My youngest son, who is in sixth grade, today professed that he is the odd one out in his class. The grounds? He is the lone one who doesn’t own a cell phone. Likewise, my elder one also stands out, not because he is the only one in class who plays classical violin or who can play the drums.. but because he doesn’t have a laptop. His cell problem had been solved as a birthday gift.
I didn’t have a cell or a laptop ten years ago. But then my memory was sharper, and I had Time. If ever I needed to call anyone, I could go to any phone, and get the number straight from my head. All the numbers, birthdays, anniversaries, and appointments were stored neatly inside my brain. It never got suspended, or the screen never froze. I used to call friends to clear doubts, and visited libraries frequently. I had piles of notes filed neatly. Carbon copies given by friends were a luxury. I used to write pages and pages with a real pen.
When I was in school, using a calculator in maths class was cheating, and you were a queen if you owned one. It was a prescribed medicine to repeat the multiplication tables daily. But now, every device, be it watch, phone, computer (even notebooks and files)… has a calculator tucked in somewhere. No need to think, no need to count on your fingers.. just type the numbers..
I can clearly recall the hours I had spent in the card shops, hunting for the greeting cards for dears and nears. The perfect words to match the perfect picture for the right person was very important. Birthdays, Christmas, New year.. the celebrations became exciting with cards. I used to wait eagerly for that soon-going-to-be-extinct creature called Postman.. Each card and letters you got had a personal touch knitted with love.
With all our modern connectivity, I feel more and more detached from the outer world. I get a wind about my friends through their scraps, without having to talk to them directly. Long descriptive letters written painstakingly to the loved ones became short sms, which one has to think twice to get the real meaning with those short forms. I hate short forms. So it takes me forever to type on that small keypad.
Is communication becoming an afterthought? Something we do when we don’t have anything else to do? Or something that we do together with something else? Talking with your parents while watching television, chatting with eight or ten people at the same time, there’s always some or other kind of distraction.. You never give your full attention to one. The ability just to communicate with someone alone is slowly getting lost.
When was the last time you wrote a long hand written letter? When was the last time you had gone to a shop and bought a greeting card? When was the last time you added or multiplied a four digit number without using a calculator? When was the last time you dialled a phone number without looking at the contact list?
There are times when I wished I could turn the clock back… but then panic grips me. How would I ever able to contact anyone? How would I love the meaning of words? How would I check the movie timings? How would I shop online? How would I clear my doubts? How would I get some recipes and tips? How would I read the newspapers and magazines? How would I know what is happening around me? How would………I survive????????
I didn’t have a cell or a laptop ten years ago. But then my memory was sharper, and I had Time. If ever I needed to call anyone, I could go to any phone, and get the number straight from my head. All the numbers, birthdays, anniversaries, and appointments were stored neatly inside my brain. It never got suspended, or the screen never froze. I used to call friends to clear doubts, and visited libraries frequently. I had piles of notes filed neatly. Carbon copies given by friends were a luxury. I used to write pages and pages with a real pen.
When I was in school, using a calculator in maths class was cheating, and you were a queen if you owned one. It was a prescribed medicine to repeat the multiplication tables daily. But now, every device, be it watch, phone, computer (even notebooks and files)… has a calculator tucked in somewhere. No need to think, no need to count on your fingers.. just type the numbers..
I can clearly recall the hours I had spent in the card shops, hunting for the greeting cards for dears and nears. The perfect words to match the perfect picture for the right person was very important. Birthdays, Christmas, New year.. the celebrations became exciting with cards. I used to wait eagerly for that soon-going-to-be-extinct creature called Postman.. Each card and letters you got had a personal touch knitted with love.
With all our modern connectivity, I feel more and more detached from the outer world. I get a wind about my friends through their scraps, without having to talk to them directly. Long descriptive letters written painstakingly to the loved ones became short sms, which one has to think twice to get the real meaning with those short forms. I hate short forms. So it takes me forever to type on that small keypad.
Is communication becoming an afterthought? Something we do when we don’t have anything else to do? Or something that we do together with something else? Talking with your parents while watching television, chatting with eight or ten people at the same time, there’s always some or other kind of distraction.. You never give your full attention to one. The ability just to communicate with someone alone is slowly getting lost.
When was the last time you wrote a long hand written letter? When was the last time you had gone to a shop and bought a greeting card? When was the last time you added or multiplied a four digit number without using a calculator? When was the last time you dialled a phone number without looking at the contact list?
There are times when I wished I could turn the clock back… but then panic grips me. How would I ever able to contact anyone? How would I love the meaning of words? How would I check the movie timings? How would I shop online? How would I clear my doubts? How would I get some recipes and tips? How would I read the newspapers and magazines? How would I know what is happening around me? How would………I survive????????
5 comments:
You are perfectly right.The way things are moving,in another decade or two,the human brain will cease to operate as a thinking organ,and will ultimately become a vegetable,with,its own creation,"The Machine",taking over all its functions.Atleast here,you are making an attempt to resist this universal change by helping your children develop their natural faculties,as far as they can.
Your language n presentaion is as usual wonderful.But I feel,when you write on human emotions like love,friendship,happyness,sadness etc....thats when your real penmanship comes out.
Nice to see you get out of that rut of sentimental craps and topics,to dwelve on something more worldly.Add a bit of humour too,(suggest looking up Oliver Goldsmith's essays,where he combines pathos with humour),and am sure your short reminiscenses will hve more punch.
There is an essay by Bernard Shaw "How wealth accumalates and men decay ".It tells about how a man's knowledge had started declining with the coming of machines and distribution of labour.The average man of the past knew more than what he does today.
With the growth in technology ,we have started depending so much on these gadgets that one would feel handicapped without them.And not possessing those can even make you feel abnormal and defective.
Well written !
sarita,
a real life happening.why do u compare the present life with your childhood or teenage days?what you enjoyed,your parents never did.so,let's look forward.
i recommend '10 days to faster reading''it helps a lot.
to be honest,iam very poor at remembering names[minimum five times i ask a person his/her name].forget phone nos.
take a break and live in the world of silence.wonderful.but can we? waiting for more posts,
me
superb narration,,,,,,,,,,, good to see you here
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