Technology Monster

Dashahara is an Indian festival we celebrated recently. It has a mythological story attached to it which narrates how a monster was killed by a noble king or God. While wishing each other for the festival, there were many online greetings exchanged on social media. I saw many of them talking or wishing well for their loved ones. Some of them were advising each other to kill the monster of technology this year and embrace good. 

I was thinking, is technology really a monster? It sure looks like that when we just glance around. Kids, adults, all are busy on their smart phones if you just look around. People hardly have time to meet their best friend from childhood but they have thousands on their social sites. Kids are scoring great grades on their projects with the help of search engines but have difficulty finding out how much change they will receive at the store after buying a piece of candy without using calculators. There was once a time, when we spent our Summer vacation mornings on pretend plays, afternoons on playing board games, evenings running around with friends. Now it is spent on video games. We had hardly 2/3 channels showing 3-4 daily soaps but we were thrilled to watch them at the time of broadcasting because there was no way to record the episodes. Now we have channels in hundreds but still can not find one good show to watch with whole family over the weekend. Finding a hiding buddy during hide and seek was the fun task and not finding Pokemon on the smart device. Reading books involved saving money, waiting for the book to arrive at your local store, buying on time, smelling the new pages and then discussing it with friends over the tea. Just scanning few pages on online reading tools does not give that flavor back. Watching online shows does not bring the fun of dressing up for the theater play, waiting in the line, getting the front seats, laughing and clapping with audience around, snacking during intervals and that overall live experience. People are more keen on video recording the accident than  helping the affected ones. 

Even though all this is true, I also remember what my aunt has told me about her USA visit. She visited USA some 30 years ago. They stayed at their relatives' place only for 3 weeks. My aunt says that those 3 weeks were horrible! She felt like she was not at all in her comfort zone. She was miles and miles away from her familiar home. She terribly missed her friends and other family who stayed back in India. The phone calls were expensive and they could use it only for emergencies to call back home. She did not know any roads here. She felt like a prisoner when her relatives went for work during the day. On the contrary, when I arrived at USA, I could easily talk to my parents over the phone. It kept on getting better and better with advancing technology, now I can see my parents whenever I want over the video calling. I can talk to many friends together at a time and have a feel of sitting in my college canteen, chitchatting over an evening snack by just making a conference call. I had lost contact with many of my school friends over the years in the rut of life, now I am able to get in touch with them any time I want over the social sites. I can find my way easily in an unknown city using navigation system. I can collect information about anything I wish over the search engines. I can contact an online nurse at midnight if my child has some health issues. 

How is technology a monster then? Isn't it a boon? 

What is this confusion then? The truth is there is no good or bad straight forward around us. It is all about what choice do we make. The monster who was killed as per Dashahara story, was not a fool either. He was a very learned, brave, intelligent person. He just made wrong choices. For the betterment of the world, the good came from the universe to end the bad. I think, same is true with technology. It is all great. We are just indulging it too much. We are just making a poor choice. Instead of using camera to capture that unforgettable moment, we are indulging in taking pictures to show off on social media, losing the fun of that moment. Indulgence spoils everything. The nourishing food becomes the cause of diseases, curing drugs cause addictions, money brings crime instead of security, technology brings difficulties instead of easy access to the world. Would you blame food or overeating, would you blame medicine or overdosing, would you blame money or greed? Then why blame technology? It is your choice to use energy whether for life to emerge or whether to destroy.

This Dashahara is a time to destroy that silly idea which refuses to take charge of our own mind. Its time to say hi to self control and enjoy the fruits of technology.