Smartphone - New Generation's Soft Killer

It was a pleasant Thursday evening. I was having a casual conversation with one of my colleagues. Some of the excerpts:

Mr. X – Hey, do you know that Snapchat is on the verge of overtaking Whatsapp?!

Me – Generally tend to avoid such questions. *Perplexed look*

Mr. X – You don’t know? Ok just think about it.. How many hours are you on Whatsapp & recently how much have you been using Snapchat?

Me – God please kill me.. Not much idea about these things bro.

Mr. X – *Eyes & nostrils expanding* *forehead contracting* What are you talking about?

Me – *hesitantly* I.. I kinda don’t use smartphone!

Mr. X – *Time stopped* *Eyes and temple veins popped out* *Nose disappeared* How on earth are you alive dude??!!! But why??! Why are you not smart yet?

Me – So you’re telling me that you’re smarter than me because you have an Iphone?

Mr. X – HELL YEAH!!!! I am always aware of the entire world.. 1000s of people at my fingertips, all the time!! It’s like my soul now..

Me – Woh.. Your soul..!? Big revelation that!! What if I steal it??! As the secret to most of your smartness is granted to you by that device you flaunt so pompously, will you be a dumb human being if I or anyone for that matter steals it?

Mr. X – *Long pause* *Perplexed & blank look*..

Let me be very frank here. Technological advancements in most of the fields have been at such a breathtaking pace in the last decade that most people can’t even imagine how their predecessors used to live without it. Technology has made life simpler, enhanced the productivity of work, and has enabled people from any part of the world to be connected to one another. So far so good.

My problem starts when Mr. Tech (smartphones + internet) gets all too personal. The magnitude of control that smartphones have over each and every aspect of people’s personal lives is mind boggling. The addiction with smartphones is worse than that of Nicotine. At least, people consuming Nicotine know that they have an addiction & that they can be cured if they really wish to be. But, smartophobics (forgive me for inventing this word) have no freaking idea; either of the fact that they are addicted or that it is seriously harmful to their own identity!

In a 2011 experiment published in Science Magazine, college students remembered less information when they knew they could later access it easily on the computer.¹ The brains of very frequent surfers or smartphone users don’t store much in their long term memory (because they know that they can easily access it on Google), which the brain uses to facilitate critical thinking. Our brain needs these memories to understand and interact with the world around us.²

And I am not even including the medical hazards on our eyes and spinal cord.

Picture this – How common a site it has become to see youngsters with their necks bent, pupils dilated (harmful light from phone), & restlessly banging thumbs. In recent times, there have been many reported cases of girls’ deaths because they couldn’t notice the incoming train while crossing, as they were busy in wonderland. Just imagine the price you might have to pay for not being aware of your surroundings! Go to restaurant, pub, discotheque, birthday party, morning walk, bus-stand, railway station; be it travelling, sleeping, walking, eating, relaxing.. you name it; people today are so busy being busy that they forget the fact that these moments can be utilized to build crucial human (face-to-face) relationships, which sometimes might last a lifetime. They seem totally oblivious to their surroundings, while living in a parallel world of their own.

As such in today’s busy schedule, people hardly get time for themselves. Every such opportunity should be utilized in appreciating the beauty that nature has bestowed us with. Albert Einstein once said, “There are 2 ways to live: you can live as if nothing is a miracle, you can live as if everything is a miracle.” Frequent travelers or people whose homes are closer to nature (hilltop, river-side, forest etc.) will tell you what a deeply soul-enriching experience it is to be with nature, to appreciate the magnificence, the beauty, the purity of the world that is around us. Throw away that goddamn gadget, go and have a one-on-one interaction with nature. Introspect, understand the purpose of life.. just be with yourself. The greatest inventor ever, Nikola Tesla, had this to say: “The mind is sharper and keener in seclusion and uninterrupted solitude. No big laboratory is needed in which to think… Be alone, that is the secret of invention; be alone, that is when ideas are born.” Magical words these!! Love being alone, embrace your imperfections, soak in the grandeur of nature and lose yourself in it. Because only by completely surrendering yourself, can you find your true identity.

However, the most deep rooted problem and biggest fear of smartophobics is being alone! The avalanche of social networking sites in our daily lives has meant that people are, practically, never alone. Ever flashing status updates, pics changing every hour, senseless portrayal of one’s desires/ambitions/feelings to the outside world, has meant that people are never actually living in the moment. They are more worried about “showing” people that they are living, that they have problems, or that they are cool. This intense desire for appreciation is the root cause of all the deterioration in our society. Unless people share their daily lives with the outside world, unless they are appreciated, they feel left out. This breeds frustration & consequently a life full of misery, which, ironically is also put up as an update! Jean-Paul Sartre once said, “If you are lonely when you're alone, you are in bad company.” What a powerful thought!

