December 08, 2007

 It is always good to take a small break once in a while and reflect on where one’s life is going. So give yourself time to think about all your priorities in life, your future career and your daily life. Enjoy all the means of communication but do not let yourself be their slave. After all it is your own life that is directly concerned here.



Fatima moved towards her computer again while talking to her friend on the cell phone. She had just spent two hours of her timetable on web-browsing, chatting and social networking websites. Still she could not resist checking out the photographs of her college welcome party that her friend, on the phone, had sent by email. She was very excited to see the photographs and, even though she wanted to get back to studies, she could not resist storing them in her cell phone too. She did pick up her books eventually but by that time she had wasted another hour of her precious study time!

Fatima is just one example of thousands of teenagers who either depend heavily on or are addicted to online means of communication, and other such mobile devices. Teenagers spend hours and hours of their precious time on such means of communication. Such devices have become an addiction to us without us ever knowing that, resulting not only in wastage of our time and money but also narrowing our outlook and perspective on all the important things in life. Rather than using technology to our advantage we have become slaves to such technological means.

“Hobbies of the modern time have changed from reading and sports to online chatting, updating profiles on various social networking sites, using and updating various features of mobile phones, collecting ring tones and screensavers, downloading songs in mobile phones, and so on,” says Komal, a medical student. “In the recent past, keeping in touch was important but now it is crucial to maintain a distance. The various means of communication today have become so inexpensive, quick, and easy that they are bound to be misused.”

It goes without saying that it is not the communication technology, in itself, but rather its use that makes its effect good or bad. Things like email, online chat and social networking, cell phones, etc. eliminate all the distances between people; and enables sharing of knowledge and information by means of mutual interaction and communication between people. And then the conveniences they bring to our lives leaves so much time for doing other important things.

There are people who use the communication technology in the right way. These are the people who have clearly defined positive priorities in life, maintain a nice balance in their lives and use communication devices sensibly. The overwhelming majority of youth, however, misuses all the communication means.

There used to be a time when there was only one phone in the house as a means of communication. Nowadays in many families every member of the house has a cell phone. As soon as children reach the age of ten years, they start demanding a cell phone from their parents! “It has often been seen that after owning cell phones young people take them to school and college and use them even in class,” says Hafsah, an ‘A’ Levels’ student. “These teenagers also use their expensive cell phones as a means of show-off in front of their class mates. This causes peer pressure and those who cannot afford expensive cell phones feel disheartened. Getting cell phones of latest model, and discussing their features, has become both an obsession and a fashion statement.”

What is more disturbing is the behaviour of teenagers who love to interact by these means of communications. Many teenagers look for their ‘desired’ cell phone numbers and email addresses to interact with the persons they like. Boys are particularly desperate to have female friends; and for that purpose they approach females by means of chatting on mirc, emails, social networking sites and cell phones. Girls too are happy to vent out their frustrations, in the security of their homes, by online chatting and contact via social networking websites with boys. Girls use fake information about themselves for that purpose. However, such chat and interaction do cross the limits of decency at times. And then, relationships by such means are made in the blink of an eye and broken equally effortlessly and swiftly.

The story, however, does not end here. “Since children and young people are immature they sometimes end up misusing the communication gadgets,” adds Hafsah. “It has been seen quite often that they make videos and pictures of their friends on their cell phones. They then show or transfer them to everyone or upload them on the Internet.” Girls are often at risk in this regard and objectionable videos of them are made by their friends, relatives or boyfriends. And then such video clips, or other objectionable downloaded clips, are transferred from one cell phone to another and seen by everyone interested in seeing them.

However, we should all use a little bit of common sense in our use of such communication devices for our own sake. It is always good to take a small break once in a while and reflect on where one’s life is going. So give yourself time to think about all your priorities in life, your future career and your daily life. Enjoy all the means of communication but do not let yourself be their slave. After all it is your own life that is directly concerned here. Just make it better for you and those around you!