :).
Isn't it true that if I am good at something, my actions should speak more than my mouth ? I don't think that I need to flaunt what I have in an ideal world. But sadly, this isn't an ideal world. This is a screwed up world which has its priorities all mixed up. In such a world, vanity unfortunately seems to be a necessary evil.
But then, I might just be in those utterly pessimistic moods today...
Orkut initially is addictive.Its almost like you trying to create impressions(sometimes fake) with the no of contacts/communities/scrap no/fans et al.
But after a while the interest weans..
But look at the good side of it.It connects you to people with whom you ve lost touch and helps to meet like minded people and discuss in communities.And i feel it should end at that.Fortunately or unfortunately its too much of an open community where people chat through scraps..and you start peering into others'.
That's why its best to be in touch with all through it..but chatting with friends should happen through the other means like IM etc..atleast thats what i believe.
Finally its up to you to use it to your needs/purpose instead of using it as a platform for flaunting.
You deleted your account!!dint know about it..Havent been logging in regularly because of lack of access.
I guess you are right... as you said, it depends on a person's preference what he wants to use a social community like Orkut for... sadly for me, I had started taking it the wrong way...
Amazing! We have been thinking about the same thing and perhaps have reached the same conclusion as well! Check out my latest post.
Oh and just to let you know, I didn't read your post before posting mine!
if vanity is inescapable, there is no point running away from it. In my opinion, it is one form of pursuit of pleasure. In this case, pleasure depends on other's opinion about oneself. There is nothing unnatural about it. It is not considered a virtue because in long term, people's opinions go awry, and you become more hurt than happy, as you cant do much about it. True happiness should only depend on things under your control.
@Ameet: It has nothing to do with what others think about me or whether their opinions will go awry one day. It is more to do with the personal guilt that I feel when I realize that I am running after something so superficial, false and misleading. And for what purpose. Nothing much. Just so that the other guy, whom I won't probably meet more than 5 times in my life, thinks that I am good at a something which hardly concerns both me and him.
It is not the effect which concerns me. It is the pathetic depths to which people (me) are ready to fall just for that small, insignificant second of false pride. Can there be anything more futile ? 🙂