Remember how kicked you were when you screamed “lizard” and your mother almost fainted in the kitchen? Or when you picked up the phone, dialled a friend, and told him you were calling from the police station and that he has been charged with theft? Or perhaps when your sibling freaked out after you feigned injury by putting drops of ketchup on your knee? There was a time when that was part and parcel of April Fool’s Day.
Not anymore though as now we rely, on technology, to fool people. Internet ruses are ever so common and you don’t need an All Fools Day to get someone to believe that the leaning tower of Pisa has toppled or is finally standing upright. Physical gags are phased out and virtual shenanigans are the order of the day.
Solomon Jothi, a twelfth grader, says: “People still pull pranks on April Fool’s Day and to an extent it’s become harder to prank someone, given the technology we have at our disposal. But then again, it depends on how good the prankster’s skills are. When we were younger, we’d play pranks in person but now we’ve got so many more avenues to fool people.”
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“Nowadays people don’t pull trivial pranks like we used to back in the day. Technology has helped make pranks fool proof. Since technology is used to investigate authenticity, technology can be tweaked to give a false positive! And a plan is made days in advance as opposed to how impulsive fooling someone used to be earlier,” says Prashanth Wesley, a musician and teacher.
Edward Somgal, marketing manager for a mobile app-developing firm says: “Technology has helped us in more ways than one. In case you are wary of making prank call thanks to truecaller, the good news is it is possible to not have your number listed on the app.
There is a way around whatsapp too. Pranksters such as Danish Sait pull off a prank over the phone every single day. So much technology might make it seem like fooling someone is difficult, but the truth is, it is not impossible!”
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Edward has an elaborate prank up his sleeve this year. “I’ve got a friend of mine to believe that I like a particular girl and am planning to take her on a date to this fancy restaurant. I sent him screenshots of the restaurant. On April 1, I’m going to even check in to the restaurant on Facebook and Four Square on my phone, and I’m sure he’s going to fall for it.”
Today’s pranks have got more complex. “The more people we involve, the more fun it is,” says Sushma Nayar, a copywriter. “Whatsapp groups are the best place to fool someone. Everything about the pranks we play on Whatsapp is staged. The rest of us (pranksters) create a separate group to prank someone on the main group, and everybody plays along. Sometimes, this can go on for days.”
In all of this, one thing is certain, technology has revolutionised the way we fool people and the extent to which we are infallible. So while you probably won’t be fooled by the fictitious breaking news on the internet or by that hoax call about your winning the lottery, chances are, someone, somewhere, somehow, is already in the process of pulling a prank on you today.