When Phones Got Smarter Than Humans

“Tbh, Idk what 2 expect! Smartphones r gtng d bttr of us rn!”

LOL! I bet you didn’t get what I said right there, did ya? Well, if you did, then you actually belong to this generation, you’re a part of the smartphone generation!

It is quite smart. You no longer have to pressure yourself to type out every word. TWO or THREE letters and you’re done. Saves a lot of exercise for your fingers, doesn’t it?

Well, like all inventors around the world, smartphones were invented to make our life easier. And they have been quite successful at this one! Everything at the touch of a finger.

Remember the time when we had to go to the market to buy out everything. Now if you blakely remember the early 2000s. Amazon was one of the very firsts to identify this market gap and came to rescue Online Shopping! And that goes so well with the company’s motto: “Work Hard. Have Fun. Create History”.

                                       

Let’s jump to entertainment now.

We have, in picture, YouTube and Netflix. The content was available only on T.V or you would have to go to theatres to watch movies until these geniuses woke up one day and brought entertainment at your fingertips.

The platforms have not only made our life comfortable but a lot easier. The massive ideas these companies had, brought everything (both physical and virtual) into our lives and smartphones gave it right onto our palms.

The point here is that you got all this comfort from a smartphone. Everything you ever wanted was on your fingertips. But every creation has a downside. And so do smartphones.

People born before the smartphone era always had interesting and fun pieces of conversation. Social interaction was never a problem at the time. It just came naturally. People wanted to spend time with each other rather than upload moments on social media.

Then, as the world and the technology around us advanced, our dependence on technology, especially phones, advanced, too. All of this happened, gradually. And all of us fell prey to it, unknowingly. The flip-flop phones (now extinct) advanced into more modern versions. And boy, did we welcome a wave! A wave that has engulfed us all.

                                         

Let us see how and why smartphones have done us more harm than good.

• Family time is a bygone now;

Spending time with family was something that everyone looked forward to, after getting back home from work. But with the advent of smartphones, even if all the members of the family are sitting in one room, everyone would be busy on their phones. The dependence on smartphones has taken such an extreme turn that we can no longer think of any conversation pieces to start off.

• Goodbye, old friends!

There was a time when not a day went by wherein you didn’t meet up with your friends and played all the silly games you played as a child. But since smartphones have made communication so much easier (with video calling apps like Skype, Face Time and IMO taking over), we, unfortunately, do not feel the need to actually meet up and discuss our day to day affairs and gossips.

Nowadays, we just dedicate Instagram stories to a person whom you met 5 years ago! Aww… Now that’s what you call true BFFs! While we are busy dedicating stories, we are simultaneously forgetting the times we cherished when we actually met our friends. Hence, quality time with friends became a cherished memory.

                                       

• The quest for love has gone digital!

With dating apps changing the rules of dating, one couple at a time, the charm of old school dating days have also turned to dust. Why take the pains to go and approach a girl/boy personally in a cafe, when he/she is available on Tinder, right?

Love stories are digital, too:

Remember that time when mom and dad each told you how their love story began? The way your father described your mom’s baby pink salwar kameez with a red bindi and a rose flower nicely tucked into her hair bun. I bet you must have gone all teary and ‘awww’ on that one. Your father’s romantic love letters to your mom had you in awe. That is when you discovered that your father has a romantic side to him too!

Unfortunately, all of this changed and will change even more with dating apps telling you the new and ‘cooler’ ways of falling in ‘love’. Your love story will truly be digital then. And when your future children ask you about your love story, tell them you met on Instagram and got married eventually.
And watch them get all confused and ask themselves, “Was that a love story? Was there a story at all?!”.

• You need help with calculations and memory:

And why is that sad? Because we all have become so dependent on smartphones to help us remember stuff for us, that we forgot something called ‘memory power’ that exists in our brains.

India has followed a tradition of memorizing mantras and Vedas since the start of time. Gurukul was a school where all the Maharishis (Great Sages) and Pandits (Temple Priests) went to, to gain knowledge. They had no notebooks or pens. All they had was their memory to memorize all the Holy mantras and Vedas.

Hence we regard our Pandits and Sages as among the most intelligent and powerful beings to walk this earth.

But, with Alexa making a child’s life easier by answering 5-2=3, there is no need to use our brains to make calculations.

This is a matter of concern because our brains are trained to sort out the easiest and hardest problems without using technology. When that purpose itself is not served, can we really call ourselves intelligent and smart?

• Smartphones are not smart enough:

While smartphones are a great big deal to have today, especially when your rickshaw-wala has it too. But they are not smart enough to add value to your life. You can only add value to your life if you go out, meet people. Try adding value by viewing and knowing the world differently. Have your own perspective.

                                               

Health issues are on the rise:

Technology has consumed most of our otherwise highly productive time, thanks to social media. Due to this, health issues have doubled than what they were in the past one or two decades.

Mental and physical health issues are on the rise like never before. Obesity, depression, anxiety, excess fatigue, etc., are just a few. These are signs of how spending time with our smartphones for too long is ruining our lives.

                                           

• My opinion:

Yes, smartphones are the greatest things to happen to mankind. Yes, they have made lives easier. But what we are essentially forgetting is that we are SOCIAL animals.

We were born to socialize with other beings. But, unfortunately, the wave of smartphones has gone so high, that as the days pass, we are harbouring lesser emotions. Apathy is on the rise. People want to go viral sooner than become valuable humans first.

We have to learn to get out of our houses, stick our heads out of our not-so-smart-phones and learn to appreciate the incredible beauty that this world has to offer, both in animate and inanimate forms.

We are all caged in a (cell) phone. It is time to break free. Because, while we are physically closer today, the emotional distance that has been created is widening day by day. This will continue to happen so for a long time.