Published on January 14, 2018
The dialog of a super hit Bollywood film ‘3 Idiots’ – ‘Hum machino se ghire hue hai’ (translated as ‘we humans are surrounded by machines all over’) is genuinely true in all senses. Since more than a couple of decades; digitization of machineries and socialization of digitization have become extreme! The most impacted digital device in today’s word is obviously our mobile phone!
When Bill Gates predicted in early 90s that access of Internet will be very easy and presence of Internet will commonly exist in every house after a couple of decades – This sounded strange to people at that time but the present proves it completely true!
Now in this century, Internet and Mobile; the closest buddies have completely turned the tables! In last quarter of 2016, mobile devices sell crossed desktop selling for the first time in the history and since then this ratio has kept on increasing. As per Forbes report, sale of connected devices (smart phones and tablets) was greater than 80% in 2017!
I don’t disagree that these are one of the best technology gifts ever this generation has received!
But
Every coin has two sides! (And hardly both sides would be same as the Jay’s coin in Bollywood super hit movie ‘Sholey’!)
Anything in limit is a blessing and over limit will be killing! The same is true with the use of digital technology also!
Over dependency and extra usage of these technologies have made humans much technology dependent. Most of us have outsourced our brains to these tech devices!
Our brain is the central organ of our nervous system and digital technology has taken over control of this organ badly!
We have almost stopped remembering phone numbers and contacts and address books have taken control over our memory.
We are forgetting birthdays, anniversaries and important dates of people who matter the most for us and have given charge to Facebook and Reminders to remember those for us.
We search parenting skills on Google but hardly find time to play with our children and tell them stories that teaches important lessons for life!
We want to become carefree by using spell checks and grammar checks and we are OK to forget our strong Grammar lessons taught by convent nuns!
We spend time on chatting with our colleagues on What’s App and Messengers but we talk less to our loved one in the same house!
We know where our neighbor is enjoying their holidays only through Facebook but we hardly found some time to say Hi to them and have an evening tea together!
We somehow find some quick moments to play candy crush but we don’t remember to grab some time and call our family and friends!
We want to get answers of jigsaw puzzle cubes through Google and YouTube videos rather than stretching our minds’ limits!
We stop visiting bookstores and forget the pleasure we get by reading the hard copy and keep buying books for Kindle!
We capture the beautiful place in a closed frame because we don’t want to miss sharing it on Facebook, Instagram and What’s App but we completely miss the beauty, the freshness, the observation, the learning, the knowledge, the people, the culture, the moment, the chance, the blessing beyond that frame!
We are missing out enjoying the beauty on the roads while travelling as our eyes are stuck on iPads and Tablets!
Facebook Fatigue is increasing! Digital Dementia is impacting our brains heavily!
(Digital Dementia is the term created by Neuroscientist Manfred spritzer – referring to overuse of digital technology which can lead to cognitive decline)
Our brain is not a use-and-throw device! Instead, the more you use it, the more it will produce! And we have become Digi-Tech dependent in wrong way; that we use our brains less and we let the technology work for us. This human approach is one reason of rapid technology growth and limiting our brains power!
Studies have proved that access use of digital technology and social media has resulted in improper and less efficient use of human brains. It’s high time to turn back now!
Medical Science and Psychologists have derived proven areas one can work towards increasing brain efficiency. I am listing down some of the key areas here:
- Cut off on TV, iPad, Tablet and iPod.
- Develop interest in something else than your routine work and learn a new skill.
- Take enough sleep and spend 45 minutes to exercise regularly.
- Stay cool and de-stressed. Take away negative thoughts.
- Don’t be I, Me and Myself but also don’t sacrifice on your passion.
- Spend some ‘Me Time’ and Be Solo.
- Spend 30-minute minimum to know and learn something new. For e.g. surf this URL once every day and learn one new thing every day: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random. Browse through good knowledge sharing sites regularly.
- Be diet conscious: quit smoking, less caffeine and alcohol, less sweets, less – balanced – frequent portions of food, more citrus, more green vegetables, more water, more minerals, more vitamins, more iron and more calcium.
- Practice memorizing things. Start with important and famous names, events, dates, phone numbers and keep raising the bar.
- Meet more people. Surround yourself with more intelligent people. Help people who are in need.
We are blessed with One Powerful Brain. We are blessed with One Beautiful Life. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. The more we know, we realize that we know so very little and there is so much to learn! We are responsible to take charge of our brains and make our lives worthy!
