We have so much to thank technology for today. Life is easier, more convenient and faster than ever before. But ladies and gentleman, today, let us open our eyes, ears and minds to consider at what cost we have brought forth this lifestyle.
Let me begin by making it clear that I am not undermining the role technology has played in transforming human life, right from the invention of the wheel in the Stone Age to that of the Internet in the 20th century. But, dear reader, till when will we remain oblivious to the role that technology has played in combining the antithetical terms: social and isolation?
Blinded by the dubious efficiency of the technology that we own, engrossed in highlighting the so-called best of our lives on social media, and afraid of missing out on the distressing advancement we’re moving towards, we, all of us, have wretchedly compromised the moment we’re living in.
Pseudo-progress
As the descendants of modern humans, deeply focussed on capturing the moment instead of living it, we have reached that fatal stage of our pseudo-progress where if we look up to face our surroundings we will see nobody but the malicious figure of our own isolation. And I hold technology responsible for it. For the Facebook generation, isolation has made its way through, very easily. The social media that we own as a form of technology has made us so habitual of side-stepping, of avoiding, the social interaction that we can’t deal with, that we are separating ourselves from the rest on our own. A study by the University of Pittsburgh reported that people spending more than two hours of their time a day on social media have twice the odds of facing social isolation than those who spend a half hour a day. This is the dismal reality today, and I hold technology responsible for it.
In bygone years, when there were no shackles of technology binding our hands, interaction was valuable.
Words weren’t just words but feelings conveyed through letters, the wait to meet a loved one wasn’t brief but nevertheless blissful, public gatherings weren’t a grand event once in a blue moon but routine occurrences, and man wasn’t isolated but sociable.
Today, we have the facility of sending messages in no time, of landing at any place on earth within a few hours, of holding a “public” conference without having to face the public, and of living on our own, separated from everybody else.
By making everything so easily accessible and convenient, we have actually lost the essential bond with them, the real value or meaning of each relation. And in doing so we have made ourselves more disconnected than ever before. We seem to be replacing all our human physical contacts with intangible, technological ones.
We have to accept the grim fact that we are living in a world of crooked relationships, fake identities and forced communications. And technology is to be held responsible for it.
With great power comes great responsibility and if technology has made us powerful, then it has surely made us irresponsible enough to create and spread our own isolation, blindly.
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