Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Smart Phones....yes...but are We becoming Stupid ?

Hello Friends,

As the dust settles down on the reviews of the newly launched iPhone6, I sat down to look at some of the things of the past. All of these are touched by the "smart phones" and made me wonder if we are better off with them or otherwise.

Read on....

 1. Memory becomes Touch - Long gone are the days when we used to really "dial" the numbers. When you do that repeatedly to your friends and family, you remembered all the numbers you dial. Now, with the cell phones around, you don't use the grey matter at all - just touch the contact and there you go !



2. Research becomes Google - When you had to buy a product/write an exam/visit a new country etc. you were actually meeting people or reading up books and in general did a thorough research that helped you. Now, you don't need to do a thing beyond typing what you need and leave the rest for your best pal to search.



3. Run becomes Temple Run -  All of us grew up by playing with our friends in the play grounds and had to be chided by our parents to ensure that we come back to our homes. Now, there isn't a need to do that - kids are more than happy to spend all their free time (if it exists) by playing on the Tabs/Phones. They probably are learning a lot , but yet at the same time, losing out on the actual physical exertion that's needed at that age.




4. Book becomes Facebook - The time that was perhaps used earlier for reading books of interest is now spent logging on and staying on Facebook. While the die-hard book worms aren't impacted by this, but the casual readers are. The average time spent by an adult on social networking sites is going up each day - but is it at the cost of something important?

 


5. Social Etiquette - This is more of a perception and only based on observations made. Ever since we have the smart phones, the amount of time we spend in doing a face-face conversation has come down drastically. This has become so widely spread that the places of worship are forced to put up boards of "No Cellphone" ! The family even if together has each of the members updating Status on FB or Messaging on Whatsapp or kids playing games...each of them in a Virtual World and not the Real One.

Time for some introspection....


- Pavan

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