In this new cyber-age, everyone seems to be confessing on Face-book and Twitter like anything! In some religion, confession is a practice, a self cleansing, self purification, a therapy under the supervision of religious leader. Gandhi Bapu said, “Confession of errors is like a broom which sweeps away the dirt and leaves the surface brighter and clearer. I feel stronger for confession”.

Here’s an astounding statistic - Internet statistics say that there are 293,000 status updates every minute on Face-book. Communication Devices, Social Networking Websites are programming people to confess their every movement, every activity of the day onto the world-wide-web… The act of confession has become a public event which are both encouraged and perpetuated by Face-book, Twitter and blogging.

I wonder, why does young generation post every event, every detail of their life online? Who actually cares? Does this gives you a sense of importance? self-worth? Why people update so many messages, events pictures of their life onto the web? Why friends and relatives following every bit of each other? Is this public communication make oneself known to others? Why confess to such large audience?

I thought, confession and life was something private, between ourselves and our priest, family and friends. Purpose was for self healing, for reaching peace.

However, 21st century online generation has made everything about their life to be a public affair. Writing Autobiographies was also way of confession of personal and professional life. There's also the routine ‘Confessions' in the likes of hugely popular magazines like Hello and OK!

TV shows like Oprah Winfrey Show, Sach Ka Saamna were making confessions of celebreties open to public! Now, everyone seems to catching the same boat. Is this a good thing? A Great thing? Or a terrible thing?

Of course getting things out of your chest have a feel good factor in it but does it makes us better individual? A better society? Or does it brings in a state of confusion about who we are? It does not stops at writing or sharing photographs on the Internet. There are so many CCTVs, Security Microphones now to intrude. Now, with 3G, 4G, 5G... what we have is live video cameras into our living rooms.

I was born and brought up in a private world, a family. Our family was a private world for parents and children. Children had their private world too. There were no CCTV, Security microphones, Internet or Cell phones to intrude; No Face-book or Twitter to update photos. Couples then trusted each other’s words; today they check their GPS location or SMS Sent box.

Why so much insecurity?

Why today, everything exists to end in a photograph? Why do we want to make our world, our life a tourist place for everyone? Is it not paranoid to assume that people are paying attention to every tweet or every facebook update we made? I am saying this as a Grandpa, who pays attention to way my children and grandchildren live.

Reality TV shows such as ‘Big Boss’ are offering a weird and vicarious pleasure out of watching each action of the participants. Do we really need to know whether they shave their underarms and which brand of shampoo they use? Are we really interested in what people do behind closed doors that we should delight in its exhibition.

Is it that our life is empty and we have a paucity of thoughts and ideas that we should stoop to this? Have we forgotten the little decencies of life and take pride in exhibiting ourselves to everyone? Or is it the reverse? Is it that we have become a society of voyeurs? As society or exhibitionism? Why is there Increasingly obsessive surveillance? Why is the youth getting kicks from you-tube videos and facebook photos? and the outrageous exhibitionism?

Most of the online addicted youth, are all too happy to jump to the nearest computer or their mobile phone to tell everyone about latest happening, be it colour of their new underwear or latest holiday snaps. Is it about freedom? Is it about surveillance or is it about exhibition? My grand kids get onto facebook and twitter, those two social abominations, and let the whole world know what they did first thing in the morning, how they felt, publish photos of their parties and everything. Who wants to know and why?

Interestingly, the same generation does want to know each thing about the other. What is galling is that these kids spend the whole day at school or college or at work with their friends and back at home they have to tweet or chat over face-book or twitter about what they did and gossip. Is social networking a fancy name for gossip? Is this technology for help or is it a devilish instrument to keep tabs on someone?

Interference is not just confined to people. We do it to animals and drive them to extinction because we do not like greenery around us or water bodies. Everything must be covered in asphalt and stone and trees must be cut down to build wider roads and more soulless buildings. Surely a tree can co-exist with a building?

It's gotten so we cannot even live with ourselves in tranquility. We must take drugs to have a soul enlivening experience; meditation is not good enough. We cannot perhaps bear to let the soul live on its own.

I was born and brought up in a world which had police of “Live and let live” . Today, it is “Live and Watch How Others Live!”. Is this philosophy making our world a better place to live in? Confession used to be a pre-requisite to repentance and forgiveness. At work we have CCTVs, and at home CCTVs with internet broadcast facility, GPS Tracking, Mobile Tracking, and Twitter Updates.... Why does it matter so much to peek into peoples' lives? A fallout is that once we observe others, it becomes our duty to judge and criticize. We become fault finders! It seems to be our right to speak out without a complete understanding.

Live and let live philosophy of India, embodies tolerance and acceptance of people and things the way they are, their right to be that way. There is a saying that if we live in glass houses, we should not throw stones. But we do and chunks of rocks at that, words that spew out thoughtlessly with the sole aim of making one feel superior. We just can't let live or leave it. Talking of TV, every time after an India cricket match, “experts” hotly debate how a bowler should have bowled and how a batsman should have played a ball. It is a good thing we are not at war; they would tell the soldiers how to play it on the battlefield. Is sport for enjoyment or for paranoid scientific analysis?

Surprisingly, no one dares to raise a voice or do anything about racketeering, land grabbing, bootlegging, child labour, prostitution rings, drug running, encroachment or extortion. Then all of a sudden it is a case of live and let live. After all, what they do does not harm us or concern us, does it?