Addiction

About a decade or so ago, addiction had a different meaning all together. It was always associated with something bad. Drugs, Cocaine, porn and a whole slew of other things that had grievous impacts on humans. Come 2000's and the things associated with addiction have changed completely. They don't have as grievous an impact as the aforementioned addictions but there are sizable repercussions none the less.

People these days are completely addicted to technology. They are addicted to such an extent that they tend to get restless in places without Wifi or even worse if God forbid they forget their cell phones at home before heading out. Memory has gone for a toss as no one remembers or even makes an attempt to remember phone numbers anymore. Simple calculations are difficult because we are so dependent on the calculator in the smart phones and so many other such tech dependencies. This technology addiction has also reached a stage where people are beginning to have withdrawal symptoms if taken away from technology.

Whats even worse is that most communication these days happens on Whatsapp or other messaging apps which has made face to face or even telephonic conversations awkward. Everything must've been discussed elaborately on whatsapp leaving very little else to actually talk about. People are physically present with each other but they are mentally absent scrolling through different social media apps looking at updates from strangers and people far away. Children are also introduced to technology so soon which in my opinion is a really really bad thing to do.

There seems to be some hope though. I noticed a new feature that was added to some frequently used apps on our phones. See for example the below two pictures from my phone about my YouTube and Instagram activity.

Apparently I spent an hour and 43 minutes on YouTube today and a total of 13 hours last week with an average daily usage of about an hour and 51 minutes.

Similarly I spend a daily average of just 37 minutes on Instagram which in my opinion is quite commendable. Not too shabby at all as some of my British friends might say.

I do not use Facebook so I don't have those statistics. Yes you read it right, I do not use Facebook. I have a profile but I do not login much.

Whats also interesting is that they have an option to set a daily reminder to put tabs on ourselves. I wonder how we could set a reasonable tab for ourselves and also what would actually happen after we reach that allotted time.  It is quite an interesting option. Need to give it a shot sometime.

We tend to grab for our phone at every given opportunity. At traffic signals, in toilets, in between conversations, while driving, just before going to bed, just after waking up, literally every single moment.

Google has also rolled out app time management controls which can be quite helpful. Read about it here.

I hope this new way of keeping track and limiting ourselves will enable us to get back into the real world.

Its really not a healthy direction in which technology is taking us. With the presence of AI increasing by the day, I dont think the day when computers will take over humans is too far away. I hope it never comes to that. 

New Technology Addicts

Technology has come a long way. Gone are the days of dial-up internet connection. Gone are the days when cell phones were chunky and were used just for calling. Gone are the days when color display on cell phones was a fad. Gone are the days when internet connection on cell phones was slow 🐌 and a costly affair 💰 (thanks to JIO) and also gone are the days when bathroom 🚽 breaks were short. 😉  With all these changes, a new age group of technology addicts have come up. Oddly enough millennials 👦👧 are not the addicts anymore, its the generation before that 👴👵 . In simple terms our parents are the ones who are more addicted to technology than us.

We as the kids from late 80's and 90's have seen technology evolve. We've been through all the aforementioned phases and have now come to a stage where we use mobile technology like its meant to be. We look for directions, google for stuff, make online payments, book cabs and movie tickets, use mobile wallets and do so many other things which these phone were actually made for. It is our parents who are relatively new to jump into this band wagon who have become bigger addicts. They suddenly have access to so much information that its hard for them to stay away. We no get more forwards from parents in "family groups" than from friends.

Not so long ago when I was away from home, my dad used to call to check on me. Things have changed now. He just sends me a whatsapp message and thats it. No phone calls nothing. In a way its good that they are catching up, but face to face verbal interactions at home are also reducing because each is in their own world on their own devices. Sometimes in individual rooms and sometimes in different corners of the same room.

I dont mind a little bit of alone time after having interacted with so many people at work, but its turning into a routine and that in my opinion is a bad thing. New parents these days are using phones to distract kids and that again is turning into a different kind of problem. I recently read a news article about a kid who started having withdrawal symptoms after the parents disconnected the kid from the cellphone. Now that is extremely messed up.

Well, these I guess are the side effects of technology evolution and I dont think anything can be done about it. All we can hope and suggest is to use technology responsibly and in moderation. Had this random thought today. Penned it down.