A collection of short stories

3.Illusions of Social Media

Saturday,17th September
We got out of the BIBA's showroom and I realized that I have forgotten one of my shopping bag in the shop. I told my daughter and son to wait outside the shop and quickly went to take the bag. When I came out I could not find my children anywhere. I started looking for them and I spotted them outside Starbucks. They were clicking picture of Starbucks's logo. I quickly went there. I called them,"Ishan,Isha what are you doing here? I  told you to wait outside the shop." On this I got a weird reply from my son. He said,"Sorry mom. We were just clicking picture of Starbucks's logo to flaunt an elite lifestyle on social media." On this Isha added,"yes mom. This is just for flaunting and gaining followers. Come on let's go home." We sat in the car and I was constantly thinking about this incidence. I had been observing since few weeks that my children are completely under social media's control and they are completely addicted to it. They aren't really what they 'post to be' on social media. Before eating they don't pray to God but click picture of the food and upload it on social media. They  click many selfies to gain followers. I am scared that they don't get selfie syndrome because of this. They have even stopped reading books and all their physical activities. I decided to talk to them the next day.
Sunday,20th September
I was thinking about this matter and I did not realize when I fell asleep. I got up and saw in my watch it was 10 am. I got up late. I quickly went in the hall room to do the house course and to wake up my children. Suddenly I hear Isha yelling,"Mom,mom." I quickly ran to their room and asked,"what happened? Why are you shouting?" She said,"Ishan is in the bathroom since two hours and he is not ready to come out." I immediately started banging the door and after 5-10 minutes he opened the door. I was pissed off. I asked him,"What were you doing in the bathroom for whole two hours?" He replied,"I was just doing the ice bucket challenge. In this challenge we have to sit in the bath tub which is filled up with ice cubes." I was very angry and could not control my temper after hearing this. I literally started yelling ," how can you be so doltish? Are you so stupid to fall for any imbecile challenge and don't care about your health? Go quickly wear clothes and come out for breakfast." I went in the kitchen to make the breakfast. After the breakfast was ready I went in their room and saw Ishan lying in bed shivering. I touched him and his body was hot. I quickly grabbed the thermometer and saw his body temperature. His body temperature was 103°C. I was tensed and even my husband was out of town. I immediately called our family doctor, Dr Parab. Doctor came at our place after half an hour. Doctor checked him and asked me how did this happen? I said," Doctor all this has happened because of some doltish ice bucket challenge. These two are completely under social media's control. They devote most of their time to social media. For this challenge he literally sat in the bath tub filled with ice cubes for whole two hours." Even doctor was shocked and pissed after hearing all this. He said,"social media has created jealous behavior over illusions. Sadly many are envious of things that don't even exist. Children now-a-days do not invest their time in qualitative things. They live more in the virtual world than real one. I just want to tell both of you that spending some time on social media,normally surfing on internet is not wrong. It is wrong when you devote majority of time there and start getting addicted to it. It also affects your health. By clicking so many selfies you get addicted to it and you may get selfie syndrome which is also known as 'selfitis'. You can use internet for good things like research,to expand your knowledge, learning new things. So please take care of your health and don't fall for such challenges. Mrs Chopra give these medicines to him and he will be fine in couple of days." 'Thank you doctor.'
Sunday,27th September
I could see the change in my children after that incident. They had started spending less time on social media and invested more time in other things. They started reading books and many other physical activities. I was really happy after seeing this change. This was really an euphoric feeling.