Mobile Phones,
in the last ten years they have become synonymous with our life. I mean most of
us can’t imagine a life without them. The keep us so connected to everyone.
First came the Phone calls and SMS’s , then came the messaging services , then
came social networking sites on phones. In the past few years there has been a
revolution in the mobile phone industry , all thanks to Apple and its iPhone.
From being devices to talk and message , the humble mobile phone changed
completely and became capable of doing a variety of things, like money transfer
, painting , gaming, video editing, photography, eBook reader, and a lot more.
The iPhone started the revolution which made the mobile phone a Smart Phone.
Everything on my Phone
Now, this is
not about which phone you have, it might be Android or IOS or Windows, but if
you own a smart phone there are a variety of things you can do with them, which
undoubtedly makes life a lot easier to live. These smart phones give us a lot
of conveniences, like what I mentioned earlier; let’s say you suddenly remember
that it’s the last day to pay your power bill and you are out enjoying a
holiday, guess what you have your phone in your pocket , you can take it out
and use it to pay your bills. Putting a reminder on your Smartphone would have
ensured that you don’t miss paying your bill or for that matter it can even
ensure that you don’t miss your anniversary or your wife’s birthday. For, these
things you won’t even need a reminder, if these things are mentioned on
facebook or any other online forum which is synced with your phone then the
phone will remind you automatically. That apart you can do all sorts of other
things like
·
Check the latest stock prices or Gold prices.
·
Listen to the latest Music or the Golden Oldies.
·
Play some Amazing Games.
·
Connect with almost everyone on the planet via
social networking platforms.
·
Educational apps help you study.
·
Stay updated of the latest News and happenings.
·
Learn a new recipe.
·
Search for the nearest restaurant or places of
interest, this can be done sometimes by just pointing the camera of the phone
in a particular direction.
Well, this list could be endless,
that’s why the phone is called a Smartphone.
So,
how smart is the Smartphone, well if you ask me, really Smart, from what I am
seeing its able to control not just everything happening in our lives, but our
lives as well. What in the world am I talking about, well read on
Everyone on their Phones
Whenever, you
travel, by travel I mean just stepping out of the house, just try to observe
the people around you, you’ll find that most of them are glued to their phones,
Board a bus or a train, people are sitting there inside the bus or train with
you but are someplace else. Some are listening to music, but most of them
you’ll find are just looking into their phones. I mean we all travel to work or
for personal purposes daily and we let the world pass by. We, never pay any
attention to what’s happening around us anymore, we just look into our phones
and are happy in our own world. Some
time ago I was standing at a railway platform with a friend or mine, when he
told me, “Hey look I just read on twitter someone was hit by a train right here
on this station, and guess what we realized that we were standing about 10
meters away from the point where the incident had happened. There was a crowd
of people surrounding the injured man. Thankfully, he was just slightly hit by
the train and looked woozy, no major damage dome. The point is we were standing
right there but we never realized that something had happened and we actually
needed a Smartphone to tell us that.
But, that’s the reality now a day’s more than news papers Twitter has
become the fastest news channel in the world. Even when the American special
forces went to capture Osama Bin Laden it was a Tweet that diverted the world’s
attention towards it. The point which I am trying to stress here is that we are
a lot into our phones, people are always doing something or the other , even when
travelling , we are just looking into the screen, playing games , scrolling
twitter feeds, making a comment on
facebook, sending a message on whatsapp and lots of other things.
Social Disconnect
When was the
last time you sat with your family or friends and had a healthy discussion or
friendly banter for 15 minutes without looking into or looking for your phone?
Yesterday or ever other day, congratulations you are in control of your life,
if not your phone is controlling you. What the growth of Social media has done
is made us forget about the people who are close to us, who live with us. Yes
but that’s the harsh truth when it comes to the smart phones. Even when we are
home , we tend to have the phone in our hand. We are either playing games, or
on social networking platforms, chatting with someone far far away while
ignoring those who are sitting with us.
Things
are simple as watching T.V. together have become a rarity, even when the whole
family is sitting together watching television we might end up staring into the
screen of our Smartphone. That’s how we are getting disconnected with those who
are close to us. Social networking platforms, help us connect with a lot of
people, they have their advantages, but they are leading to a social disconnect
in the real worlds. Nowadays, the son doesn’t know his mom or for that matter
the mom doesn’t know her son is, she might have to look at his facebook account
to see where he has checked in. The simple pleasures of a simple phone call
have become a rarity. We use our phone to call people mostly when we have some
work or when we need something. The concept of a call to ask how are you is
gone, we just Whatsapp that.
The world is passing by
The
world is passing by while you are glued to your phone and zoned out. When was
the last time you looked out of the window of the bus or train you are
travelling in? Have you observed the vibrant colors or shades surrounding you.
Have you seen the beauty that surrounds you or for that matter the person
sitting next to you on the bus or train. As, we spend more and more time just
playing around with our phones and living in the virtual world disconnected
from the real world we fail to realize that we are missing out on lots of
things around us. If you really try to analyze and you find that you do spend
more time in a day on your phone than talking to real people then you really
need to start drawing the line. The line where you will self consciously tell
yourself to drop that phone and get talking to real people on a face to face
basis and get connected to the real world.
 |
| There is beauty all around you |
The fact of the matter is that
Smartphone are good, any technology or advancement in technology is good for us
as it gives us a lot of conveniences and makes our lives a lot easier to live.
But, there is point till where that is true, when you start to realize that
your fascination with the technology is becoming an addiction that is when you
need to step back a little. Next time you travel try keeping your phone inside
your bag and try to see what is going on around you, I am sure you’ll find a
lot of people looking into their phones, ignore that, look at other things,
observe people, surroundings. Try to find beauty in this world. Try interacting
with real people, spend some time with your family, and understand that being
there with people should mean really being there and not just being present and
being mentally someplace else. Try it and you’ll know what you have been
missing.
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