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Wednesday 2 January 2013

Has the mobile deprived us of small moments of happiness?


has the mobile deprived us of small moments of happiness
The mobile has entered our lives with a bang and has changed the way we start our day and end our day.  Not so long ago we were dependent on many things like our diary, our calendar, our watch.  But today we don't write diaries, see the wall hanging calendar or have the time to look at our watch, in fact many of the readers may have stopped wearing a watch or may just be using it as a fashion accessory.
Is mobile making us more robotic and mechanical or has it made life trouble and hassle free.  This would be an eternal riddle like asking you guys, which came first the hen or the egg?






The new year has begun and one of the few things many of us would start our new year with, till a few years ago, was to start copying the contact list of the old diary into a fresh one.  Sometimes this would take up a full day with us trying to make up our mind as to which contact to keep and which to remove.  Add to it there was the fun of writing our telephone contact list in best possible handwriting as the year had just started and we would all be in good spirits(literally).  The first day of a new year would always be a sort of relaxed and sleepy kind of day, perhaps from all the partying done on 31st.  And starting a personal Diary would be another of the beautiful things we used to do.  We would write our details, start the first page with our best drawing(probably clumsiest).  We would write on the first page a big Personal or Do not touch.  We would then jot down the anniversaries and birth dates of our near and dear ones with elaborate designs.  Important dates would be marked and highlighted.  Then we would start the diary writing something about the year gone by and noting down important resolutions and to do things in the current year.  We would than polish of the diary with a promise to write something everyday, which most of us would forget in a couple of days or weeks.  But this was the essence of the start of new year with a majority of us.   A few tech savvy users would dish out the Casio Digital Diary or Assistant, which was very popular with the affluent guys in those days. 

has the mobile deprived us of small moments of happiness
It would be a real charm to reach for your pocket and dish out the digital diary and save the phone number and other details of a acquaintance.  He or she would be suitably impressed with our suaveness.

Another thing we are sure to miss is the wall hanging calendar along with its smaller counterpart the desk calendar.  Many companies would bring out their own calendars with beautiful pictures and nice presentation.  There would be a fight for a good calendar with beautiful pictures in our family.  Then there would be a pocket calendar.  I don't know if anyone even prints those anymore.  We would all count the number of holidays in the year, mark the birth dates and anniversary dates of our loved ones.  

In today life the telephone diary or the personal diary and the calendar have all lost their importance and have become a relic of the past.  In fact only a handful of oldtimers and die hard diary enthusiasts may be maintaining a diary now a days.    Every thing is saved at a touch of a button on our smart phone and we don't have to copy any birth dates or anniversaries, they are updated by themselves thanks to the all pervading smart phone.  Even the calendar sits on the wall paper.  With a flick of a finger we can save our appointments and other to-do things on the thousands of apps available in the market place.  Now the things are getting even more easy with personal assistant who have a voice like the Siri in the iphone and Skyvi or  Eva for Android devices and S-Voice for Galaxy S3 phones. 

Once upon a time if somebody asked what was the time? (and people used to ask in those days) we would in all our magnanimity roll up our sleeves and peer at our Seiko 5 or Rado or Citizen and inform the enquirer of the time.  In all probability the enquirer would look at our wrist watch and ask us about its brand.  We would proudly then proclaim it to be a Seiko or whatever brand we used to wear as though we had an Oscars in our hands for best film of the year.  In all eagerness we would also inform the person of its cost and how much trouble we had to undergo to procure it.  Now there are thousand of brands of watches and they have become a fashion accessory and fashion statement rather than a primary necessity they used to be.  The time of the day sits on our Mobile's wallpaper or screen saver.

I look back at the years gone by with nostalgia and some grief as I think all the above was done in pure innocence.  But now thanks to the device called smart phone we have lost all the innocence.  The beauty and the romance of reading a old diary written some ten years ago will give us goose bumps even now.  It was the eternal love hate yet eloquent relationship we shared with our personal diaries.

I fondly remember those days and think maybe I should start writing a personal diary this year.  I am saving a reminder for it in my smart phone!Has the mobile deprived us of small moments of happiness?

  My question still stands : Has the mobile deprived us of small moments of happiness?


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4 comments

  1. I FIND YOUR POST INTERESTING.

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    Replies
    1. Your Blog is very good. It gives a reality check of minute things which we miss to understand in life due to time constraints . I have been reading the posts and I felt you talk about everything from technology to political situation to publicity crazy media & press to general issues. You are doing a excellent work. I hope your bring more such issues so that the lay man knows about it.

      comments on the post

      Technology & modernization always has two sides one is advantage & other is disadvantage. You are very true we are turning mechanical as our memory is getting fade as now if you want to know phone numbers or birth dates we just have to click the mobile to know it. We are being slaves to technology. As you know now no one wears watches as in our mobile we have clock as watches are now just fashion accessory to flaunt in front of friends.

      Really those days when we is to note down phone numbers of our relatives or birth dates of our friends & family it was time consuming but it is make us realise how much importance we is to give to relationships. Previously we is sent cards to our near dear ones to wish them happy birthday now we send them SMS. Some where the words in the cards would express our feelings to our loved ones but now we are using short cut methods to express our feelings.

      But advantage of phone are just like if there any incidents taking place like blasts or trains are not working or if there are heavy rains we can immediately call our near ones and confirm about their safety and get assured after hearing their voice that they are safe. Suppose if some of your relative is unwell and if he is stays in native then just a click and you will able to know about his health without going there otherwise previously we is write letters to them and then after a month or so we would get to know about their health.

      Previously you went to photo studio to click your family photograph but now we have camera in our mobile and we can click pictures any time & anywhere. This is the advantage of technology not even that we can also share or send to our dear ones our pictures as person sitting in America where as person sitting in Mumbai both get see the pictures.

      Before when you is to reach late to work we could give excuse but now due to phone the boss know your number and he keeps a check on you every second on what you are doing , where you are which is also a disadvantage of phone. Some where same applies when middle of night if your boss call you and spoil your sleep just to remind you about the work you have to do the next day which wouldn’t be if is there were no phone at least you could get a sound sleep.

      This discussion is very lengthy as Technology changes every day and every moment and it has really controlled our lives as it has made our life easy as well as difficult to live in. It has really deprived us from the small moments of happiness but at the same time as I said it has made our life also simple due to hectic life we lead.


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  2. Thanking for your comments, you have really hit the nerve with your detailed comment. I have a view that tech is good as well as bad depending on how you take it, just like life. Thanks for your elaborate comments, hope you continue reading my blog and give your esteemed opinions

    ReplyDelete
  3. Nice post. I think tech is good as well as bad depending on how u taking it.

    ReplyDelete

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