I believe it was MK Gandhi who once said, “Show me your friends and I will tell you who you are.” Luckily for him, Facebook and Twitter weren’t available back then, and this statement made some sense.
It has taken us many ‘smart’ developments to get us to where we are right now. People spend hours using their organizers, mail clients, and even their phones, to improve their work efficiency which would definitely improve without these distractions in the first place. Keeping in touch has become literal at times, with e-pokes being sent across FB networks! It has become routine for me to login to FB atleast once a day to check out what’s happening with the people I know. (Shame, shame to me too!)
The great thing about it is the ease with which we can network, regardless of the distance or the time elapsed. Though some good has come out of this new development, the meaning of the word ‘privacy’ has been obliterated. Stars tweet their schedules, including time spent in the loo and fans lap it all up. It took Tiger Woods just a single message on his website to communicate that he was taking a break from golf to repair his home tottering under his infidelity (-read many many-), and the whole world was made aware of his decision from just that source.
It is not only the technologically inclined who can keep track of these things. Media (newspapers, tv channels) have developed a knack for taking tweets and pics and painting them in an entirely new hue. Some time ago, a certain bootilicious ‘Basu’ and a footsy ‘Ronaldo’ were purported to have been in a lip lock when the pics only showed them approaching a casual cheek peck. A little simmer time and the rumour had become the headlines on most news channels. Certain news channels who encourage viewers to ‘think about the impact’ came up with ‘What will happen to John now? Will they break up? Stay tuned to find out more.’
Our mental faculties have begun to degenerate, think of yourself in today’s context as opposed to say, 7-8 years back. There is a deterioration associated with age, but it has begun reducing the starting age. Kids in school cannot find enough stimulation today. Each day they get bored about something or the other, and something new draws their attention away from their activities. Forget studies, how many kids go out to play in the evenings anymore? There used to be a time when gully cricket formed an important entertainment for localities, where passersby would stand and bear witness to the cheers and appeals from budding gully cricketers. Now, kids return from tuitions (for even 2nd and 3rd std), and spend hours on Facebook or Orkut. There are only mechanisms for measuring our GDP growth and our inflation, but there seems to be no way of finding out the deterioration that our country is undergoing every day. “Our future lies with our youth” they say. Considering where we are headed as a generation, I sure hope the future does not rest with us.
We have progressed a lot as a nation, but it seems funny that we haven’t emerged as leaders yet. How will we ever lead, if all we do is follow trends and technology from other nations? There hasn’t been a single startup that has managed to inspire people on the lines of Infosys, while several startups emerge in the developed nations, especially during the economic crisis (which they think is over, btw). We have used Twitter, Facebook, the i-gadgets (iPod, iPhone, iTouch and now the iPad!) for a long time now, but no progress has been made to emulate their success in a grand manner. It has partly to do with the lack of support from our government, but aren’t we to blame too?
It’s time we pull up our socks. I don’t know how many people are actually reading this, and if any of you have actually thought about the deterioration that we are facing. Think about it. And then Do something about it.
Any suggestions are welcome.
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8 comments:
U spoke my mind bro.. last week was discussing about the same thing with my school friends.. As to how we have become so dependent on some countries.. Instead of heading towards self sustainability we are more n more becoming dependent.. Well we the "YOUTH" are to blame.. Most of us serve for other countries instead of serving our own..
[b]Do something about it.[/b] - Well we all have become so selfish that we are happy if we get ourselves what we WANT and not what the country NEEDS.
Hmm.. I think it is essential to get ourselves what we want first, but then find a way to serve our nation as well. We're not monks, hence can't be above desire... My idea here of 'doing something' was more on a personal level, stopping/slowing deterioration around us.. That should do quite a bit.. If each person was just selfish abt his contribution, that simply would create a great nation. :)
True! I second you in every point you have made. More startups with good potential in coming days might do the trick. And is it just the overuse of social networking sites that you blame for our deterioration ? How do we stop deterioration around us ?
Hi Aashi, Nice blog .There is a good and bad sides of every damn thing, Its upto us.
@sagar: No.. but I believe such sites are a good place to start.. I personally feel i waste time on FB, and other sites.. But other methods are there too.. Anything that has ever simplified reality for us decreases our ability to handle complexity. We see villains coming in a particular way, with some crappy background music, and that simplifies the logic of seeing dangerous ppl. Our social skills are limited to what we see others doing.. It's been a long time since I heard/saw anyone discuss anything with regard to development, we discuss people,TV shows and so on.. That is another avenue for deterioration.
What can be done becomes very simple when we identify what we are doing wrong personally.. If I change an hour of TV watching to an hour dedicated to improving my reading skills or a good workout, it's a good start to prevent deterioration.. Will write abt 'Discipline' soon.. Thanks for getting me started buddy.. :)
@!!-Make ur own Destiny-!!: Thanks buddy.. :) True indeed..
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look what technology did to you...!!! instead of writing this and submitting this as an article for a newspaper...you put it up in a blog...!! :)
Adam, Nice post. Something I have spent lot of time thinking and discussing. There might be certain element of unfair comaprison here, since the situations under which we grew up and wht kids now do aren't similar or the same.every generation kinda tends to think the next is sloppy.
That said, yes its for us to think the change, and make it happen. Kaundi once said we are this way since we have no causes, no wars to fight, no revolutions to lead. Its in a way true. As a group we have no revolutions.But looking closely, our parents lived lives of imposed penny pinching to save up for better lives, dads and moms slogged countless hours in less than comfy offices for futures, therfore trading a present.So growing we had a lot we wanted, but only got what we needed.And joining dots, we think money is the solution. Which is why I think almost everyone( me included) thinks having more money and splurging is the end all of life. There is no future we worry about, "careers" "independence" take up lives and almost everything that impedes it, like old fashioned family values, thrift is abhorred.
I live on teh other side of this whole thing.Where what we in India are beginning to see has almost gone past in the US and the effects aren't pretty.
Forgive my extraordinarily long comment, but the choice we need to make is not a great grand one. Its a gonna be a series of simple ones.
like looking beyond our own cubicle, to have more than one metric to measure our own lives, to make a choice not to compete at times. I don't have the answers frankly, but this is what Im trying to do.In little ways. :)
Again apologies for this long comment.
@kaundi: true true.. :P
@niki: First things first,please.. No apologies. I wanted perspective like this, so ur most welcome to leave long comments. Thank you for your insight into this.
Yes, I agree with you on the fact that our priorities are changing compared to our parents, and it is increasingly blurred. And somehow, it seems to be getting worse with each growing generation.
All the growth that we are so excited abt has come abt from a group of individuals, probably in the 10% of the population (even that's hoping for a lot). As Adam Smith pointed out abt the 'Invisible Hand' - selfish motives that ultimately lead to resources being produced and growth in market, our growth has largely been by chance and not choice.
And this factor will actually come handy- be selfish and do well for yourself and somehow you are contributing to the growth, albeit as just another cog in the machinery. We just need to acknowledge this and work towards actually contributing to growth by choice, and if even an additional 10% do this, deterioration may (hopefully) be reversed.
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