WHAT IS TECHNOLOGY DOING TO US?
In today’s context, technology has opened many doors for mankind and has made complex processes and tedious tasks simpler. It has revolutionised the way we communicate with each other, it has made medical breakthroughs possible and provided us with new dimensions in learning and developing intellectual skills. However, as much as we scream about the wonders of technology, it seems that it has the ability to control our lives, the way we live and the way we communicate with people, leaving many of us completely dependent on technology to get us by each day.
Walk into a café and observe how people are now glued to their phones and other electronic devices instead of communicating, chatting or enjoying each other’s company. Look around the restaurant during dinner time and observe how families have both children and parents tapping away at a device, be it an iPad, iPhone or a tablet computer. Walk into a college canteen during break hours or lunch time and observe how many students are talking to each other – instead they are tapping away at their phones and other devices. In the train or buses, people no longer enjoy the scenery or observe the surroundings, instead they are engrossed in texting, playing mobile phone games or listening to songs on the MP3.
It looks like people have forgotten the magic of talking to each other, enjoying friendly banter and or chatting. Before the entry of technology and its magical devices, the world was a friendly and beautiful place with people chatting in coffee shops, students sitting around a table sharing jokes, families engaged in conversations or even children jibing their siblings and the happy laughter and conversations of students during break hours. People used to chat on buses, neighbours built relationships over the fences, coffee shops and cafes had families and friends talking to each other, sharing personal problems, dishing out advice and recollecting bygone times.
The crux of the matter is simple – people are not talking to each other anymore. Let technology be an enabler and not a master. Do not allow technology to control your families, your children or other aspects of your life. Step out of the house and enjoy the garden, go for a swim or teach the young children “real” football and not an electronic one. Playgrounds today are deserted places because children are more interested in online games and rarely play in the park or playground. How many children today know how to play traditional games such as five stones, congkak, hopscotch and “rubber-band” high jump. Put a check on technology, enjoy the convenience but do not allow it to control your lives and enslave the human race.
By Christina Thomas
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