Generation with Technology
After a long day at work, with a refreshing tea cup in hand, I decided to take a stroll near the lake of my house. With the cool breeze hitting my face and discussing life with friends I could not help but look at the grandparents and grandchildren, parents and kids bonding in the evenings enjoying the vibrant spring season.
But at the same time, there is a huge contrast to the gadgets that they were hooked to. The kids in the scrollers were hooked to the phones and iPads where as the parents moving the scroller though having a phone in hand were discussing small happiness in life. Children enjoy games on devices and grandparents discuss the old memories from back home. The two different worlds in the same place made me wonder if this is what people meant a “technology generation gap”.
As I was further going down the track of walk, it made me wonder what as a generation of boomers and millennials we headed towards- from an era of Black and white mini TVs running on antennas to LED TVs using the internet; a single landline in a street to multiple phones to a single person; making a real connection to making virtual friends and the list is unending. But amongst all this a question always lingers in my mind — are we happy making this change? Are we ready for a virtual-only world? Ready for screen attached life?
Let's go back to the era a couple of decades back, a typical day for a working person would be to get up, prepare breakfast and lunch, get ready for work, go to work, do work, come back, spend time with the family and friends and retire to bed early. But the same would now be getting up with the help of a digital alarm and probably after snoozing a couple of times, looking at social media, getting ready to work, work, come back, get hooked to devices, and retiring. The penetration of gadgets and digital technology knowingly or unknowingly is very huge. In all this from time to time, there is a sense of disconnection from the real world too. Are we enjoying this change? Are we really happy with it? The questions constantly linger.
On one side there is a generation that curses the progress that the gadgets are making people addicted to them and who would not prefer to use them and on another side is a generation that has no care what is happening around them and is glued to those gadgets. Many times both of them exist under the same roof of the house. Two constant worlds in one frame like a sheet where one half is black and other with white.
It is not wrong to be involved in gadgets, but somewhere there should be a line with the virtual and real world too. A need to be connected to people, and indulge in small talk is also vital for well-being. A dedicated time to pursue hobbies that do not involve any gadgets is a blessing. A walk around the lake, clean air hitting nostrils, able to enjoy the vibrant colors with total peace is sometimes the true holistic living of today. Live life, choose wise!!.
