Sunday the 14th of July 2013 was the last day that one could send a telegram in India. After over 150 years the service was terminated. So what - you may well ask? How many of us have actually ever sent one? I have maybe sent a couple of telegrams in my entire life! But it is one more invention that changed the world around us - that is no longer "relevant".
How long does one expect the postal service to keep going? Does anyone still send faxes or use pagers? What about landlines - how long before they are redundant, if not already so? Along with the cyclostyle, Xerox paper, Vinyl Records, VHS cassettes and the dodo (Dodo??) what other ubiquitous technology will become extinct in the next 5 years? How long do you think CD's and DVD's will last? They are already on their last legs as sales drop with music and movies being streamed via the internet "free". In fact quite a few movies are now available on-demand through iTunes and Amazon, even before they are released in cinemas.
I was just reading a survey that said that travelers in USA now prefer Hotels with no in-room entertainment - a strong WIFI is all that is needed! With lap-tops and iPads connected to their favorite sites like Hulu and Megashare, they can see what they want when they want. How long before set-top boxes also become extinct?
I now seek constant connectivity every where I go. I hate to step outside the bubble of a Wi-Fi zone, considering that every source of input, information and entertainment requires me to be plugged in now. If that is the way 'I' feel how can I cast a stone at the youngsters who grew up with this and have never known a life without? Even when booking a hotel room while traveling on holiday, the most important facility for us (barring clean toilets) is free Wi-Fi. In fact we were extremely aggrieved when we stayed in a five star hotel in Atlanta last year which did not provide free in-room Wi-Fi.
But all of this connectivity comes at a high price.
It has diminished my window of privacy, increased the stress of keeping in touch and the associated guilt of never being able to satisfy every stakeholder in my life.
Most of us in the Corporate World have known what it is to experience death by email. The flood of messages is so severe that one cannot hope to stem it. Unread and un-responded emails abound and just as I think I have got them in control, a fresh deluge makes me envy Sisyphus.
But now we also have personal Emails, FB, LinkedIn, Twitter, SMS, WhatsApp, etc. Some of us have gone the extra mile and got ourselves multiple personal email ID's (as if one was not enough). I know that they are for different purposes (and not what you think). And to access all of these apps and emails we have Laptops, BB's, Smartphones and Tablets providing almost constant connectivity.
However every time I unlock my iPhone or my iPad screen, I see these small red Badges, reminding me of unseen messages, reminders and updates. These badges also inform me of the number of these unread and un-responded messages, making my blood pressure rise by a few mmHg every time I look at the screen.
I feel like I am standing at the bottom of a huge information dam which is creaking and groaning with the mounting pressure of that information bearing down on it. I expect at any moment to be absolutely submerged by the deluge of data with nowhere to run.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg! As more and more of our everyday stuff of life is introduced into the digital universe it can only get worse. A huge proportion of our time and our brainpower is being utilized in this wanton act of being connected. We are forced to react, respond and engage, as the social pressure of not being on any digital platform increases. I have so far refrained from completely diving into this madness. Wetting my toes and putting my head in, once in a while, is all I have done.
But the question keeps haunting me - should I continue to abstain or not? If I do enter - should it be as a digital stalker? As someone who reads about what is happening to others while keeping myself private - almost like a virtual voyeur? Or should I add my timeline into this universe?
And if I do - if I commit to this domain, the question is - will I be able to keep up? Will I be able to, on a constant basis, wish and greet people with whom I have the most tenuous of links, on their Birthdays, anniversaries and other occasions? Will I be able to live with the constant guilt of not being able to reciprocate? Of not being able to engage in the banal chatter and banter that represents immersion in the FB and WhatsApp universe?
While I mull this problem on an intellectual level, my gut and my heart are drumming a different tune. They are telling me to push back, to actually unplug completely and retain control over my time and my energy. All around me I see swathes of people who have succumbed and have turned into digital junkies. I need to set an example and resist this siren call of an addictive technology.
And like the fabled Sirens whose songs continually called on Persephone, the appeal of this universe is hard to resist, but if heeded can only lead to a terrible conclusion.
I guess the answer (as always) lies somewhere in between - in moderation.
But the question keeps haunting me - should I continue to abstain or not? If I do enter - should it be as a digital stalker? As someone who reads about what is happening to others while keeping myself private - almost like a virtual voyeur? Or should I add my timeline into this universe?
And if I do - if I commit to this domain, the question is - will I be able to keep up? Will I be able to, on a constant basis, wish and greet people with whom I have the most tenuous of links, on their Birthdays, anniversaries and other occasions? Will I be able to live with the constant guilt of not being able to reciprocate? Of not being able to engage in the banal chatter and banter that represents immersion in the FB and WhatsApp universe?
While I mull this problem on an intellectual level, my gut and my heart are drumming a different tune. They are telling me to push back, to actually unplug completely and retain control over my time and my energy. All around me I see swathes of people who have succumbed and have turned into digital junkies. I need to set an example and resist this siren call of an addictive technology.
And like the fabled Sirens whose songs continually called on Persephone, the appeal of this universe is hard to resist, but if heeded can only lead to a terrible conclusion.
I guess the answer (as always) lies somewhere in between - in moderation.
