Information Technology | Mindset| Self-improvement
Digital Dependence
Boon or Bane?
There is an outage here in California that has crippled my life. No internet in the last 12 hours and no idea when it gets restored. Life has come to a stand still as WA on India phone, the lifeline of communication is silent indefinitely. The local AT&T phone works on data. So some semblance of sanity prevails to know that the world still exists and I am a blessed part of it. The writing addict types away furiously, the havoc that the absence of Internet caused in her life and it gets published almost immediately, within no time of submission. Is it not a proof of its relevance? Do read.
Just as I line up and schedule activities, No Internet sign shows up on my India phone. Worry takes over. What happens if the internet is not restored soon? Most importantly, my doctor’s appointment that would lapse. That gives rise to a series of confusion about whether to continue with the previously prescribed medicines. What is the alternative then?
What happens to all the dates I have given for various online activities and the conversation was still on to streamline the same? There sure will be a misunderstanding that I am not so keen, which is not true. I am dying to make each one of them happen.
And, there is a friend in distress who had asked for a particular email ID to seek help. What will she think if she finds I have shared none, that I am uncaring and forgetful?
I wake up now and then throughout the night and turn on the phone, unmindful its light irritates those sleeping by my side, to check whether the Internet is back. Only to find each time my hope was in vain.
Realization hits hard. How much we take the internet for granted. How much we feel safe and secure in the knowledge that we can get any work done anywhere in the world with the digital goddess. Only its absence and uncertainty about the time it gets restored makes me aware of how our world has expanded and how we cannot think of going back to the pre-Internet period.
With the internet, everything, practically everything, is within reach and the sky is the limit. Has this made life more comfortable, more relaxed? Or have we become slaves to the digital world as well as greedy to grab everything it offers? Is it more of a cause for stress and anxiety than a blessing?
Before the advent of the Internet, the only way to consult a doctor was to physically go to his clinic or a hospital in the vicinity of where we lived. The healing touch and words of the doctor cured half of the malady if not all.
Does online consultation offer this subtle aspect of healing? Indeed, a point to ponder.
The various online platforms we are part of, each one more enticing than the other, is a form of sedentary life we get addicted to. Unaware most of the time to blink our eyes, get up, walk around, hydrate, or look out through the window at some greenery to protect our eyes and brain from the harmful effects of screen staring. This is causing havoc to our mental and physical health, but we are caught up in catch-22 situation.
The misunderstandings and heartache when we block a tiresome person who sends Good Morning messages so enthusiastically every morning, without fail, pricks the conscience somewhere, but one has to do it to preserve one’s sanity. It is called self-care.
Bottom line! When we use the internet as a tool judiciously, we are cool. If we allow the digital world to rule us, we might as well be called ‘digital addicts’ same as ‘drug addicts’, and rehabilitation is not easy.
