Why do I forget things these days ?
Why cant I recall 10 cellphone nos these days ?
Just in case you are reading this on that 4'x 2' device , the answers to these questions lie in the palm of your hand. This is the smartphone, silly human effect.
May 2000: It was the fist time I was going out to a movie with my school friends. The movie was "Hera Pheri". Back then, waiting for someone meant " Standing and waiting".
Moving on to 2013, we have moved on from waiting to staring..at the smartphone.
- Gimme a miss call once you reach ABC place
- Whats app me once you leave from your place
- Or god forbid if you reach some place and your friends haven't reached you call them " Kahaan hai yaar ! Kitni der "
So what does one do to kill time while waiting ?
" Stare at your phone "
The other day, I hopped into an auto and started staring on my phone. The typical whats app, fb, twitter, economic times etc.
The auto guy initiated the conversation. He started:
" Beta, 20 saal se auto chala raha hoon. But 2-3 saal se kaafi kuch badal gaya hai. Log aaj kal auto main baithte hi, apne mobile mein lag jaate hai. Jaise mobile hi
unki duniya ho. Jaisa aas pass to kuch hai hi nahi. Pehle in sab se baat karta tha.
Main kuch apne kisse batata tha. Par aaj kal agar main kuch baat karne lagun to logon ko disturbing lagta hai. Sab apne phone mein mast hai "
This got me thinking and I begun relating to the auto guy. Just see across a busy street. What are people doing. "Staring at their phones". Board the bus. Board the metro. Walk into a restaurant. Walk into a library.
Stand in a queue. The same thing everywhere.
People having " Real -time communication with artificial device"
What are we getting into ? Is that day near when we'll have our mom whatsapping us :
" Food ready. Come onto the dinning table" .
I shudder at this thought. Just imagine earlier days.
Travelling in the auto people would talk to the auto guy. Get to know his views. Learn about his life. How difficult it is to be at the bottom of the pyramid in a big city like Mumbai ? Or just look outside
" How the municipal guys are working hard to clear the water that has filled up the street"
" How the old lady has been trying to cross the street "
" How the sapling that was planted last monsoon has now turned into a tree "
We are missing out on tons and tons of things. By being connected virtually, we are getting disconnected to where we actually are. To our surroundings. To our families. To our friends.
Have you lately met your old friends in a cafe ? After taking all the time and effort to meet them why would one stare into the phone and laugh at a stupid joke sent over IM's.
What about talking and sharing things with those who are actually hanging out with you. And by hanging out I didn't mean Google Hangouts please !!
Aren't we bombarded with all the "tings tangs...zing zing " as soon as the plane lands. To tell you those 3 hrs without the phone are actually when I have got some of the best thoughts. Times when I decided what to do with my career, life ...basically time to introspect.
- The age of forgetfulness: Our memories are diminishing. Just compare your memory with your grand ma or parents. They can easily count 100-200 people who are to be invited for a function on their tips !
We need to check Facebook for that.
Sorry I don't recall the clients name. But I have him right here on my Linkedin !
Ahh that place that serves delicious Sarso da saag ? What was it. Let me just check it on Zomato.
Do we really need to be that connected with the world ?
Isn't the instant communication, messaging doing more harm than good ? So many CEO's for example don't own a cell phone. Yet, they manage their tasks, manage businesses worth billions of dollars, keep in touch with their client etc.
What an advantage it is to not have one of the smart devices these days ! I am shortly gonna go back to a Nokia 1800.
- Great Battery Life
- Ruggedness
- Talk more with your family then on whatsapp( Connecting People indeed)
- No last seen at
- No emails in the middle of the night
- No pings and alerts
Research has proven that smartphone addiction has had disastrous results. Lack of concentration among children ( Attention Deficit Disorder), the constant urge to check whats happening in others life ( FOMP - Fear of Missing out), Trauma, decrease in academic performance, anxiety and death too.
Clearly apart from the physical problems such as headaches, tendinits, bursitis, fatigue the psychological effects are far worse.
Promise yourself :
- Not to check your mails, IMs while driving
- To respect others when you are out with them and not alienate yourself with your phone
- To have real conversations
- And please stop discussing about virtual life ( You posted that on Facebook, that tweet was awesome) in real life !! You are together with them. You don't need to discuss how amazing their profile picture was !!
- Stop using it in the bathroom. You are not deciding the fate of millions of citizens !
- Stop checking your mails, IMs in the middle of the night ! Have a good sleep !
- When you are walking on the beach or strolling in the garden, don't let your smartphone out ! No even if how much so ever beautiful the sunset might be !
- Make it clear that if something is urgent, people can always call you. Whatsapp, IM's aren't sacrosanct devices for URGENT Communications !!!
- We need to understand that all the apps affect us. They tax our attention. As humans, we can focus only on few tasks per day. Research has reveled that we aren't great at multitasking( although we think and feel we are). But the infinite loop of Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, whats app and other notifications fragments our attention and we don't concentrate on the important tasks.
To be honest, I haven't checked my smartphone for 3 hrs now while I thought I will write this. Contemplation and Reflection takes time and they demand undivided attention.
Take time off your phones regularly. Dedicate regular intervals during the day in which you will respond to your mails, IMs, comments etc.
Its you who own a smartphone, ensure that it doesn't end up owning you
