Thanks to the large number of students that create a vibrant
‘population explosion’ of the University campus, there is a chance to see not
only the sheer variety of people who bustle about the place, but also the level
to which technology is truly incorporated into the daily life of the average
student. Common experiences range from staring at powerpoint presentations at
class, to texting while walking to and fro from class (and in class, of
course), talking while driving, or simply sitting in the campus shuttle nodding
one’s head to the iTunes of an iPod, while social networks take up the rest of
the time. And occasionally, as exams approach, one punches up the calculator to
its limit, or scours the web for some quick data.
This level of penetration of technology is something that
has been commented upon and discussed to shreds by people at all levels of
expertise, and for the most part; the changes have been accepted as
contributing positively to life. There are, however, some situations that would
probably not have been all that common a decade ago: a bus full of college
going students, not one of them speaking to the person next to them but
incessantly texting or talking to someone elsewhere… or else simply staring off
into nothingness while avoiding eye contact. Or students staying glued to their
computers for hours on end, or children whose eyes only light up when seriously
involved in their latest virtual game, while masking over when spoken to
directly. In other words, it has been noticed that the indulgence in technology
has created a corresponding apathy, to everyday experience.
One of the best examples of this is seen in a study done by
the Washington Post in 2007 named “Pearls before Breakfast”, where the
well-renowned violinist, acclaimed as a prodigy in his younger days, Joshua
Bell, performed the world’s best pieces of music on a 3.5 million dollar violin
in a busy metro subway at Washington DC. His day’s collection was all of $32,
with just a handful actually stopping to listen for any good length of time.
The rest were busy passing through, many with their own iPods plugged in, in
spite of the fact that a single seat for his concert would cost upwards of
$100. The combination of technology and a hurried lifestyle appears to be
deadening us, and seriously begs the question of how one is to deal with it.
One of the most common techniques suggested, for people who
well and truly get addicted to technology, is to keep the exposure “within
limits”. This mode of thinking suggests that keeping an upper limit to our
usage of technology, such as the age-old method of parents sending their kids
off to bed after a certain time in front of the TV, keeps the problem in
control. Although this method of limiting
the amount of time works in the short term, it does not address the issue of imbalance. When one uses a tool, such as
a calculator, it provides an ease of performing certain tasks, provided one has
the necessary knowledge, in this case, a reasonable capacity to calculate
mentally. If one has not developed that capacity, a calculator transforms from
a tool into a crutch, as time progresses, up to a limit that even to divide a
number by 10, one reaches for the calculator. The mental capacity gets
deadened.
As it is simple enough to see that “limiting” the use of the
calculator means little, attempts at limiting the use of any piece of
technology does not help anyone. What one needs is the analogue of the mental
capacity to calculate… a capacity that provides a balancing agent for the tool.
Limiting usage just reduces the amount, while a balancing agent offsets that
amount, like adding weight on the other side of a weighing balance.
This provides us with a way to deal with the presence of
technology in our lives: we have to look for the offset for the tools, as
suggested by the use of the tools themselves. When one looks at the cell phone,
it provides instant access to talk to known people who are elsewhere. The
offset would be to develop the habit of talking to UN-known people who are
right next to you, in the elevator,
or the bus, or while in a queue. TV and movies provide a tool to see stories via
images… and the offset would be when one visualizes a story, either while
reading a book, or when actually writing or dramatizing a story using one’s own
imagination. iPods and music players enable one to listen to music of an
artiste, and the corresponding offset would be to sing, howsoever horribly, or
hum a tune when one is engaged in any task during the day. (On a side note,
when was the last time you heard someone humming while walking about?) Social
networks enable one to carry out even the most trivial conversations with
people all over the world… the required offset for which would be to set aside
a small period of the day in silence, speaking to none, or at most to oneself.
It is a simple matter of observing what a particular tool
provides, and developing the offset of that function in one’s life. That shows
us that every tool can be used well, and that every tool also challenges us to
build up the corresponding ability. So the next time you text someone, make
sure that you are a person who “gets the message” pretty quickly!
