Abhijit Naskar's Blog - Posts Tagged "technology-addiction"

I am worried - terribly worried - I am worried sick for the kids - for the citizens of tomorrow - and this is no everyday worry, for everyday worries come and go, but this worry of mine is not going to fade away. I am worried for the sanity of our kids - and all the kids yet to come.

We have arrived at a point of time where the way we raise our kids is going to draw the line between sanity and insanity - it's going to draw the line between the will to live and the urge to give up. Never in history, the situation was so severe as it is now. And if you genuinely want your kids to have a healthy and happy life, then you no longer have the luxury to be callous about their daily habits.

Here I am not addressing your capacity for raising kids, for that's an instinctual response which comes naturally to all parents, but what I am pointing out is that even that age-old parental instinct of raising children is not going to be enough in ensuring that the kids grow up to be mentally stable members of a healthy society. Mark this, if you do not get serious right now, then the future that awaits your kids will be that of insanity, misery and death.

Technology - that's what revolutionized this planet beyond human imagination when it came to existence - and now in its newly acquired digital form, it has begun to revolutionize this planet once again, except this time the repercussions are turning out to be a thousand times greater than all of the previous technological revolutions combined.

Selfies have begun to replace memories - likes and comments have begun to replace lasting conversations - illusive friends and followers lists have begun to replace real reliable friendship. And this is nothing to be taken for granted, for the digital innovation that set out to connect people, has slowly started to tear those people apart both from within and without.

Reliability has become scarce - commitment has become scarce - attachment has become scarce. The very socio-psychological mechanisms that sustain the stability and wellness of a society are beginning to collapse, and when they do, the very fabric of societal stability and sanity will get ripped apart, which I am afraid is no longer a possibility.

This has already begun to happen and the situations will get only worse, creating a society full of sociopaths, psychopaths and basically unstable, depressed and superficial human beings with no strength of character and conscience, and no sense of patience and sanity whatsoever. They will crave for appraisal - they will crave for attention - they will crave for flattery - they will crave for perfection. Everything about them will be artificial and superficial. And no matter how much they pretend to present their life as perfect, inside they will be dying every single second of their existence.

Now the question is, what are we going to do about it? Are we going to do anything at all? Are you going to do anything at all? Are you? I am asking again and again, because upon this question depends the very stability and sanity of our children and grandchildren. So if you can perceive the impending doom, then we can move to actions.

The best way to teach the children a habit is to adopt it ourselves. So, the first step to raise a society that will know the distinction between healthy use of technology and harmful use of technology, is to practice that distinction religiously in our own lives. This means that you must right this very moment start modulating your use of devices, by turning off all notifications except the most important ones.

You do not actually need to delete your social media accounts, but what you must do is - and I mean must, not should, because if I ask you, do you want to protect your child from committing suicide, then you would probably say, you must, not should - so, what you must do is, check your social media only once or twice a day - at most three times, but not more. And this applies to all the responsible adults everywhere, whether you are at home, at work or in transit. Because, if you can't be the role model for the children of this world, not just your own children, then you have no right to blame those kids for their behavior.

So, renounce the 24/7 smartphone scrolling behavior, if you actually care for the future of your kids - for the future of this world. Then comes giving a little nudge to your kids when you see them being consumed by their devices. You may say, they won't listen. Actually, they do not listen because you do not give them enough time from an early age. Spend time with them - watch a movie with them - go for an outing with them - do something with them whenever you have time.

Set the standards of healthy living in front of the children, by being an embodiment of healthy living yourself, then and then only will there be hope for the kids to turn into responsible, stable, patient and socially functional human beings.

Recommended Reading
Mission Reality

With superior sentience, come superior screw-ups. And this holds particularly true for industrialization. Even if we put aside carbon emission, in the year 2020 alone humankind has produced over 2 billion tonnes of trash, which is expected to rise over 70% by the year 2050.

Thus, in the name of progress we the gadget-mad gargoyles keep acting as the true eco-terrorists of the glorious dumping ground, called the planet earth. 2% of all our waste is e-waste. And the alarming bit here is that, that 2% e-waste comprises over 70% of our overall toxic waste.

So, what can you do, you ask? Simple – reject less, repair more. Try to make things last as long as possible, or pass them on to those who have need for them. Don’t let things go to waste, just because you can afford new ones.

For example, my kid cousin’s laptop has been acting up for some time now. But instead of buying them a new pc, I ordered the replacement for the faulty part and repaired the laptop myself. This way, we not only reduce our e-waste footprint on the planet, but in the process, we teach kids to value things.

The point is, whether you do it yourself or get it done by a professional, by practicing repair, you are actively participating in the making of a greener, cleaner and healthier world.

It’s not enough to be just a consumer, you gotta be a conscious consumer, otherwise there is no difference between a consumer and a slave. That is why, right-to-repair is not only a human rights issue, it is also an environmental issue. Repairing and recycling are the bedrock of sustainability. So I say again – reject less, repair more.

If we cared more about the hard problem of real inhumanity,
And less about the fictitious hard problem of consciousness,
We’d have filled the world with human consciousness already,
Instead of still fighting for basic rights against base biases.
What kind of a moron goes walkabout when their home is on fire,
What kind of a moron abandons the living chasing life on silicon!
We really gotta take a hard look at our habits and priorities,
Dreaming is good, but dream devoid of life is but degeneration.
Chimps driving teslas are still chimps no matter the demagoguery,
All intelligence is disgrace if it’s unaware of human condition.
A heartless organism living on silicon is no different,
From a heartless organism living in a carbon based human.
Be it crucifix or code, in savage hands every tool is weapon.
The wise use AI to design prosthetics, savages for transhumanism.

Chatgpt pampers plagiarism,
Facebook pampers conspiracy.
More and more innovations are
becoming catalyst of catastrophe.

Note, I didn’t mention the birdie,
Very mindful, very demure.
Facebook can still be repaired,
but once a MAGA, always a sewer.

Innovation that outlives its usefulness,
is no longer innovation but carnivoration.
Innovators not in touch with soil-n-roots,
are predators of the concrete jungle.

The golden age of startups is behind us,
today it’s mostly filth, fraud and smut.
Amidst the crowd of trust fund termites,
be the humanovator to humanize the world.