TECHNOLOGY: MORE BANE THEN BOON

It is so rare for us to see someone who is not bent over their digital gadget and drunken in their own world. I say drunken, because an alcoholic can be compared to how we are drawn to our gadgets, especially mobile phones. It can be seen as a form of addiction seeing many children are taken to psychiatrists to even communicate properly even with their parents.

It was, at first considered as a blessing to communicate with our loved ones who are far away from us and keep a check on them. But since then, the technology and the gadgets have evolved so much so that, we are at a point where we cannot even control what the internet knows about us. If that is not threatening enough, I don’t know what is.

If there is something good, there ought to be something. Our human brain is made like that, to think of the opposite ways in which a power can be used. There are loopholes for everything and no one is. Sure, there are million ways in which internet and gadgets can be used to our good, but there are equal million ways in which it can be misused. It is a point of concern because even small kids are using internet and it is important for the adults to supervise what is accessible to them.

When there are ways possible in which the technology can be misused, it will be abused. There are many cases of cybercrimes and cyber bullying reported day to day. The lack of education on proper use of internet and the lack of control and restriction on what can be uploaded in the internet is what leads to this.

From the simple task of students copying stuff from the internet to the bigger crimes like fraud in internet banking takes place because of internet. These are times when we are looked upon strangely if we don’t know how to use internet, especially if you are a millennial or a Gen Z-er. Our intellect is finalized with our skills in using technology. People who grew without internet and technology are struggling to cope with the rapid increase in the expectation of them to portray themselves as intelligent. As the age old saying goes, from 2 years to 82 years of age, all people are forced to adapt themselves to changing situation.

Even Government has started moving the transactions and other Government services to the internet through the movement, ‘Digital India’. The problem with that is, due to abundance of population and the amount of misuse in the form of hacking and even simple problems of internet connectivity has delayed to main idea of the initiative. Needless to say, there are some villages without even a taste of internet and they are just doing fine.

So should we shun internet and go back to the medieval days? It is true to stay up to date and in competition with the internet and technology in order compete bigger giants such as US and China, else we will be trampled on, but it needs time and that time has not yet come. It would take at least a decade for all the citizens of India to adapt themselves and equip themselves for this change.

There are plethora of things in the internet. It is up to us whether we use it to our gain or not.