I’m actually writing this from on board the new Boeing Dreamliner, 41000 ft. above sea level experiencing the luxury of connecting to whatsapp and what not. Technology has pushed boundaries in all dimensions. We are always in awe of it but really wonder if this is the best thing to have happened to mankind. When I say I don’t think so, I know, I will invite raised eyebrows. I have been observing people over the recent past. Humanity in general seems to be slaves to ‘smart’ phones / tabs and the likes and in the process getting less smart by the day.
The so called social networking is creating a kind of social vacuum and social insecurity in my opinion. Networking it is, but the social part is suspect. This was fittingly highlighted by a recent joke that was doing the rounds on Social networking sites…A teen posting on twitter…The internet was down all day, spent time with family. They seem to be nice people...is what it said. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was not a joke but a real posting by some teenager somewhere. There is a vacuum these days at restaurants, airport lounges and even at home with people too preoccupied with their tabs or theirs phones the customary smile or even a courteous salutation is almost extinct. Recently when an old colleague of mine and I were having lunch, his phone beeped he told me that it was just a reminder for his next meeting and went on to sadly confess that he was no longer the owner of his diary or his time these days.
Connectivity is the new addiction. The flashing arcs that represent the strength of connectivity on our phones / laptops or tabs are our strength and security these days. We have reached a stage where we can stay without food and water but not without internet connectivity. As I’m typing this I have lost mine on the plane not because it’s not available anymore but because the time I paid for has elapsed and I don’t intend extending it. Hence, though I’m writing this at 41000 ft. I might post it only when I touch down.
If connectivity is an addiction then Facebook is the ‘LSD’. This is a stage where you see posts about a toddler calling out papa or mama for the first time. The parents are so excited because both of them were at work when this happened and their tech savvy maid at home captured it on her smart phone and sends the audio file via ‘whatsapp’ to her memsaab who in turn ’shares’ this joyous event with the world and ‘tags’ her husband who in the middle of the meeting gets 35 ‘likes’ and 70 ‘comments’ congratulating him on his little ones first uttering of papa. Later that evening they posts pictures of the dinner celebrating the event which is again liked by hoards of ‘friends’. I’m not sure if the quintessence of the event was lost in the entire social melee. Amidst all this sharing and tagging I wonder if the parents really spent quality time with the kid or really gave it a try to prod the kid to address them. How many of those 35 likes and 70 comments really meant it? Where they fulfilling a virtual ritual? I recently saw some ‘likes’ on a post on the death of a loved one? Their phones must have beeped and they religiously carried out their ritual as responsible social network citizens by ‘liking’ it!
Twitter is the other, the tequila of social networking. These are the ‘shots’ version of social networking, 140 characters is all you have to express yourself, be it messages of joy or sorrow. You get a high shooting off your cuff. This has spelt doom to many politicians’ career. Even though some of them were educated in the best of institutions in English literature they were not taught precise writing of a political discourse with a limitation of 140 characters. Mind you, the space you don’t have these days also accounts for a character. Sad they are referred to as tweets, the irony is the infrastructure that facilitates these ’tweets’ has almost driven the original tweets of sparrows and other birds to near extinction.
On the other side after accessing the internet from 41000ft I plunged to reality reading a news article on the nature’s devastation in Northern parts of India. Sad that technology that enabled me to send pictures to my loved ones of the in-flight food served was unable to deliver food to people stranded at much lesser altitudes.
My feelings on the achievements of humanity fell from a zenith of 41000ft. to a nadir of helplessness to foresee nature’s fury. Realised that even after all the advances technology has made we are all mere mortals, yet to fathom Mother Nature in all its glory or fury.
Friday, June 28, 2013
Friday, June 21, 2013
Hey Teacher (& Parents) leave the kids alone!!!
I haven’t written in a while. During this period the world around me went through a lot of changes, Rupee touched 60 to a dollar, gold plunged to an all-time low, Comrade Narayanamurthy was back in Infosys trying to salvage the company he founded by following the Congress policy of, East or West, in kith and kin we trust! Advani flip flopped and flopped for the third time around, once bitten twice shy, they say, but thrice my friend, is almost back in a sty! The reputation of the gentlemen’s game of cricket took a beating when it was compared to a game of chance and not skill. Cricket is no longer associated with the Lords but to Las Vegas
Coming to what made me write this blog after a while. My second daughter all of 5 came back from school with tears in her eye having lost a recitation contest. Though I’m not one of those pushy parents who wants to see his daughter cornering glory, I was devastated, because I had taught her a poem about 10 little tortoises. The poem begins with what 1 little tortoise can do and then goes on to say what 10 can do too in a language 5 years olds understand. It was, what I believed, a perfect amalgamation of counting and literature and very age appropriate. She had delivered it well too.
