Electronic gadgets is life :

‘impossible’ without them ?

Amalshan GUNERATHNE

Imagine a blackout, where all your high-tech gadgets cease to function. A mass power cut where you will be deprived of the fancy gadgets that you adore so much- a life without your iPhone, computer, or the internet. Would you survive it? For those who are infatuated with technology and its gimmicks, even to think of such a day would be most disturbing. The youth today have become addicted to the technology to an extent that life without their treasured gadgets has become meaningless.

In fact when asked as to what he would do if faced with such a dilemma, a youth did go on to say, “That would be most unfortunate. I cannot even stand those random power cuts that we get on some days. So I have no idea how to survive a mass blackout. Life without video games, movies, TV,

FaceBook and internet that would be very close to hell on earth I would say.”

As silly as the statement does sound, it still gives a grave reflection as to what extent we have become dependent and addicted towards the technology and its fancy gimmicks. Not that you cannot live without electronic gadgets, just that life without them would be uninteresting, boring and tedious.

It is an obsession

The youth today consider their personal computer or the mobile phone to be more than just machines. You may even call it a romantic infatuation. Those who are obsessed with high-end technology even attach certain feminine traits to their computers and take care of their machines with a sense of affection and warmth. “You should not let her overheat. She needs more fans to keep her cool, her power guard needs to be replaced,” you could often hear them talk. While such attention is not necessarily a bad thing, what could be disturbing is that in the process of prioritizing an inanimate object, they end up neglecting their family and other relationships.

Girlfriend or the videogame?

As amusing as this may sound, while surfing through a popular social networking site for video gamers in Sri Lanka, I happen to run across a forum where the users were discussing on how to find a girlfriend that could understand their gaming habits.

The forum was filled with various amusing views on what to priorities, whether they should cut down their gaming habits to give attention to their girlfriend or whether it should be the other way around.

However irrespective of what was being said, the most evident factor was how much youth have become fascinated in the technology and the manner in which they are willing to sacrifice their most intimate relationships for the sake of fancy gadgets.

It is a popular networking site for gamers and computer geeks where they meet up to sell their gaming gadgets or to talk about latest computer gadgets that are around. The site is made of over fourteen thousand local users who use various aliases to preserve their privacy. A quick glance at the site would suggest the enthusiasm, passion and the interest they have towards high-end gadgets.

The fascination is such that an interesting individual whom I met while surfing the site went on to claim that he has not given up his video game habits even after marriage.

What is most interesting was that he has even bought a high-end headphone system and a gaming keyboard with illuminating keys so that he can game in the darkness while his wife sleeps.

“I am expecting a kid as well, but I still have not given up on gaming, if something means to you that much you would always find time to do it,” he went on to say.

More than a necessity

As expressed by many, ‘technology’ is more than just a necessity. It is a yearning. A mobile phone that exists only for the sake of taking calls and typing messages is not enough, a computer that can handle only regular software and routine tasks is not sufficient.

They want more. It has become a means of showing your class and style. As explained by a user of this popular site, “I think it is in our genes and you cannot escape from that. When they release something new, our genes yearn for it. It is hard to explain, you just crave to get your hands on the latest stuff,”

It is also a case of the way kids have been brought up. Since very little kids today have been exposed to technology and all its marvels that when they grow-up they just fail to live life without all their treasured high-tech wonders.

Keeping yourself updated

However that being said considering the rate at which the world is evolving, it would be idiotic not to keep yourself updated with technology. But since the technology is evolving at a rapid pace, it demands the users to invest so much of their time, money and energy on their fascination that they invariably lose track of their routine life.

But as another user and a software engineer Kaminda Dimunge noted, “There is nothing wrong with keeping yourself updated with the technology. It is the future. But at the pace at which it is evolving, it is hard for us to keep up with it, especially in a country like Sri Lanka, where our salary scale cannot sustain or afford the extravagance of modern technology.”

An extravagant hobby

The technology does not come cheap. But it is astonishing the way urban kids somehow seem to get their hands on latest gadgets irrespective of them being so expensive.

Do parents buy it for them? Or do they save their own money and buy it? As understood by our conversations with teens, it is often a case of teens manipulating their parents into buying stuff for them.

Or else if the parents are stubborn, the kids would save up their pocket-money and spend that solely on gadgets. Or else if out of the school, they would start working and spend all of their earnings to buy a cool phone or some other gadgets to satisfy their needs.

However all that being said, none of the above content is meant to discourage you from mingling with technology, it does not mean that you should avoid technology it at all costs.

What is important is that you should not let your fascination towards the technology overwhelm other aspects of your life completely.