The same growing concern is the applications that sit on these devices, principally social media apps and Facebook seems to be getting the blame for the ironical situation of creating social misfits (in real life that is) when FB is touted to expand one's social network (in cyberspace that is) and give more self worth or destroy it (in real life as well as cyberspace that is).
It is good to remind users of both hardware and software of the changing phenomena (as these two have a kind of symbiotic relationship) in our relationships with one another and the gizmos/apps too.
While we will not confess that we have become addicted to these 'electronic devices dispensing cyber nicotine', and feel our lives are empty without our toys, our dependence on them is clearly shown when we feel the irritation these devices intrude into our lives, when we don't want them to or feel they should be seen (sans lighted up) and not heard (sans vibrator mode).
It is no more the traffic crawl that contribute to our mood swings and frustrations. When we don't get a connection or none of our 2000 FB friends are even saying a 'Hi' to us, the agony will mount in correlation to the length of time the connection is down or it takes ages to get the page, or friends still haven't said 'Hi' even if it's about 8am in the morning as our eyes are glued on the screen (and sadly not the driver's window screen).
And lunch breaks these days are not much fun as almost have the time is spend glued to enjoying and playing with our gizmo and apps than enjoying the food! Think back, what did you eat for lunch and did you enjoy the food at say Lemon Garden or even remember what was the conversation among friends besides sharing the FB postings or looking at each other's screen.
Today the msmedia reported on the effect to relationships in marriages and even family institution that smartphones and the apps have imposed upon. But should we blame our tools or ourselves? It's ironical companies spend billions on training to empower their employees to excel and what have you and we prove ourselves better when we are able to take charge over ourselves and others - but when it comes to our gizmos we are literally slave to them and our empowerment stops the moment we log into our FB perhaps!
Even this blogger is at times wasting time blogging the woes of BolehLand when there is so much to life out there right? So admittedly yours truly is also 'addicted' to cyberworld. But thank goodness for the love of photography and outdoors, there is still a balance. Though, a friend remarked that I spend just about the same time taking pictures and getting them composed to post in FB! hah! Now that is a revelation and a sure evidence of being hooked like the rest huh? But on a photo shoot or when backpacking, the phone is on silent or off mode and will only be checked after finishing what I need to do. If you want to live the 'ah hah' moment, get rid or off your gizmos, believe me!
But seriously there are a few fighting smartphone or social media addiction including yours truly. If the BB is left at home, I'd not detour to collect it. And during holidays it's OFF with the official one even though it may incur the wrath when work starts, at least it's stress free during your holidays. Or is it the truth? Some feel even if you off it physically, mentally the mind is still switched 'on' wondering what the boss has mms, sms, bb or email you right? So we are really slave and enslaved to it, even if we want to free ourselves it's a challenge.
But we could really do with less time on social media sites. This is where we can exert control of not being so KPC with what your 2000 friends are up too! How many FB friends do I have? 28 at last count after two years of which only 3 are regular conversations and the rest are just not sure why they are there! Of course those who use social media as a business tool are exceptions right?
Even if our gizmos are trying to get our attention, we really need to not lose our self control and learn to use them in moderation. Sounds cliche eh? But the other option is being addicted to it and feel edgy, irritable and becoming dysfunctional beings. That's a conscious choice we need to know and not wait to become addicted.
Friends have labelled my blog as anti establishment and pro opposition. If you wish to advocate for change, you'd be more inclined to be bias right? At this stage the other option is not as evil as the present option. Or is it? Even if both are on an even evil plane, the issue is to expose the 'evils' that the present 'crooks' said they don't have or are not. Presently we are being told there is no 'evil or dark side' in the present group of 'crooks', while the dark side of the other group of 'crooks' seemed to be revealed almost every second! So to expose the lies, we need a change to dig up all the 'evil' right?
Back to the supposedly disintegration of the family and other institutions by smartphones or social media apps. Our world around us must be so so boring that we need to be hooked on our gizmos to give us a 'high' our lifeline for our daily existence huh?
We shudder the day when all you need is to drill a slot into your skull and insert a sim card into it to stay connected! And we are closer than you think. Look around and see how many of us are bluetoothing and have ear plugs on? Parents are texting their kids from the kitchen to ask kids upstairs to come for dinner!
And we have young people complaining they don't have enough money but won't hesitate to change to the latest model or even own two or more phones or chalk up high monthly bills!!! And we blame the government from taxing us or not subsiding enough for us hah!
The odd thing is while we are shocked to learn we have over 33 million mobile subscriptions to our 28 million population, we are still at the mercy of our telcos. The telcos are still charging us a bomb especially business connectivity. We have given the telcos a free hand to charge us for all kinds of nonsense add on fees! Imagine we pay more each month than willing to buy an insurance policy! (except 1Care huh?) Where is the rational peeps?
Whether we become smartphone or social media junkies is our decision. It's not smart users and not smartphones to be blamed if our relationship breaks down. What do you think of a person who text you to 'talak' or 'break off' or even sweet nothings than in person in your face? Are we sure FB is to increase your social skills? Tapping on the keys or swiping to express your thoughts is different from opening your mouth to express your thoughts right?
When Zuckerberg becomes a billionaire 100 times over when FB goes public, will he spend a couple billions to treat misfits and dysfunctional behaviour as a result of FB? Or will he plead ignorance and innocence of 'Hey you can unlike, unFB or 'defriend' anyone, so don't blame me right? Yeh, tell that to the those who got into trouble even closing their FB or 'defriend' one of their 2000 friends huh?
It is not FB or Google Plus+ now that are being made culprits of disintegrating relationships. A certain tweetie bird is also ruffling up feathers of its members.
And we thought our real world is difficult to cope with, now we have a parallel cyberworld to face too. Tweet on this huh?
At a wedding of a techie couple
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