It felt as though the people of this city walked the earth, yet their souls resided elsewhere. Their laughter, sorrow, life, death, and even love all revolved around the orbit of artificiality. Aesthetic values were hidden behind filters, pasted on with something as permanent as super glue. Only the hearts remained fluttering like cotton in the wind, torn into a hundred pieces yet still stitched together by threads of completeness. Every courtroom stood on the electric grounds of digital justice. Justice, too, was now only available online. A person’s identity was no longer tied to their character, but to their follower count. Not only politicians but government officials, too, were now running across digital wires above our heads.
The art of enlightening minds with the tone and depth of conversations was a thing of the past. Now, just a "challenging thumbnail" in a video was enough to declare someone a thinker, leader, or inspirational figure. Channu, the boy who sat every evening outside the neighborhood shop whom people once avoided eye contact with was now gathering fame on the internet under the name "Social Phenomena". Whenever someone went to meet him, they were told he was "online", with no certainty of his return.
His daily life, filled with substandard humor and shallow talk, ruled the hearts of millions. In the real world, where he was once looked down upon, he now wore crowns of respect and wealth in the digital one. It’s not that he performed any great intellectual or moral service, no. All he had was a stolen phone camera, the ability to memorize a few lines, and the shamelessness to do everything society once deemed disgraceful.
But this wasn’t just Channu’s story, it was everyone’s story. A society that now thinks not with its mind, but through Wi-Fi signals. Where knowledge sells less than clickbait, character matters less than camera angles, and truth is less valuable than hashtags. Life had gone online. Once, the blessings of elders sitting in the courtyard would turn fate around. Now, a viral Facebook post would bring the police, media, and NGOs rushing in with their camera phones. Where once people waited years outside courthouses pleading for justice, now a viral video was enough, justice would arrive with its own cameras.
In this new judicial system, online images became witnesses, and often, views and likes decided the verdict. Prominent figures on political stages now wore megaphones. Once, debates were won with logic and substance now, sheer volume made one the conqueror of destiny. Once, speeches were full of eloquence, depth, and insight now, sarcasm, mockery, and accusations had become "engaging content". The public no longer responded to reason, but to noise, anger, and red eyes in a video.
Fake news, artificial characters, and manufactured emotions had taken entire generations hostage.
"Facebook is flooded with judges now;
Justice lies free in the lap of its own laws."
— Sadia Bashir
This wasn't just moral decline, it was cultural suicide. Intellectuals were pushed into corners; vloggers had become teachers. Happiness wasn’t acknowledged unless it was online. Grief had to be accompanied by emotional captions to earn sympathy coins. Even prayers were not considered complete unless commented on and shared. Scrolling had replaced books. And worst of all, people had stopped looking into mirrors preferring their front camera as the measure of reality.
The real tragedy wasn't that everything had moved online it was that people had stopped believing they were real. In the ocean of performance, crocodiles and small fish swam alike. Online gambling kept these digital crocodiles fed by devouring others. We had reached a point where the soul's depth was less valuable than a deep filter. The eyes no longer possessed the sight to see the truth. Now, the only tool to verify fact or fiction was the camera. A human’s worth was no longer judged by their intentions or actions but by their digital influence. Most people had become "content creators". The true face of life now lived in reels. People were not alive anymore, they were just viral.
Khalid Irfan beautifully captured the picture:
"The internet was invented for the lovelorn,
Search engines are a gift for the unmarried.
Letters are now typed with a mouse,
Even sighs are uploaded online.
Lovers now have a new type and style
Once it was veils, now it’s Skype."
In Faiz's poetry, the longing to gaze at a beloved now required residency on Facebook. From devastation to despair, all brands of tragedy were available online. In Facebook’s alleyways, one could find both the glance of a beloved and the miracles of poetry, alongside the spectacle of sleight-of-hand illusions. Online, flowers bloomed from words, and filtered stars were shared. On one side, there were graveyards, where people showed up briefly and left behind mourning processions. A beggar would only get attention once the camera arrived. A hungry person’s meal, street cleaning, a petitioner’s file, everything waited hours for a camera to capture it. Even phone signals or calls only seemed to work when the camera lens was on.
The camera was the savior and the destroyer. It was the judge and the witness. It was through its "blessed" videos that people gained positions and became favorites. The camera was both friend and foe. Many people, wrapped in loudspeakers, threw their life’s earnings into the lens and in their attempt to expose others, ended up revealing their own filth. Yet they were still considered respectable. From the wilderness to doomsday, every scene flowed forward. What the true apocalypse was no one really knew.
Only God's name remains..
