‘Smartest’ 5th grader gets loads of wishes

LUDHIANA: It’s hard to imagine a 10-year-old causes marital discords, makes youngsters insomniac, maddens people with selfies, gives rise to terms like cyber bullying and phubbing and then also reaps the fruits of popularity and addiction.
Nonetheless there have been unbelievable reunions, incredible matchmakings, and ever-growing relationships with distance being just a number, quick college assignments and networking hits, both personal and professional.And as Facebook turns 10 today, say city folks, it is the smartest 5th grader they could ever meet.
“When I was in the 5th grade, (10 years old), I hardly got my numbers right. I was an average student and I am sure had Facebook been in my class, I would have hated him to the core because my mother would always talk about him”, laughs the 22-year-old Shivansh Gupta, a college student from Model Town.
For a social networking site to achieve, survive and maintain that popularity for 10 long years is an accomplishment in itself, asserts the 37-year-old Sambhav Mehra, a businessman from Ghumar Mandi. He says, “We have seen several applications and sites die just as they were born. And with such competition coming from all sides, besides the criticism that follows, to be able to sustain is not as easy as it seems. I wish Facebook a very happy birthday and hope it lives and blossoms for several years to come”.
Today Facebook boasts of some 1.23 billion users generating 6 billion likes and 350 million photos every day. But there was a time when Facebook, felt city folks, was too complicated for them.
“I joined Facebook in 2006 and I remember not knowing what to do with the account. I received an invite and signed up but during those days, Orkut was leading, with some other sites like tagged, myspace etc following, people knew little of Facebook”, asserts Divya Sharma, a fashion designer from Chandigarh Road.
And with simple sites like Orkut, everyone’s life revolved around the number of scraps they had. “Oh yes, I remember good old days of Orkut, we would go to a cyber café and sit for hours after college. That was the first wave of social networking and it was fun. Facebook looked too sophisticated and confusing during those days. A plane white page with royal blues by the side, Orkut instead had wallpapers you could choose from”, recalls Sahil Dewan, a dentist from New Model Gram.
But it wasn’t long before the city noticed that social networking had reached a new level with Facebook. “It came like a revolution and no matter how guilty I would feel for giving up on all other networking sites, Facebook was an addiction, and it still is. I think that’s what makes it very different, the fact that it has survived all these years and no competition has managed to cause even a little threat. I wish Facebook a hundred more years of success and life”, smiles Monika Kharbanda, an educationist from Gurdev Nagar.