In Touch But Out Of Touch....

It was sometime in 1998 that i got my first mobile phone during the Lok Sabha Elections. Pagers were in vogue then but the sudden apperance of mobiles made them unfashionable. Every person's dream now was to acquire a mobile. I was no different. The cost of mobiles were repulsive and the amount to be paid for making and receiving , yes, yes, receiving calls was more. I had been appointed as the Returning Officer of the Mulund Constituency for the Vidhan Sabha and the ARO for Lok Sabha Elections and due to the importance of the elections and the introduction of Electronic Voting Machines for the first time and such other reasons we were permitted to use mobile phones for the smooth conduct of elections. And so i became a proud and beaming owner of a mobile phone. 

I was careful in its usage ensuring that i don't use up too much of talk time for making or receiving calls. The tempataion to hold on to the device after the end of the elections was natural. Giving up that confort of being accessible anywhere, anytime and also being among the limited few who owned handsets was impossible. That was the beginning of me getting hooked on to a mobile. I later got transferred to organisations which permitted use of mobile phones and reimbursed the expenditure and so the mobile phone became an inseparable part of my stationery. 

Over the years the brands and models changed and with each passing year new features came in. 

However it was the introduction of internet and smart phones which transformed lives. The fascination of being connected through internet in seconds through email which later gave way to more advance social media platforms like facebook was addictive. Slowly came the age of skype and now watsap, telegram, viber endless apps to connect with people. Each new feature ensured alienation of the age of warm conversations. 

Every member in the family including school going children now have smart phones. We may be among the few parents who have not given a mobile phone to our child at the cost of being termed old-fashioned. From vegetable vendors to grocers, electrician to plumber all have mobiles. Maybe it enhabces their business but it also brings with it the added dangers of being cut off from your immediate kith and kin. And wi-fi is the new oxygen without which most of us cannot survive. The age of wi-fi has made us all so greedy for free network that not getting tea during a social visit can be overlooked but not getting the wi-fi password at a friend's home upsets us more.

Family members and friends are more happy and comfortable communiucating on watsap and facebook instead of making conversation with each other. Honestly it is difficult for me also on most ocassions to restrain seeing watsap and FB messages even when i am in the company of my loved ones and family. 

Mobiles have replaced watches, music systems, torches, books, cameras and knowledge systems. Googling for information has become so easy, finding our way somewhere even easier with maps. Work pressures have added up due to easy accessibilty and due to social media we continue to work into the nights making and receiving calls and replying to messages. Not being proactive on phone after office hours is not accepted any more. 

Mobiles have connected us to a surreal world but we are losing touch with family and friends. The warm conversations, the rapt attention, the loving glances and togetherness are all lost today. The light and radiation lead to sleepless nights and unsettled mind. Yet it has become so difficult for mature adults to avoid roving of their eyes for that message or joke, that song or sermon, that photo or video. There are instances of extreme addiction requiring medication too. 

Why has it become so difficult be present in the present? What is it that attracts us to that touch of the phone? Is it smarter? Or are we making fools of ourselves by connecting to a make belief world when we could have the world at our own feet provided we reunderstand the value of nourishing relationships , devote time to reading, engage ourselves in interesting conversation, respond in a manner to reach out to a person so that he feels wanted enough to talk. 

Would we stop becoming slaves of an instrument which has become smarter than us? Would we relearn to be in touch with humans and out of touch from the smart phones????