“Today we may be connected in the virtual world what about the real world”

It has been almost two years of all of us being confined in our homes amid the covid-19 pandemic. And this is something which reminds me of the famous words said by Paul Virilio, One day the virtual world might win over the real world".

And I think that these words of him are coming true. Though we are very much in the virtual world, it is clear that the real world is lost. Yes lost. There is no scope of the world coming back to its normalcy. Things have even more worsened by the time. And so the daily cases and the mortality rate is sky rocking amid lockdown being imposed.

All this Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, Zoom, Google Meet, etc, make us feel that we are in touch via a virtual platform but, this reel can never replace the real everything, the real love, the real meetings. Most importantly, our presence is tangible but, in the virtual world, nothing is tangible. Everything we encounter or are bound to rendezvous is intangible.

But something which is encompassed to us on our routine basis or me is our best friend or the room, the computer, laptops, mobile phones or tablets screens. Adding to it are our keyboards, headsets. Billions of people around the globe sit in front of thick or flat screens and their hands either on the cursor or on the keyboard shuffling between both like a ping pong ball.

The virtual world has become a norm and the "new normal" for everyone. Be it juvenile kids, teenagers, adults, middle-aged, and senior citizens. It is true that after the internet, the virtual or the “reel world” is going to be a grand onset in the years to come. For instance, the virtual world has changed the definition of learning.

Learning with technology has made learning even more engaging and fun for kids. This perhaps because of the usage of audio and video clips. Something which is like a cherry on the top is that virtually one can get access to a thousand things. Like chiefly a 360 degree view of Shakespeare's globe, a virtual excursion to famous buildings and monuments all around the world.

Apart from school things, the virtual world is even coming in benefit to the professionals. For instance, a doctor took the scans of an infant's heart, uploaded them on his laptop, and took a virtual tour of the heart. With this, he could effortlessly perform surgery before time and save the baby by getting to know the crux of the problem. For the trainee, surgeons can perfect their techniques in a pragmatic setting and put their theories to test before implementing them in the real world.

Though from the above, we can say that the virtual can unquestionably rule over the physical world. But for some who are not so techno-savvy, this virtual world is more like a challenge to those. Also, we must not forget the point that the virtual world comes with physically affecting some of us. Yes, that's very well true for some people and even for me sitting on screen for more than forty minutes at a stretch made me nauseatic and gave me bouts of vomiting. Sometimes I even suffered from severe headaches after my classes or doing something. But people even suffer from nausea and vomiting just after thirty minutes.

On one side, we all want high-speed data and net packs, big memory cards, big-big storage capacity, high megapixels, new filters, stickers, and emojis. On the other side, if we see lifestyle problems like high blood pressure, diabetes has almost rented every Indian middle-class household. Also, young preschoolers have specks on their noses due to this virtual era. So the ball is totally in our court now. We have two choices left now, either more and more of technology and the "reel world" or our health.