There is no denying the fact that being appreciated is a basic human trait. But that appreciation, however tough it may sound, has to come from oneself.. for oneself.

I neither want to be nor like being in touch with everyone all the time. I don’t want to know which airport others are currently waiting on, which restaurant they ate yesterday, which book they have been reading, which movies they are watching etc.. 2 reasons why:  i) It completely breaks my concentration from whatever it is that I am focused on at that moment. ii) It wrongly makes me feel as though it’s only I who has to go through the problems, everyday rigours, moral dilemma, career dilemma etc. in my day-to-day life, whereas, it’s all hunky-dory for the others.  According to a recent survey, the pressure to “Always be Available” is the most significant cause of stress, anxiety, hypertension etc. which are the major side-effects of excessive smartphone or internet usage. People have stopped using their brains for minor everyday requirements because they have their loyal companion always by their side. People who should be spending their free time acquiring wisdom through the innumerable, life changing books that are freely available to us (a very positive aspect of the internet) waste their precious time aimlessly chit-chatting or playing innumerable games available on their smartphone for this very purpose.

I would like to state again that I am all for technological advancement, but we should try to demarcate our professional & personal usage. Limiting its interference in your personal life allows you to slow down the maniacal pace of life. We have often heard that “Life moves so fast, you hardly realize it before you are old.” Slow it down. Bring it down to your desired pace & the perception of time will enhance. You will feel the moment & explore the opportunity that every moment brings with it. 6 years old kids these days, who should be getting muddy in the playground are navigating through muddy terrains in Temple Run. This is setting a horrible foundation for our future generations. The age when kids should grow naturally, explore their surroundings, make deep friendships, get drenched in the rain, all of which arouses their curiosity, now get excited by top-scoring & getting an extra life. What an utter waste of childhood; what a sheer trampling of innocence!!

I would like to state another observation here. And let me clarify that I don’t mean any disrespect to the professional photographers here. The cameras are undoubtedly one of the greatest inventions of the modern era. However, the growing eagerness to capture every instant of our lives on camera has a very bad implication. Whenever we visit a memorable place, there is always this tendency to take as many pictures, record as much as possible so that others can appreciate it too. This prohibits us from “just being” in the moment, soaking in every tiny bit of detail that is available. When we have no-one, and I mean no-one to please but ourselves, life begins to unfold its mystical & magical layers in every moment. We always enjoy things much more if we know we might never get the chance to be there again. Scenes which used to be etched in our brains are now part of a database. People have stopped “living in the present” because they can always “re-live the past.” Confession: I, myself might never stop taking snapshots if I encounter a picturesque location, but I do try to finish it off fast so that for the remaining duration I can absorb its essence.

Just imagine what Galileo would have achieved if he had worried about getting appreciated by the church, which was the “authority!” Living for other’s approval & appreciation is leading to the death of creativity, the death of risk-taking, and the death of self-respect & self-worth. I have a deep feeling that in today’s age, we will never find a Tesla, but only a Steve Jobs; never an Einstein, only a Zuckerberg; never a Ramanujan or a Shakuntala Devi, only a Bill Gates or a Jack Ma! How can a Maths genius be born if there’s the omnipresent Excel to “facilitate” his/her thinking. All of it sometimes makes me wonder.. Where are we heading towards? What is the purpose of our technological advancement? Is it making us happier or turning us into a bunch of slaves & addicts? Whatever happened to friends meeting/talking after a long duration & sharing long anecdotes?! Nothing is excitingly new now because everything has been shared with everyone. Stories replaced by updates, achievements recognized by the magnitude of likes & comments. A long hug to a close friend replaced by hug-smileys, a self-made  shabby birthday card from a close one, which meant more than a diamond, replaced by meaningless b’day wishes on our wall!

The meaning of brain-drain used to be the emigration of human talent offshore. It has a whole new meaning now, a more literal & a more perilous one! We have been taught to live with our heads held high; we are living with our necks bent down. Let’s bring back the humanness in humanity. Switch off your phone.. Switch on your life!

¹ Small, G.W, T.D Moody, P Siddarth, and S.Y Bookheimer. “Your Brain on Google: Patterns of Cerebral Activation During Internet Searching.” 

² http://academicearth.org/electives/internet-changing-your-brain/