Is_Technology_an_Addiction?
Communication is very important in our day to day life. We feel happy that we are able to update our friends and peers with every small and big incident in our life. A Facebook or WhatsApp update on the specials cooked in the kitchen to buying the first car - all this has become possible because of the cellular phones and mobile phones. But are we realizing that, slowly we are going to an era of acute obsession towards technology, and digital presence is taking over the physical presence of a person?
I remember my days spending time together with family and friends, discussing any topic at tea time or dinner table. But now we have started ignoring family members and stopped visiting family friends. The current generation spends time with cell phones and tablets and focuses on building digital relations with friends. In the name of socializing we are spending all our time on Whatsapp, Wechat or Facebook .
I remember once I had been to a hotel with my family. Being a keen observer I was just looking around. I saw one couple sitting at an adjacent table; both of them were sitting with each other, they were chatting on their mobiles, but not with each other! I was surprised to see this change in the lifestyle of people. In the name of spending time we are physically with one person and digitally with another person.
When I was in school in the early eighties, we used to feel happy if someone visited us during the weekend or we visited someone. But now even if someone visits us, we don’t feel happy to spend time with them, instead we feel happy to spend time uploading pictures, sharing updates and chatting on the phone. In the process our personal information is no more personal, it’s known to everyone.
Younger generations are vulnerable to relations made on social media .They make friends and also get into other forms of relationships just depending on the information in the profile which is created by some stranger and which may or may not be true. The website creators have a system of verifying the phone numbers and some verify the email ids, but what about all the other information?
The generation I belong to has seen and experienced both non digital and digital era. But this generation I strongly feel needs to be cautioned about the era they are heading towards, an era which will make us lonely and unsupported. We move more towards communicating using technology, but personal relations are slowly fading away. We are probably getting to an era where attachment towards digital relationships is growing and we are no longer attached to persons who are with us.
All those who are getting addicted to chat and technology have to strike a balance in order to ensure that the Digital presence does not take over the physical presence of a person. The question which often comes to my mind is the addictive potential of IT (Information technology). Is there any solution to such addiction? We all should pause for a while, think, and identify our own levels of IT addiction and seriously consider if we require support to get rid of this deadly addiction??
I remember my days spending time together with family and friends, discussing any topic at tea time or dinner table. But now we have started ignoring family members and stopped visiting family friends. The current generation spends time with cell phones and tablets and focuses on building digital relations with friends. In the name of socializing we are spending all our time on Whatsapp, Wechat or Facebook .
I remember once I had been to a hotel with my family. Being a keen observer I was just looking around. I saw one couple sitting at an adjacent table; both of them were sitting with each other, they were chatting on their mobiles, but not with each other! I was surprised to see this change in the lifestyle of people. In the name of spending time we are physically with one person and digitally with another person.
When I was in school in the early eighties, we used to feel happy if someone visited us during the weekend or we visited someone. But now even if someone visits us, we don’t feel happy to spend time with them, instead we feel happy to spend time uploading pictures, sharing updates and chatting on the phone. In the process our personal information is no more personal, it’s known to everyone.
Younger generations are vulnerable to relations made on social media .They make friends and also get into other forms of relationships just depending on the information in the profile which is created by some stranger and which may or may not be true. The website creators have a system of verifying the phone numbers and some verify the email ids, but what about all the other information?
The generation I belong to has seen and experienced both non digital and digital era. But this generation I strongly feel needs to be cautioned about the era they are heading towards, an era which will make us lonely and unsupported. We move more towards communicating using technology, but personal relations are slowly fading away. We are probably getting to an era where attachment towards digital relationships is growing and we are no longer attached to persons who are with us.
All those who are getting addicted to chat and technology have to strike a balance in order to ensure that the Digital presence does not take over the physical presence of a person. The question which often comes to my mind is the addictive potential of IT (Information technology). Is there any solution to such addiction? We all should pause for a while, think, and identify our own levels of IT addiction and seriously consider if we require support to get rid of this deadly addiction??
Dr. Rajeshwari Panigrahi
Associate Professor
GITAM Institute of Management
GITAM University
