By Snigdha Jain
Psychologists define loneliness as a subjective, unpleasant experience that occurs when the desired level of meaningful social contact is less than what is available. The prevalence of loneliness is increasing. Let’s take our relationships, the most conveniently made, friendship. “I have 500 friends on Facebook.”
“Well, I have 800.”
You may boast about the increased number, but do you really know all of them, in person? Do you have reel or real friends?
Spending n-number of hours surfing and chatting on the social-networking sites, showcasing the feelings through varied emoticons, has it helped having a perfect life? Is the truth, that simple? Has Instagram status brewed your inner vacuum?
An important issue faced in the metropolitan cities is the disappearance of neighbourhood picnics, family gatherings and the feeling of community. Children are well aware of the latest games of the PSP, they wish to have on their birthday, but what they don’t have a notion of, is the festival that’s coming up. They have a taste of the latest gadgets, but, when you ask them about the trivia of their customs and traditions, you have a blank expression on their face.
There were days when, for everything, what we needed was MOM. And now, we prefer talking TOM. Mother used to play the role of the one who knows everything, but now, she understands nothing. She is the one, interfering while google maps, snapchats and twitter are the most trustworthy, helping in every phase of life. We need no guidance, no views based on their personal experience because it gets the children into unnecessary arguments. Morals have depreciated drastically when technology has attained great heights in our lives. Forget about being empathetic, we hardly have time to look up and give an ear to the person, crying in pain, because we are busy hearing songs on the earphone while walking on the street. Humanity exists, but in books now.
A recent study found that 48% of respondents only had one confidant compared to a similar study 25 years ago when people said they had about three people they could confide in. So, as we have built expansive social networks online, the depth of our networks offline has decreased. So, it seems that because technology makes it easier to stay in touch while keeping distance, more and more people find themselves feeling distant and never touching or at least not enough to avoid us feeling increasingly alone. “Keeping up with the Kardashians” has become more important than keeping up with friends and family. In the name of family bond, we have dinner pictures on Instagram, ever increasing comments on the Facebook posts and most important are the number of people who viewed the status on WhatsApp. GUYS, you are the true well-wishers.
Studies affirm that girls use the internet for social reasons and they are more insecure and less confident in their abilities when using the internet, than boys. Who doesn’t want beautiful skin? Having long lustrous hair is every female’s dream. Girls today can do anything to keep up with the latest fashion trends, be it in their clothing or accessories, they carry. Even when they don’t need a hi-tech phone, they still want to own it and the pressure passes on to their parents. This ever increasing burden not only makes the pocket empty but also adds on to the health issues that act as an after effect of these so called essential beauty treatments, that girls refuse to give up on. Children going out of their homes to study in colleges have less and less communication with their parents in comparison to when they used to live in the same house. Mothers complain that they call less often, even they text only when there is something important, to notify them. Emotional sharing and caring between the families reduce day by day.
Children today don’t prefer playing chess; they are more concerned about the levels, they passed in GTA vice city. Men put money in online business and gamble without being aware of the repercussions of the same. Even the online business fails to establish a level of trust and build confidence in the minds of their customers failing where there is a drastic decrease in loyalty, both on the dealers as well as the customers’ front.
Social media allows us to control what we share. It appeals to our vulnerability and vanity. We can pick and choose which photos we share and craftily edit our words; to endure we convey the image we want others to see. Yet it also provides the illusion of friendship that, in real life, may be shallow, superficial and unable to stand the demand, and pressures genuine friendships, entail.
It is not only the youth which is affected by such rapid growth of technology but the older generation is also being impacted by it every day. On many occasions it has a positive effect but there are instances where it is not helpful. For. E.g. People living in old age home are encouraged to use digital assistants like Alexa and Siri to have a companion and avoid the feeling of loneliness but sadly, it turns out that technology has been largely ineffective in meeting the needs of those feeling lonely.
According to our survey, conducted among our friends and families regarding the impact of technology on their life their responses were “though they are excited to meet with their friends and families but the frequency of their meetings has decrease” because of the hyper busy lives there are leading.
It is not just individuals who are at a disadvantage but certain sectors of the economy are also on the downside. Rich private school going students can afford the best AV rooms and all the online resources that the school caters to while the government school children are still struggling for a proper infrastructure. Many of them do not even have a notion of what a smart class looks like, forget about being in one. In other words, we can come to a conclusion that technology is polarising the two extremes of the society even further.
Coming to the hi-tech private schools, Computerised methodology is overpowering human psychology as children today relay on various applications to get their concepts, cleared and problems, solved. Teacher is a mere dictator emphasising on the theoretical concepts given in the books that have been followed for generations, without any upgradation.
Urbanisation is welcoming globalisation with open arms, but closing the doors for human relationships while the rural world still relies on the relationships in which they are close knit. Relationships that the rural people have are still not tarnished as they are still not dependant on the limited access to technology that they have as much as we in the urban areas are. For them the only purpose of such a boon is connectivity and interaction with their loved ones residing in the city unlike us who have now started living on the wire. In the places where mountains rule, the people don’t worry about the signals of the phone because they way too busy absorbing the natural beauty they are being blessed with. Boats may not make them reach their destination to the earliest like our metros but they definitely let them cherish the bonds they make with their ongoing mates.
Make your bonds strong, look around
You needn’t always have the sky
Enchanting whereabouts are also found on the ground.
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