CHATTING AWAY OUR TALENTS

iyosayi14 Creative Writing Leave a Comment

Someone once updated this on 2go – your progress bar on 2go is a reflection of your level of idleness’.

This note is specially written for the generation of ‘social networkers’ of which I once was a part of before it hit me that time spent chatting almost all day, even while walking down the road, in a cab, while eating and even in the toilet and other ridiculous places and positions too numerous to be mentioned could actually be used for productive things, one of which is developing my God given talent.

The rate at which people spend time chatting online these days is really alarming as interpersonal relationship is being replaced with cyber space relationships. From blackberry chat, 2go, facebook chat, nimbuzz, ebuddy, whatsapp and the likes, various social networking chats have slowly crept into our lives and is gradually ruining physical interactions between people and also stealing productive time that could be used for better things.

Yes, indeed they help bring long lost friends closer and help us meet new people and keep in touch with family and friends all over the world but like the saying goes, too much of everything is bad. Over use and abuse of these social sites is a problem and one can easily become an addict and a slave to them. They could be likened to drugs people take to make them feel high when they are feeling down emotionally. One excuse most people make is that chatting helps keep away boredom, then I ask what kept us busy in those days when theses chat site were not common? What has happened to our talents? Our individual passion?

Worse hit by these social sites is our spellings. As we try to respond quickly, we start abbreviating words and writing in our own invented short hand. This has become a part of us such that even in our official letters and examination scripts we forget and tend to write in such. 

I feel so much pity for the upcoming lads who have given up their teenage years and childhood for social networking in an unconscious bid to grow up fast. Gone are the days when kids had time for both indoor and outdoor games, novels, essays and other leisure activities that help shape people and lead them to discovering their talents which I strongly doubt can be discovered while chatting in incoherent English every blessed day.


There is time for everything. It’s okay to chat but not to the extent where you chat away your talents and productive time. Lets learn to create time for everything as we grow each day, organize our priorities and manage our time effectively in such a way that we devout more time to the more important things and also utilize our potentials effectively while living a well balanced life socially, educationally, financially and in all ramifications of life.

Let’s not allow what has been given freely to us ruin our cherished relationships, friendships and families. It’s annoying talking to someone and the person is paying you no attention all because he or her fingers are on the keypads. This has turned into a new menace parents now have to deal with as the rate at which kids have taken to chatting calls for caution. 

The first thing they do once they wake up in the morning is to pick up their phones and off to social networking sites. Even while eating, it’s chatting all the way. Also, people now chat freely during church service, showing no respect for God. In the car, at work, at school, many people have passed their bus stops all because of chatting. It’s appalling!

I can write about this because I’ve been there. I was one hell of a facebook addict till I realized how much of my precious time I had wasted chatting while my talent was rotting away. Then again, if I was chatting all day, this note would never be written nor those great songs you listen to on your mp3’s and phones if the musicians were all chatting away, nor would you have that phone if the person who gave you the money to purchase it was chatting all day, not busy with his or her brain or hands in an attempt to make money.



Well, what do I know? I am but just a kid…..

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