****Technology, you strange li’l thing****

Disclaimer: In no way am I against technology, I’m just not into all of its hype and misuse ;)

Some 6-8 years back, I remember writing an essay for a school competition on how technology has changed our lives, for the better. I’m back again at the same topic, but this time around, I’ld like to talk about how it has actually ‘become’ our 24 hour companion or rather, an intruder.

Recently a few set of artwork has been circling around featuring a couple and their addiction to their smart phones. Bravo, to the artist for coming up with such an original representation.

It is very visible how too much of app generated self love hype has affected every relationship in the world. Take for example,

• An infant and the mom : Too much texting, instagraming, facebooking…all takes up that beautiful bond you should have created with your kid. Yet again, not all are like that, but the breed is growing.
  
• The teen kid and his/her parents: Hehe, this is funny. I remember being slightly defensive at that age(who isn’t?) We do think we know everything because we assume to be from a generation of instant google sought, verified information, when actually all the life hacks could be easily understood by observing and communicating (face to face) with our parents. It’s actually sad to see kids falling into this trap, becoming ‘turnaround chair’ potatoes, addicted to youtube and facebook.
  
• The friendship : This to me is the strangest, I can understand, the other two, but how can any social network be greater than spending time with your friends. Now you might think, I am exaggerating, but hey, just rewind for yourself, how many times has it happened, that, you have planned a meetup, and finally ended up whatsapping ‘other’ people right after 30 mins. This may not be you, but I am pretty sure you have come across many who have done that. You meet up to talk or gossip :D for that matter, having a green coloured whatsapp bubble in between doesn’t help it. If you want to send Photos of your meetup, do it after you leave. It is very disrespectful to be sitiing and numbing your fingers on your phones when actually the plan was imagined to be an escape from all this hustle.
  
• The most strained relationship of all, The couple : How I wish things would be like ooooold times, you come back home from work, sit on the porch and drink tea/ coffee/ any beverage of your choice and just talk about your day. ‘Had such a bad day, feeling tired’- this is the FB status you can expect nowadays. If you are married/ going to be married/ in a relationship, be it male/female, if you are in the habit of updating your every move, every emotion- my dear, you have a serious issue that needs to be cut right from the root. It’s very important to know, all the 350 friends on your list or the 120 subscribers you have, actually wouldn’t care even a pinch as much as your partner. So, instead of venting it out on a platform, talk to that human being made for you, it will for sure, just boost your energy.
  

Another trait is, your husband/ wife is talking to you and your eyes are on your laptop/tab/phone/ any of those things that they make today. This is plain disrespectful, to anybody, please people, stop doing that.

Actually, the problem comes only when there is a lack of communication. It’s ok, to want to divert your mind from work stress, and I agree that the internet helps a lot. But, you need to get your priorities right, mate. Have a proper conversation about your day, about what happened, what went wrong/ right, be excited for the other’s story, and after all that, go ahead and you tube, facebook or whatsapp away. When this happens in the wrong order is when hell breaks loose ;)

Well basically, we can’t completely get rid of the changing lifestyle, it has actually incorporated itself in us. How we go about using the resources we are given defines a lot in our lives. We do underestimate a lot of things: especially when our parents avoid us from using the internet too much if it’s not for a project, when a 2 yr old is happy with a smart phone than his toys (ok, why do we do that! Give the kid his tiny tot years back, do not bring your phone to him, to make your work easier), when your spouse excitingly tells you something and your reaction is a plain nod, when the urge to be always up and going on social networks disrupts your everyday life…

Ok whoa whoa! Don’t judge me, wait a sec. I am not by any means saying we should go back to stone age and have no facilities at all. An age old saying goes: ‘A coin has two sides’. For sure, the internet and its sites have given us information, marketing ideas, DIYs, cooking lessons and what not, beyond belief. Just be sure that your hunger for information doesn’t transform itself into an addiction.

       With loads of love and smiles, leaving you with a positive message, until next time,

Ciao!

Feel free to comment :) Always looking forward to knowing what you think.