THE DANGER OF EASE……
A lot has changed since the ancient times as we know it. Technological revolutions, and advancements in almost all fields of life has led to making things easier and less time consuming. Further it has reduced dependency and brought in a lot of variety in terms of products each professing an enhancement over the other in more ways than one. There is no shortage of variety…in fact its mind bogglingly extreme making it difficult to take an informed decision…the last of which would take up too much time and resources.
This has, over the years, boiled down to the ‘doorstep mentality’. It’s amazing how everything is about door delivery, ordering from the net. Earlier the term couch potato was used for the avid TV watcher. However with the access to multiple devices and anytime anywhere concept the ease with which things are bought and sold are amazing. No doubt the market is larger and deeper and ease in communication make things move faster.
The same is true of various machines and devices used. Take the example of Home products…the mixers and heaters and steamers and washing machines and the AC’s and the water coolers ….the list seems endless…indeed it is the age of machines and devices …mechanical and electronic. One will argue that these are indeed helpful as not only has it made life easier and less time consuming, there is a definite advantage in terms of ease of operation and efficiency as far as multi-tasking is concerned. Leaving more time to do other things…well like chatting on Whatsapp or other social media or entertainment …may be play station or just chatting on phones…and indulging in more inane activity where value addition is next to nil. Obviously I am not saying that all are like that but the trend is catching on …while most of the younger generations indulge in it….the older generations are catching on and latching on to the electronic devices. The only difference being, perhaps that the matter exchanged is of a more mature range and the communication device is used more meaningfully.
The question is, whether all this revolution has made our life qualitatively richer. The technological revolution has been used or rather misused…mobile and the computer is used for chatting and talking about nothing in particular or just entertainment by most especially by the young……. the computer is hardly used by most modern generation for enhancing knowledge…the students are busy cut copy pasting, the professionals make presentations doing the same …everyone wants to know their heart rate, the sugar levels and the blood pressure and the miles walked…everyone is in a hurry to make a mark with the help of gadgets….and these are increasing day by day…..many have sophisticated devices they don’t need or don’t use it fully or misuse it. The terrorists are having a field day with them. The status conscious are buying the most expensive to show off so what if some don’t even know how to use all the facilities provided. The companies are benefiting the most as these devices continuously upgraded creating a market by appealing to all the psychological angles that can be thought of and there is no shortage of the gullible.
While same is not the case with mechanical devices, have they really added value…in the matter of home products most of these jobs like making pastes and cutting were done manually as well as washing and the swabbing etc. Of course a protest maybe made against this that no one has the time and thus this helps to finish the jobs and give extra time. While all this is true how has all this benefited in the true sense? What is all that extra time gained being used for…actually most of the extra time is being used up by the mobile or the computer that add nothing or little of value or doing jobs to make more money so that one can pay for these things and also the fast food.. Further knowledge and learning of the same earlier concentrated on depth. Now, in this age of information, with so many distractions and ways to amuse oneself, both the depth in knowledge and the research mentality is fast disappearing and is being taken up by a lot being known about nothing…i.e. there is more width than depth to the knowledge.
Be that as it may, the increase in the ease with which things and knowledge is secured, which is literally at the fingertip, .there is a danger of taking everything at face value and the acceptance without authority can have dangerous consequences. Further there is a degradation brought about by half knowledge as the need to learn completely about any matter is on its way out, being replaced with the attitude of learning on the go and with little or no experience, superficiality reigns . Curiosity seems to be taking one into realm of the unnecessary, ass to it lack of time and experience, and it puts everything out of balance. This also means that one is open to being questioned by the few who really understand and thus being left high and dry midway which is neither here nor there.
Ease has thus made one lazy and lean on superficial existence that has no substance and is mere existence for it is not given to research, or the need to take the requisite trouble to search for alternatives and thus we are prone to be taken in by all that we are fed by the various media as true while a very few prosper at the cost of many who have understood the human psyche…..Man is basically lazy,,,give him comfort and ease and you can rule …especially if its priced right.
All this has affected modern life in terms of ill health, unhealthy food habits, pollution of the mind, reduction in the thinking population and sleeping habits that are destructive both to the brain and general health….is anybody caring…of course not…it’s a short life …let’s make the most of it…lets degrade ourselves more and turn into automatons and spend all our time making more money and indulging in fruitless activities that add very little if nothing to quality enhancement of our life……Quantity is indeed winning!!
(Previously published on mamtaapte.com)