Thursday, February 12, 2015

I am in dire need of a technology detox!, And you??

Shut in my home, lying on my bed (thanks to the damn back pain, i took a sick leave from work!), i was trying to kill my time. I considered all the options available for the same:
1) Watch TV
2) Browse something on the internet
3) Watch movies/videos on youtube
4) Message friends on WhatsApp
5) Check my smartphone every five minutes for potential updates
6) Window shopping on online shopping sites
Just as i was considering all these different options, i got a call from the Amazon delivery guy..." Mam, can you give me clear directions to find your home? I am stuck in one of the streets nearby". So, i gave him the instructions to find my place. Half an hour later, there he was, asking me to sign the delivery form. Guess what, I had one more option added to my timepass list. My new Amazon Kindle, which i had ordered few days back had arrived! Tadaa!!
I started exploring the gadget. Checking out what all books were available for free to download first..."Damn, I cant download 'The girl on the train' novel for free! What a waste!", i kicked myself...and continued exploring it....

This is how a typical day of my sick leave passed on:
- I woke up in the morning at 6:00 am and had my cup of coffee. Browsed through my phone to check if i had got some messages on WhatsApp.
- I checked the Facebook homepage to see if there has been any interesting posts which were posted while i was sleeping in the night.
- Then i opened my IBNLive app to check for the news. Then i realised that i could use my laptop instead (bigger screen).
- I opened my laptop and checked my emails. Browsed different sites.
- Then my dad came to the living room and switched on the TV for news. There was news updates on the 2015 Delhi elections..." Don't these channels have nothing else to report about. There has been non-stop Delhi Election news for the past three weeks!", i told him...Nevertheless, i decided to check out the latest updates on the 'name-calling' game.
- I turned to see that my father too was multi-tasking with the newspaper in one hand, his smartphone on the other hand and TV running in front of him. 
- The breakfast time passed this way. And suddenly i felt a swing of boredome. I was wondering what to do next...'ok..maybe watch a movie on Youtube'....So i  opened the site and checked if the movie i wanted to watch for a long time was available on it....So 2.5 hrs passed this way.
- It was lunch time...I came to the living room...I saw my father checking out something on his ipad. Mom was engrossed in her relatively new smartphone ( She had refused to use one for a long time. But after we forced one onto her, she was totally into WhatsApp groups and forwarded videos and jokes, Well what i can say!).
- Had lunch..and then wondered again what to do..' no more movies, i have to read more books! Let me put this leave to proper use!'. So i started reading a novel on my new toy, the Kindle.
- It was a book by Oscar Wilde called 'The picture of Dorian Grey', which i had downloaded for free on my Kindle. I knew that a movie based on the book had come out few years back. As i was reading it, i was curious to read the review about the book.
- I opened my laptop to google it. Read the synopsis and the book plot online. I realised the content might be slightly disturbing for my liking. I wanted to switch to another book.
- I browsed through to check for more books which i could read...Then suddenly my phone pinged.
-Someone had sent me a message on WhatsApp. I replied back to them. Then went back to my laptop to continue browsing. Then suddenly another thought crossed my mind. I immediately googled that topic..and started reading about it.. While all this happened, it was already evening.
- I decided to go for a short walk ' At least for 20 min, i am sick of lying down the whole day'. I did that one sensible thing.
- Back from the short walk, i decided to switch on the TV. Meanwhile, i checked my emails (Btw, just that you are rest assured, i checked my emails atleast 20 times over the day).
- I downloaded a new app called 'Gaana' on my mobile phone. 'Damn, i am so out of touch with all the latest music. This is a great way to catch up'.
- This was followed by few more hours of juggling between watching some shows on TV, checking my phone, trying to read a novel on my Kindle...and switch between my smartphone/ipad/laptop browsing the internet and exploring new apps.
- Finally i fell asleep reading something....the day came to an end.....


Then i just reflected on how the entire day had passed....'Horrendous', i thought. If boredom was not bad enough...Technology just made my brain scatter all over the place. Not only could i not concentrate on any one thing properly, my eyes were soar by the end of the day. I started wondering what these gadgets have done to the already restless human mind. Is it a really a help or an assault on our senses. I realised i had developed an obsessive compulsive disorder to browse the internet, facebook, and my emails. So much that i get restless if i go to a place where is no WiFi or where my 3G network does not function.....In the end I somehow felt.......ABUSED....
So what did i do about it???.....I decided to take inspiration from the thoughts running through my head and decided to use this technology to write a blog about it.... 'What a hypocrite you are', i thought to myself....as i finished writing up this piece........