There is a famous saying that technology is the ability of arranging the world in a manner that we don't have to experience it. Quite right! If we look at our way of experiencing the world, we will realise that we are becoming more and more virtual? For most of us, a working day consist mostly sitting on an aloof desk, busy taking calls or staring at the computer screen for several hours in a row. As for after work…, there are quite a many things to keep us busy, TV, LCDs, DVDs, home theatres, play stations, broadband and face book. The trend of family outings and friends hanging out is becoming rarer and reduced to weekends mostly. Some of us hardly get to chat with our family everyday.
As the pacing technology has brought the entire world at our finger tips, at the same time we are losing touch with the real world. The trend of exercising and morning walks among young lot is no where to be seen. We exercise only when we want to appear in shape, and for that too we look for shortcuts. So gym or pills would sound a good idea. Outdoor activities are getting replaced by indoor ones. We are losing touch with the nature. Our physical inactivity is resulting into unhealthy body and mind. We have lost our balance between nature and tools. The emerging technology is so addictive that we don’t mind losing our pinch of nature for that.
Despite of the many advantages of technology, its misuse is becoming more common as well. The proportion of constructive use technology to inept use is really bad. The most in demand TV channels in our part of the world are either for movies or music and the most visited website is face book. The clumsy e-mail or forwards and indecent jokes in texts are so common. We’re falling short of the creative and innovative people - writers, painters, musicians - everybody around is just an inept techno.
The cyber world has not only made the business networking easier, it has made the virtual social networking even more easier, and thanks to the face book and chatting messengers, we can even date virtually now. It has become so easy that now even the kids have started to date. Today the 13 years old can put the relationship status on face book as ‘complicated’.
But with the clutter of so many tools and machines around, where are the chirping morning birds and enlightening fire worms; curvy footways covered with trees and the sparkling water of a stream; the fresh sunrise and beautiful sunset; where’s the peace of mind? The technology will continue to evolve this way, keeping us engaged but it is up to us to understand that technology may pace and abridge the things but it’s not a substitute of real world. If we want to stay sane and healthy, we need to stay close to nature, keeping a balance between technology and nature.
Bushra Naz
1400 hours
7 Spetmeber 2009
Published in The Daily Mail on 8September 2009
http://dailymailnews.com/0909/08/Editorial_Column/DMArticle.php#2
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