technology lifeYou feel like having a nutritious glass of milkshake; all you do is to turn on the blender, give everything a quick mix and there it is, ready to enjoy. You want to do the laundry; just turn on your automatic washing machine and sit back, watch your favorite T.V. show while the machine churns itself and turn out your clothes all neat and dry. You want to try out a new recipe and all your kitchen gadgets are at your disposal to save your time, refine your work and improve your presentation. You want to access the internet without the inconvenience of staying at one place; the revolutionary influx of smartphones, laptops and tablets provide you the luxury of doing your research or watching your favorite entertainment program right from the comfort of your own couch. Advances in vehicle technology ensure that you can enjoy extravagant features with greater fuel efficiency at more affordable rates.

Technology has simplified our lives. It has made our work easier and quicker, sparing us the time and energy to do more important tasks. But has technology actually improved the quality of our lives? This is the question that we strive to answer today.

Centuries ago, man used to toil from day till night, trying to make his ends meet. Lives were simpler and mainly revolved around bread and butter. The hierarchy of social infrastructure that distinguishes the rich from the poor existed and the eternal human greed for money and power passed down unchanged from one generation to the next, yet man was never so deprived of peace of mind as he is today. Robberies and thefts were common but unlike the ones that can steal your respect and social identity. People used to commit suicides out of sheer poverty but annihilating oneself on account of cyberbullying was unheard of. Crimes were conducted to cause hurt and achieve personal gains but sporting around only for the sake of pleasure and egoistic satisfaction seemed unimaginable. Means of travel were limited and modes of communication were scanty and delayed, yet the sincerity and earnestness abound in relationships. Morals and principles were deeply ingrained and the value of each and every relation was well understood. Deprived of all the modern luxuries and gadgets, life in ancient times may seem as colorless to us as a black and white movie, but our ancestors painted it with their love, care and support for each other. Family get-togethers and sitting by the fire, munching a handful of nuts gave them more pleasure and satisfaction than what all the fancy utilities of contemporary times combined altogether fail to shower upon us. Our pockets may be full of money but our hearts lack the precious essence of contentment and true bliss.

The availability of online libraries and abundant resource material may have opened up the doors for unlimited education, yet there are not many who seem genuinely to be in the pursuit of knowledge. As people switch from book reading to web surfing, IQ levels and true wisdom seem to be on the decline. As the ritual of a bed time story read aloud by a parent gets replaced with an online story that narrates itself on their tablets, children are losing that emotional and spiritual connection with their parents that is so very crucial to their personal development and psychological well-being. More and more dependence on technology is also leading to a fall in physical strength and increase in health problems like obesity, eye sight weakness and heart diseases.

As technology thrives, it has altogether changed the definition of socialization. People today prefer digital relationships over real ones. Houses have become quieter and people have become distant and isolated. Parents are seen engrossed in their own online pursuits and the children are deprived of their proper attention and affections. Children are mostly seen glued to their television sets or gadgets, much to the distress of the parents who fail to provide them with an alternate healthy activity or spend some quality family time with them. This manifests itself as aggression and destructive behaviors in young kids often coupled with a fall in grades at school.

Teenagers try to find out the meaning of this world through their online interactions and are lured into watching graphic content and pornography to satisfy their rising hormonal surges. This is because everything is available for everyone in the online world, unlike the offline world where information is released selectively keeping the age and mental maturity of the person in mind. Social media sites let them befriend anyone they want and provide hackers and online predators an insight into their personal lives from the information they post online. This has given birth to unforgivable crimes like ‘cyberbullying’ where personal information extracted from online sources is exploited to harass, threaten or blackmail people in different ways, so much so that many youngsters have taken their own lives to detach themselves from the social stigma, plaguing their lives.

Recent studies reveal Facebook to be the leading cause of divorce rates in the world. Why? Because online distractions have slowly eroded away the love and care from our relationships. Husbands no longer the time to listen to their wives and vice versa. Sharing ideas and feelings seems like a burden and a tiring activity for them. Thanks to the technology, people no longer feel bound to be sincere to their pledged partners when they can afford to maintain multiple relationships and secret lives at one time. The anonymity enjoyed in the cyber-space encourages them to create fake identities and cheat others on the name of love. Such are the reasons that lead to a pile up of grievances and the final break-up.

Having said all this, it is time for us to seriously analyze how technology is affecting our lives. It is not the technology itself but the use of it that makes it a bane or a boon. We, in our own personal capacities, need to draw the fine line between sensible and over-use of modern facilities and try to abide by it. If not completely, it can at least partially neutralize the side-effects and help us live a more fulfilling and happy life.