Looking back I wonder how many things have changed in the last 10 years or so...how differently we interact and communicate with people, friends, and family. I clearly remember during my high school days I would hang out with friends, talk to them in person, have lengthy discussion, and would be excited to see a friend after a long time... during festival time and for that matter even during new year time, we would make greeting cards from scratch, and would give it to friends and family... in my undergrad days I would get hand written letters from parents and family... I would read them again and again and would save it safe in my special box, which had nothing but letters and greetings from family and friends...it used to be my treasure... times have changed I guess for good or bad who knows but it definitely has changed.
An hr back, a friend of mine who is in Michigan asked me phone # of a friend who is currently in Lucknow, I went online, turned on my Gmail chat, asked a friend who lives in Delhi, he told me he is going to ask a friend who is currently in Dubai...and in 3-4 minutes I had the number. This is how real time we live in....We live in the world of iphones, facebooks, email and so on...everything is just a click away. I am in touch with hundreds of friends at the same time,,,I could see their new born babies right away sitting so far away from them... I know most of those hundreds of friends are doing...I even know about people I barely care...in fact I know so much that nothing is valuable any more...nothing is a mystery anymore...nothing is left for imagination anymore...nothing is a treasure....I do not have any 'special box' anymore...I do not receive hand written letters anymore...I do not get cards anymore....not that there are not people who do not care..not that I am getting old...I think its just because times have changed. the worst part is that I am so clueless if its good or bad. Well the initial thought is the better the communication the better it is, saves time and gets the information...but when I look a little deeper I feel we are giving more space in our lives to digital world and less to human interaction...and to me its not satisfying.
I would still like to feel emotional when I get a hand written letter from a friend and family member, I would like to keep it as a treasure...I would like to meet people in person and talk to them at length about life and everything, I would like to feel as excited as a friend should to see him/her after a long time...I would still like to know the unknown about the other person...to me (please correct me if I am wrong) too much communication in this digital age is making us more isolated.
May be this frustration is the result of me not been able to see my family and close friends in more than couple of years...or whatever I am saying does have some truth, or its a combination of the two...but I have decided to break this routine and write hand written letters to people who mean a lot to me...and I am already excited about that.
The most ironical aspect is that I am using the same digital mode of communication to share my feelings with you all...life is indeed funny!!
4 comments:
Things are changing fast for sure! Human interaction has reduced for sure, kids in school bus now have ear phones plugged in listening to songs on their Ipods or talking on their cell phones. They are not talking to each other in person. The way we used to interact with other kids in school has changed for sure!
From Venu
nicely written! bravo!
From AC
very well written.. ab beta tumhari chhitthi mujhe nahi mili..to mai bura maan jaaunga.. :-) aur mil gayi to muski maarunga.. :-)
From Saurabh
RP yar .. bahut senti mail likha hai tune .. a mix of emotion + frustation(looks like) and confusion :-)
I have read a book long back and it partially covers the technological depth/change you are talking about .. Alvin Toffler .. Future Shock .. I am not sure which book covers the emotional aspect :-)
Infact, I have noticed here in UK .and often heard people saying .. they hate technology .. Most probably .. you have expressed teh same feelings which they express.. You will be surprised to know that when I went to Scotland .. the family was not mobile phones .. they still preferred Landlines .. Here in UK .. my mail box is often flooded with Letters .. Insurer .. bank .. even marketing agencies prefer to communicate through printed letters .. reflecting the same thoght process . as you have shared.
From AC again
On a serious note, RPG.. i think it is simple mathematics.. more communication means more information..and thus less per head time and focus given to each information.
From myself
I think the point is not how we equate it mathematically, but how it will effect us as human beings in long terms.
Because of this limited interaction I see so many people here live in complete isolation and tend to develop some form of psychotic disorders. Most of them are mild and would easily qualify for being normal but it does reflect to some extent on their interaction with their parents, their kids and relationships. I am slightly deviating from my original post...but I feel we need more human direct interaction and need to express love, I believe biologically we need love and affection to stay healthy, thats where communication through digital media fails.
Thank you guys for the comments.
From Ujjwal
Wonderfully expressed thoughts and also very pertinent.
Honestly speaking there is a very subtle influence of these technology enabled communication tools whose impact is really difficult to understand till we really don't try to observe it intently with a clear mind. For example at times i find it so difficult to communicate on Facebook because most of my communication would in general be beyond the 140 character limits that they put. Which means if i have to congratulate someone on something, we should spend some time thinking through on how we would like to express ourselves, but the medium is not about too long expressions.
From the communication pattern of some people, I have inferred that there are some people who use Facebook probably because they really have too much time at their disposal and just want to stay connected with things. Some are too frustrated at work and find it an escape route and so on. But probably the communication appears without any purpose other than just the inner need to stay connected and to make one's presence felt.
I would say a sound family life is a big advantage in this face paced world and in the imbroglio of too much impersonal styles of connecting with people, we are really losing out on something thats really valuable. I recollect the words of Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sBZCBWP0Gx0 . Check the thought particularly between 2:00 and 2:15 time slot in the video where he says what life is essentially about. The moment we sap away the essentials of emotions, passion, love etc, we just become too calculative and lose the human in us.
Along with family and friends another route to stay connected with simplicity that i have found of immense value is to be in touch with children who are untouched by modern day digital hazards (self coined term :)). Yesterday 8-9 kids started asking me those childish pahelis- try to take a shot at this one and tell me if this will not relieve you of all the anxieties that you might be carrying-
I become the student and ask you this paheli
Ek tamatar, ek methi aur ek palak ki kahani
Tamatar ne methi se shadi ki
Methi mar gayi aur phir tamatar ne palak se shadi ki
Fir palak bhi mar gayi, to batao tamatar ki pehli biwi kaun thi ?
?
?
The moment you say 'Methi', they will jump with joy as it rhymes with Mein Thi and have a great laugh.
Somewhere this simplicity with no price tag attached to it is the real treasure atleast in a country like ours where one has the capacity to provide education to his child at 80000 Rs per year while the other struggles to provide even basic text books.
Life is really multifaceted and multilayered
Keep writing and sharing
Point is we can understand the difference between two era. But now children of today are born with gadgets.
Older generation always think that they are wiser than present generation and younger generation always think that they are better than earlier one.
This is continuous and evolving process.
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