Technology - boon or bane!

Although, sovereignty of any state will have a higher degree of politics and people’s will involved but what about families, neighborhoods, public institutions and all those classifications that is centered around humanity. They are faltering like ninepins, be it anywhere in the world, from the northeastern part of India to Africa to Europe, Middle East, in fact the world as a whole. Technology which is shaping up human lives in every possible manner, unimaginably, is also the bane here. If we see the use of social networking in recent times, it has created more friction in societies over the world than the good that it was designed with. Countries like China have come up with their own set of legislation towards use of such sites but this undreamed of freedom of expression is sinking more into the world of spreading hatred, jealousy, igniting comments, fanaticism and the rest which has created commotion and has even taken lives in many nations. Mischief mongers, groups with extremist motives use these platforms as it is very easy to open a fictitious account and do maximum harm, all but free. The time has come when users must be asked to produce documents, as required while opening bank accounts, to create email and social networking accounts given the number of misuse and damages that these ‘camouflaging’ mediums are producing on a daily scale. It cannot go on and on like what it is now where nuisance is going unabatedly as these forums have become safe heavens for them. No matter how good the intentions are but it cannot be denied that these mediums are playing mischief and has divided this world more than the wars and crimes it has seen.

We cannot deny the fact that most of these technological developments have truly taken place in advanced countries, mostly in America and Europe. If we analyze their use, form and freedom they are actually developed targeting the free economy and people of these nations. For an average American or a European, it is “cool” to say and post comments, which is a trend in their societies. Now, if some of these comments create any type of fissure in the country then they have a holistic legal framework in place to correct them. But in countries, outside the parent countries where these technologies are developed, it may not be in sync at the first place and the increasing animosities, trapping to false mails, creating law and order issues are some that is constantly reported in countries in Asia and other parts of the world. It has to be understood that technologies are after all the manifestation of intelligence inside a human brain and that manifestation may not necessarily work well all the time at all places until and unless it is a divine sanctity. What one cannot say, write or speak in regular frontline media, these social networking sites are thus allowing public to vent their anger with the most foulest of language never ever seen in any public domain earlier because it is just enough for the owner of such sites to escape prosecution with a nondescript disclaimer that any comments posted are not the views of these sites. In fact this disclaimer is the root cause of the danger associated with these sites. How absurd it is that the owners of such sites are roaming scot-free whereas a slightly absurd comment in the regular media, bosses are taken to task. The comments made in the social networking sites are not confined to specified geographical boundaries as seen in case of newspapers, television channels since they can be read and seen by anybody in any parts of the world and create local trouble. Their circulation is worldwide and so their bosses should be held more responsible for any problems that arises out of comments, videos and others postings in their sites.

The divided world, in which we live, where families are shortened to a pigeon hole, is actually the result of our efforts trying to instill technology practically in everything in our daily lives. We have literally become slaves instead of technology being our slaves. This penetration into critical areas of human lives, where a human touch can do much good than any technological interference, is changing the dynamics of our society. Today people tend to rely on technology more as they prevent themselves from every possible personal contact with fellow beings and keep that up through the use of gadgets citing pretexts of one thing or other. People say, “we will keep in touch” whereas a neighbor is seen conversing via technology instead of a possible meet. This virtual reality is the new reality now as good wishes, greetings, condolences and everything else are all but possible through technology. The gap thus remains since there is no alternative to human to human contact and technology can never fill up that gap. Technologies which are designed to simplify human lives on earth have rather complicated it alarmingly. We may get heart-attack, nightmares and the rest if we are asked to imagine our lives for a day without it. But then what good have technologies done instead of taking us away from our roots. A rootless civilization will not last and continue to rupture no matter how advanced is our technologies. It is like shielding the exterior more and more ignoring the vital interior which is collapsing all the time and will bring down everything, one day. The present world civilization is sustaining on this falling core.