During my childhood my father used to tell me those fascinating fairy tales and miracles of the heroes and sages of the past ages. One of the miracles was about a sage who gave a pot filled with food to one his disciples and told him not to open the lid of the pot. The disciple kept removing food items from the pot for a long time and one day out of curiosity he removed the lid and lo there was nothing. Nothing came out of the pot thereafter, a miracle really.
We cannot go back into the history to prove the veracity and the otherwise of the story and other such stories. In fact, that is not our concern. It is an allegory to deal with an entirely different topic, the topic of the modern digital age. That age of megabytes and gigabytes and that of the smart phones and all other appliances which have become important and integral parts of our life. In this case we can download an image, video or any other document from the internet millions and billions of times like the disciple used to get food from the pot and when we see from where these photos, music or videos are coming nothing seems observable. One difference though is there that after we check it we can still download as much, we can download as much after removing the lid of the pot of the internet. This is the miracle of the technology of this age.
Current age is a digital age, the age of the internet and the age of advanced appliances and inventions. The internet is available on our finger tips, in our pockets and everywhere we go. From the internet as much can be had without anything getting exhausted there. Everything and every person are connected with the rest and the physical distances have been annihilated by the internet and otherwise too. We are dependent on the internet like we need air and water for our survival. Through the internet we not only get things and services which are of the virtual type but the things which are physical and real as well. If we need a food item, it is just a click away, we need a rare commodity from the far off places of the world, and the commodity is just available before us by click of a button. A tough question and baffle has the answer just with the tiny screen of a mobile phone. Any medicine or services can be had by using the internet.
For the internet to work it needs a working connection provided by a service provider. Earlier it was provided via land lines but with the change in technology wireless services have taken the place of the wires. The internet is provided through wireless mode to all the digital and smart appliances. The speed of the internet through these wireless modes has reached to that level which was provided with the land lines, and even faster.
Earlier this service was provided mostly against a monthly charge but today it is provided against the quantity of data used. The more of data a subscriber consumes, the more charges he has to pay. That is the reason why today the mobile service providers formulate their plans giving precedence to data than voice calling and other value added services.
Data is the first consideration and priority in deciding a plan both for the subscribers and the service providers and all the rest are considered secondary and of least concern. A few years back it was the voice calling and short message sending (SMS) that was the main attraction of the subscribers but today these two services have become almost free in India. Data has taken over everything else.
If we call the current age as the age of gigabytes, it would not be a misplaced statement. The reason for this is that the enhancement in the number and their quality as well, of the smart phones has increased their data consumption. With the past phones few hundred of kilobytes of data were sufficient to run throughout the month but today even hundreds of gigabytes prove insufficient for many users who remain always online surfing the internet, downloading different items, booking and rendering various services and running their businesses through the internet. The first thing a smart phone user does is to enroll for a feasible data plan, prepaid or postpaid. There is no compromise about that; it must be there for the smart phones because without the internet connection and bundles of gigabytes of data available these phones are simple of no value. They are smart phones and it is the data which makes them smart, otherwise nothing smart is there in these devices. Like everything else this data and gigabytes have merits and demerits associated with the larger picture of the internet and smart phones. They have impacted the life of human favorable and adversely. On the favourable side by providing various services and products, knowledge, information and news at the fastest possible pace and on the adverse side by impacting various areas of modern life in a negative manner.
The social spaces of humans are receding and that is the first loss, a great loss indeed. Man is a social animal and he cannot deserve that position if the social spaces and actual contacts with the fellow humans are not there. The places of these spaces and contacts have been occupied by the data laced smart phones. These phones keep us contacted and informed about the world but detached from the immediate neighborhood and even from the family. We know things about far of places in the world but when it comes about our immediate neighborhood we are clueless, a great loss really.
Next comes the human health and there is no doubt that it is impacted adversely by these modern day devices, though there are services which could aid in improving our health as well. Eyes are the first sufferers and then come the head, backbone, hands, fingers and mind. If the current trend is any indication and if the over use of smart phones continues this way a condition of reverse evolution may set in. The chance of accidents with the careless use of smart phones is another drawback. Availability of data at cheap rates has complicated these problems even further.
In India especially after the entry of Reliance Jio in the Telecom Sector has made data available at the cheapest rates and with that the adverse consequences have multiplied and have taken a complicated form. It has resulted in overuse and misuse of smart phones and both these types of uses are in contrivance of the human standards and life.
At this stage it is not advisable that the rates of data should be increased, as a customer one can say that the rates ought to be reduced even further so that all are able to enjoy uninterrupted internet services and take advantage of the various services, products, health care and educative programs and applications. But, what is advisable is to maintain a balance. Maintaining balance is the only option that could make the internet the greatest of the service to humans. Overuse and misuse of this medium could have dangerous consequences for human life, society and governance as well and the signs of this have started to emerge.
An individual using smart phone must not forget that the world is not only in the tiny screens of these phones but the major part is outside. One must not lose touch with the outside world, with the friends and neighbors. The knowledge gained by the actual experience while dealing with the real world is for better and relevant to deal with the day to day problems and challenges than which is gained from smart phones. This real knowledge and experience needs to be valued. While reading digital version of books one must not forget the taste and grandeur of reading books of papers. While making hundreds and thousands of friends on social media one must not forget those with whom that person has lived the actual moments of his life. While sharing joy with the friends on social media one must not forget the people who alone will be there if there is pain. And while remaining connected with the world some connections should be maintained with the neighborhood, and the people in the neighborhood. Hence, maintaining balance is the panacea that can deal with most of the negative aspects of smart phones, data and the internet. It may seem hard – especially for those who have become addicts of smart phones – at first to do but once efforts are invested towards that end nothing really is too difficult, it is not at all impossible. Some of the human will and the work is done which needs to be done and which must be done if we want to avoid the negative side of the internet and smart phones.
Fayaz Ganaie can be reached at fayaz.greatstep@gmail.com
