A motif in my dreams of late, causing me utter panic and grief, is the scenario of losing my smartphone.
The spectacle of the missing smartphone, showing me helplessly reaching into my pockets and frantically searching for it, came in my latest dream afresh. Anxiety and panic, which had gripped me, dissipated only after I awakened and realised that I was merely dreaming. As this specific dream was more petrifying, I felt a heightened sense of relief afterwards. This time, I rehashed the dream vividly as I sat up awake and wondered if anxiety and fear I perceived in dreadful dreams were as frightful when experienced during waking hours. Pondering over the reason for recurrence of this theme in my dreams, I sank into a reverie on the evolution of smartphone.
Mobiles have evolved as multi-utility devices in the past 20 years or so. When I first acquired the ubiquitous Nokia in 2001, a mobile was used only for calls and SMS. Over the next decade, the incorporation of cameras and data connection technology transformed the mobile paradigm. The advent of smartphones was kind of a revolution.
With growing versatility, mobile phones have become expensive also. I first bought a smartphone in 2015 for ₹18,000 which hardly survived for three years on a perilously low 8 GB memory. Next I bought a 32 GB smartphone in 2018 at a price of ₹30,000. Even the best of smartphones seem obsolete after two years as fancier models keep inundating the market. My proud acquisition in 2021, a 128 GB smartphone, was the latest model of its genre that time. But sooner than later, the higher version hit the market leaving me with only a short-lived pleasure of owning the latest series of the brand. Along with accessories, it cost an amount equal to one month’s salary that I had drawn last.
Apps for email, video calls, social media, OTT streaming, shopping, and much more, are all just a tap away on my smartphone screen. I access my daily newspapers, banking accounts, trading account, mutual fund, and much more on mobile apps. Bill payments are executed through the smartphone. Laptop has nearly become redundant. Smartphone has also dispensed with separate cameras, clocks, calculators, torches, dictionary and so on.
Powered by a high-speed data connection, equipped with a high-resolution camera, and enabled by prolific apps, the smartphone has emerged as the most valuable and indispensable article these days. We feel handicapped if dispossessed of smartphone even for a short while.
As fear of losing smartphone remains latent in the subconscious mind, the torment surfaces in dreams. Losing smartphone even in dreams is a nightmare!
chander59@icloud.com
