Welcome to my World... Review on Technology, Boon or Bane

While not disagreeing for a nanosecond (Thanks to technology, we have split up time into such unrecognizable fractions and ended up making our already rushed life more rushed), that technology has made life more comfortable if not anything else, I would like to look at this topic in a slightly different perspective as opposed to many a members have done on this site. A word of caution before you brand me as anything else, I am not a recluse nor am I attempting to blame technology for human failings and frailty.

This colleague of mine, married for 7 years now, was about a month back requesting a week’s leave. The reason she was planning to press ahead for a divorce which she thought was the best option she was left with. I met her after she was back from her leave looking in great shape (mentally). I assumed it was the divorce that brought back her vitality. “No I decided against it” she said with calmness and joy of having made the right move. “The evening I talked to you about divorce, our TV conked” she continued “and in the 3 days we lived without the TV, I realized how much my husband actually loved me!!!” Well television is supposed to be technology’s gift to communication and so it is, bringing into my drawing room places, people and practices that I have never seen before - bridging the gap between Washington, Baghdad and Mangalore. But alas in most cases, it becomes the biggest barrier for communication between two people living within the same four walls. To understand what I am saying try talking to me while I am watching a cricket match or my mom who is cursing the evil mother-in-law in one of those serials that goes K…

Technology has brought the world to my fingertips. I can send and seek information from around the world at the speed of light…. But technology has also brought the world to the mercy of “select individuals” who can blow it off the face of the universe, at greater speeds by using weapons of mass destruction. Once that happens what am I going to seek information from and send information to?

While on that issue, to some extent, the present war would not have taken place without technology. From an American point of view without technology there would not be weapons of mass destruction, nerve gases and the likes. So there would not be a reason for war. From an Iraqi stance, without technology there would not be a race for petroleum, hence there would not be a reason to liberate innocent Iraqis. From a neutral viewpoint without technology there would not be misplaced arrogance in “the powers that are” about their military, strategic and intelligence superiority – without arrogance there usually isn’t unprovoked aggression.

My dad was happy with his bicycle for very long time. His dad had never sat on one. I demanded that I need a motor bike the moment I pass my first year at college. The girls wouldn’t give me a second look without it (Not that they did so, after I had the bike). Again, my Dad had a TV in his home when he was in his late 30s. I had one in mine even before I got into my teens (incidentally, I am talking about the same TV). Doordarhsan, then broadcasted only what it wanted and only when it wanted, like “Krishi Darshan” from 5:30 pm and we had to watch it for lack of option. We watched with reverence. Even the DD logo slowly winding up with the “Satyam Shivam Sundaram” and with a haunting tune was a great source of joy then…. My daughter who is approaching two years now has been listening to a TV right from her mother’s womb (reliable technology tells me that babies listen to music much before they see the world). But the problem is even at this age she dictates that if the TV is on it better be “KHatHoon NetHwokK”. Technology creates options. Options lead to confusion. A man getting into a crowded bus will sit on any available seat. The same man in an empty bus will wonder whether he should sit in the front or back, window or aisle….Err why am I even talking about all this? Without technology there wouldn’t be buses!!! Options besides creating confusion also create conflict. Technology creates wants, wants and more wants. The moment you satisfy few of them, many more raise their hydra head.

Without technology the ozone layer would not have the hole it has now. Even if it had I would not be aware of that hole. What technology has done is not just create a hole in some layer somewhere in the universe but on top of it make me aware of it and its implications…so that even if everything else goes on smoothly in and around my life I have something to break my head over and worry about. Ignorance in many ways is bliss….

Imagine a world without technology, a world where there are no alarm clocks, firstly because no one has made it, secondly because no one needs it. Where you can go to sleep and rise from it at your will. Where there would be no need to worry about for-ex rates, interest cuts, share values, a world without scares of weight watch or broken promises from fairness cream manufacturers, a world without bosses breathing down your neck with deadlines, without rush-hours, without pollution, without tension, without stress…. Imagine…

What would I do without technology? Well you and I would have probably lived a satisfied life and died without too much remorse. Wouldn’t I have been a jobless person in world without technology? Jobless! No way! How can anyone be jobless in a world where there aren’t any jobs? A world without jobs would be a world without salaries. No salaries means no month ends, Wow!!! That would be wonderful world.

Ask a smoker if he thinks cigarettes are boon or bane? Ask him why he smokes. He will give you at least 3 good reasons for the same. Probably also add that “I am in control don’t worry. Anything within limits is good enough. Only when things go out of proportions it is bad”. Similarly, technology is addictive. Once you are addicted you only see excuses to defend the addiction. If you had never been addicted in the first place probably you will see reasons to slam it.

I watched the series of movies Gods Must Be Crazy… all of them. I looked at the protagonist with great amusement. In fact he and his clan live in a world “un-spoilt by technology”. Yet (?) they seem so happy!!! No cell phones, no computers, no palm tops, no video conferencing, not even coke… does he miss them? Can you really miss something that you don’t know exists? I heard someone scream without technology there would not have been a movie called “Gods must be Crazy” (there would not have been any movies for that matter), but the fact is I would not have missed them, for I could not miss something that did not ever exist.

Without technology there isn’t a topic “Is technology a boon or a bane” and without it there is no review. Talking about reviews without technology there is no Mouthshut… OMG!!! Did I say ''NO Mouthshut???'' Well, please ignore what ever is written above…there is no debate “Technology is a boon”