Human spirit must prevail over technology - Einstein

Albert Einstein said, "Human spirit must prevail over technology." There was a time when we had no phone, no computers, no internet. That was the time of pigeon-carriers or postal mails. That was the time when we would ardently miss our loved ones. That was the time of hand-written letters. That was also the time of heart-felt joys and sorrows.

Gradually, things changed. Sometimes out of necessity, and sometimes just for convenience, the human mind invented things to make life faster, and to make distances shorter. Technology slowly took over. Snail mails were replaced by emails, and real emotions by emoticons. We became more virtual than real. Distances became shorter in terms of accessibility but ironically, the distances between the hearts grew wider.

But who is to be blamed for all this? Is it technology or the human mind that craves to go beyond the limit? Is it not our desire that wants us to have the latest smartphone or the latest cool gadget in the market? Are we not willingly wiring ourselves? Is it not the herd-mentality of ours that wants to take selfies, to post status about where we are, what we are doing, and what we are feeling at the moment? As if the world is dying to hear about it, about us.....How vain are we! When we like some post on FB, we also want our own presence to be 'engraved' in the technological space, so to say....not our footprint, but our virtual print. Just to be seen, to be noticed, to be praised. Technology aids in this, no doubt about that. But it aids because we chose it as our prop.

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In his novel, Guy on the Sidewalk, Bharath Krishna write,""Nearly everyone bid goodbye saying," You are on my Facebook anyway", or " You are on my WhatsApp anyway" as if Facebook and WhatsApp guaranteed relationships."  The problem lies within us. We want relationships without commitments. Technology helps us here. I wrote about this in another post We Need Each Other. We are scared to look in the eye. We recoil from gentle touch because we feel its strangeness, its unfamiliarity. We are afraid to be engaged in reality, so we pretend. Technology again helps in keeping up this pretense. 

And then we say, technology is ruining us. Is it really?

Is it not great to connect with your loved ones miles apart through FB or watsapp? Is it not a solace that the swiftness of message transfer has helped us stay in touch when we really really need to feel connected? The problem is not technology. The problem is our misuse of technology. The problem is our choosing mechanical, automated responses instead of earnest, warm feelings. 




Written for Indispire#128