Are we being Used?

There was a time when we had a telephone in the house which was only aesthetically different from what Graham Bell had invented. It would remain in a corner of the house and would be used rather infrequently for corresponding with our acquaintances around the world.

Technology advances ensured that this masterpiece was slowly replaced by the wireless variety and the telephone slowly made its way into previously unknown territory which included the kitchen, bathroom, the bedroom pillow and more commonly the balcony. We were still using it whenever we felt the need although its ready availability meant a more frequent use.

The birth of cellular phones was the beginning of the end of our control over this benign instrument. This innocent device broke free from the clutches of the 4 walls of our home and started residing in the pockets of its new admirers. Its purpose now extended beyond making and receiving calls as it became associated with social status. The first signs of change became apparent when it started fulfilling our esteem needs of getting noticed even when we did not make a conscious effort to flaunt it.

Matters went out of hand with the advent of the internet on cellular phones. This instrument of semi-luxury suddenly became a medium to access the world of information. People who did not have the means to buy a PC and had only previously heard about places could now virtually be there through this device. People, who were otherwise unheard of, became much sought after household celebrities. Information that was only the domain of the so-called literate was now readily available to everyone in the language of their choice. Content, which was previously available in the dark alleys of your town was now available on their palms to titillate their secret pleasures. The smart phone monster had been born.

This was a monster like no other. It needed constant attention, immediate acknowledgement and incessant pampering. It had an insatiable hunger for “power” and needed your constant “touch” to remain calm. It could employ many ruses to lure you back from your self-imposed separation and it was very rare that none of them worked. It was christened “Smart” for a reason that we did not even realize at that point in time.

At first, ‘it’ would demand my attention whenever there was a break in my routine activity. Leisure time at home, in between meetings, while waiting at a traffic light, in between conversations and while waiting for my food order to be delivered. Things got worse when ‘it’ began to force me to take these breaks against my will. ‘It’ now interrupts my thoughts in meetings making me incoherent and impacting my work. ‘It’ floods the available space in my internal memory with gigabytes of data which I know I will never need. ‘It’ lures me with its incessant prodding, even when I have forced ‘it’ to be silent. ‘It’ has captured my concentration levels to an extent that my studies are now done during the breaks from the time I spend with ‘it’ rather than the other way around. ‘It’ draws my attention while I am in conversation with friends making me seem distant and I know the feeling since this happens to my friends as well when they are in conversation with me. ‘It’ captures my focus while I am with family so much so that I know more about a discrete individual in a faraway land than the daily happening in my daughter’s life. ‘It’ tempts me to buy stuff one day and with equal zeal lures me into selling it the next. ‘It’ provokes me to send an insensitive and rather cold wish to my family and friends on their special days even when they are a few minutes away from a warm hug. ‘It’ has created a previously non-existent narcissistic streak in me which makes me share my life with people that I am barely acquainted with in the quest for their virtual likes. And importantly, all this has happened without me even realizing it. Can anyone or anything be more ‘Smart’?

My ‘smart’ phone has more people’s details in it than I would have ever dreamed of being acquainted with but I have never felt lonelier in my life. I pride myself on all the things my device can do for me but in a moment of silent reflection, an eerie thought came to me.

Am I using ‘it’ OR AM I BEING USED?

Coach-Ram

https://www.coach-ram.in


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