Hey! You SMARTy pants
Have you ever wondered what would it be to live a life outside the smartest phones and internet? It is sad that we all have been living a life of modern cliché where the day starts with ‘Good morning folks’ or ‘Wonderful morning’ on a Facebook and WhatsApp status (obviously with a coffee cup by some shitty books no one heard of) and ends with a picture of a fancy dinner with cheap wine or a bottle of beer posted on Instagram (or snapchat) captioned ‘Chillin night with ma dudes’ or ‘That’s all about today; Exhausted nights’.
I am in my late 20s yet I feel like I am old when I talk with today’s youngsters, more like I feel sorry for them. They live a life electronically which they quote ‘smart’ but actually they aren’t. I remember my childhood in a house by the lake where I spent most of my evenings playing, walking, and enjoying every moment of nature. Dawn and dusks were just a piece of cake. I thought it was heavenly to sit out at the verandah, feeling the breeze in the late evenings, stretching out with a favorite Agatha Christie novel. I’d rather say I grew up with a pile of books and comics. Reading was the not only a hobby but an addiction. Not some fancy fashion magazines or shitty books; the books that would open your heart deep down and make you blend with the words. Still the same. But young kids these day go for very famous novels like ‘Harry Potter’ or ‘Davinci Code’ and that’s it; they are bibliophiles. Only things I know is they get some fancy books and post it on Insta; God knows what happens to the book afterwards. I don’t prefer to be mean to this generation but their attitude towards the best things in life is bizarre.
I work in a research laboratory and we are meant to have weekly meetings. Trust me, most of the time during the meeting at least two of them will be scrolling down their smart phones (for no reason). Most annoying is their language; more specifically their short text language (a latest version of English). If they have to leave in the middle for emergencies, they’ll be like ‘BRB’. If someone cracks a joke ‘LOL’. They think that is enough. I do sometimes wonder whether these people are equipped with stuffs called ‘emotions’ or ‘feelings’. I don’t offend short texting, but you have to speak out of your heart. That’s what language is for. You have to communicate; you have to share what you feel by either words or gesture. ‘LOL’ or ‘ROFL’ is not going to help at all to show emotions. I mean, YOLO, live it to the ultimate, why bother shrinking it.
I never deny smart phones have made life so easier and simpler. But how has this turned into more? They have become so immune to being able to contact someone with just a tap of a screen, that they can have an entire conversation with someone in the same room as them without speaking out a word. They’d rather Snapchat pictures or Insta them than to actually go see them. Mark Bauerlein, an English Professor at Emory University and senior editor of First Things journal, have officially labelled the social media youngsters as the “Dumbest Generation”, which I agree to disagree. Even though socializing is the chief notion of ‘social media’ platforms, they’ve rather created means of self-isolation. I mean, what’s the point of a greeting a stranger through the Twitter, if you don’t greet your mom who brings coffee to your bed, literally every morning; she deserves that more than anyone in the world.
Smart phones and social media are very powerful temptation, so that it can bring addiction and can sidetrack the youth. Globalization and getting to know each other is a healthy fact; but it should not intoxicate yourself. It should be understood that there are lot of stuffs could be done without the smart phone tech. A stroll by a beach, enjoying rainy evenings by the window with a sip of a coffee, walking in the street by the late night with your partner, late night conversations, visiting museums, art galleries, even DIY crafts, waking up early morning feeling the breeze, getting together with family, creating memories’ the list goes on. Even if you live a smart life, you need something extra to add color.
Learning to live with the technology without surrendering to it may be one of the biggest challenges youth has to face in this digital era. Smartphones revolutionize our lives; yet always think of the cost you’ve paid for it.