She lost out to a kid again all of 5 who recited ‘Daffodils’ by William Wordsworth. ‘Daffodils’ is what I learnt in Class 10 and in which I had trouble understanding the following lines even as of today… ‘In vacant or in pensive mood they flash upon that inward eye, which is the bliss of solitude’. Can you imagine a 5 year old narrating this without understanding the state of being in a vacant or a pensive mood or knowing what an inward eye can see or experiencing the bliss of solitude!!!
The parents have encouraged rote learning in this case and the poor child has simply followed it. I can still see the joy & smile in my daughter’s eyes when she enjoyed learning stuff like
……
Three tired tortoises
With feet feeling sore
Along came another one
And that made four.
Four tired tortoises
Just trying to survive,
Along came another one
And that made five.
Five tired tortoises
In a thirsty fix,
Along came another one
And that made six.
…..
My daughter comes to me and says ‘I did not win because I did not say a poem that was long enough with big words in it’ .By big words she means Pensive, Solitude and even bliss. She asks me to teach her poem that is long and with big words in it the next time. I don’t feel sad for my daughter, but for the little girl who won the competition because she was living her parent’s dream and not hers.
This is not a cribbing parent’s sob story of sour grapes but that of a person who believes that the kids these days are being subjected to a different kind of slavery. I’m sorry if that was a harsh word to use but that is what I feel.
The kids these days are living a life not knowing what boredom is. I was bored to hell growing up as a kid. I had nothing to do and hence I was ‘thinking’ on how I can counter boredom. A kid today has his or her day charted out on his / her dad or mom’s outlook calendar with a time limit for everything, even a spare time is well defined. He or she has been denied the joy of ‘thinking’ what to do with their spare time simply because he / she has no right over it. You might have heard of phrases like bored to death or even at some point of time plotted to kill boredom in your childhood, but this is an era of the death of boredom, the death of innocence and the death of nascent creativity. If I mention all this to 5 year olds today, they might even ask me if I have an app for all these.
So all you teachers and parents leave the kids alone…They don’t need no education but some guidance to make them better citizens wherever they live...
Teach them not to be just another brick in the wall but the very foundation of the future!!!
Coming to what made me write this blog after a while. My second daughter all of 5 came back from school with tears in her eye having lost a recitation contest. Though I’m not one of those pushy parents who wants to see his daughter cornering glory, I was devastated, because I had taught her a poem about 10 little tortoises. The poem begins with what 1 little tortoise can do and then goes on to say what 10 can do too in a language 5 years olds understand. It was, what I believed, a perfect amalgamation of counting and literature and very age appropriate. She had delivered it well too.
She lost out to a kid again all of 5 who recited ‘Daffodils’ by William Wordsworth. ‘Daffodils’ is what I learnt in Class 10 and in which I had trouble understanding the following lines even as of today… ‘In vacant or in pensive mood they flash upon that inward eye, which is the bliss of solitude’. Can you imagine a 5 year old narrating this without understanding the state of being in a vacant or a pensive mood or knowing what an inward eye can see or experiencing the bliss of solitude!!!
The parents have encouraged rote learning in this case and the poor child has simply followed it. I can still see the joy & smile in my daughter’s eyes when she enjoyed learning stuff like
……
Three tired tortoises
With feet feeling sore
Along came another one
And that made four.
Four tired tortoises
Just trying to survive,
Along came another one
And that made five.
Five tired tortoises
In a thirsty fix,
Along came another one
And that made six.
…..
My daughter comes to me and says ‘I did not win because I did not say a poem that was long enough with big words in it’ .By big words she means Pensive, Solitude and even bliss. She asks me to teach her poem that is long and with big words in it the next time. I don’t feel sad for my daughter, but for the little girl who won the competition because she was living her parent’s dream and not hers.
This is not a cribbing parent’s sob story of sour grapes but that of a person who believes that the kids these days are being subjected to a different kind of slavery. I’m sorry if that was a harsh word to use but that is what I feel.
The kids these days are living a life not knowing what boredom is. I was bored to hell growing up as a kid. I had nothing to do and hence I was ‘thinking’ on how I can counter boredom. A kid today has his or her day charted out on his / her dad or mom’s outlook calendar with a time limit for everything, even a spare time is well defined. He or she has been denied the joy of ‘thinking’ what to do with their spare time simply because he / she has no right over it. You might have heard of phrases like bored to death or even at some point of time plotted to kill boredom in your childhood, but this is an era of the death of boredom, the death of innocence and the death of nascent creativity. If I mention all this to 5 year olds today, they might even ask me if I have an app for all these.
So all you teachers and parents leave the kids alone…They don’t need no education but some guidance to make them better citizens wherever they live...
Teach them not to be just another brick in the wall but the very foundation of the future!!!
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