Techno Slavery

This is a bold attempt to streamline my assorted experiences and thoughts into a meaningful narrative. I know and appreciate the value of high-end technologies and software, having used some of these in my work, the details of which are irrelevant here. It suffices to say that I was the user but not a designer of programs and software. In day-to-day life as well, like many of us, I continue to be unwillingly pushed into technology usage, what with the online banking, mobile banking, usernames, passwords, and mobile Apps, some of which are unavoidable. It is like getting buried into quicksand.

Few days ago, I visited the life insurance site of one of the top private banks in India. I had nothing specific in mind but was simply browsing to know about the options. I already had a policy from the same bank and therefore must be on their records. Couple of days later I received a phone call from the bank’s representative, and he said,” Madam you had visited our site a few days ago looking at insurance options. May I help you?” I just visited the site and that was the only trail I left behind and Lo! They reached me and started to work on me. How technology has progressed

Much before this, a few months ago I was searching for some floor tiles using Google search and soon after , I had several queries and offers from a well-known e-commerce portal engaged in B2B and customer to customer sales services. Every time I made such general searches, this company would surface!

 Further, A few days ago, my husband had purchased a reputed company’s antivirus program for multiple devices. My laptop’s antivirus subscription had just expired. I was repeatedly getting popups reminding me to purchase the software. Any way since my husband had purchased one, that too from the same company , I tried to install it in my laptop and in the process made a mistake. Because of that the laptop was treating the new software download and the expiry of old software independently and I was getting popups about expiry of the software as well as successful installation of new one! It was hilarious on one hand and extremely frustrating! How I overcame the problem was another story , but what was surprising to me was that, when the information on my mere visit to a site was captured and used effortlessly, when it came to the antivirus software, why could the company or laptop, not have the information? It was like right hand not knowing what the left hand was doing. I was almost ready to buy the software again. It is also a point that people like me , only able to use technology, but do not understand much are at a disadvantage but there is no option of avoiding it as it is already into the system.

The Final, breaking point came when I came across a video of some international conference through a WhatsApp group. It made me restless to put the thoughts on paper, which was like scratching the surface! There is so much more to it. The video I had mentioned there was covering a discussion about Digital revolution and when asked to give his opinion, the Japanese expert says,” computer chips will be everywhere, including contact lenses. At the blink of the eye the user will go on line. Most of the users would be college goers taking exams, who with the blink of an eye will have all the information in front of them. There would be no need to memorize” For me it was scary and repulsive proposition. Would the minds of future generation be like parking lots where information will be retrieved when required and later discarded? Human mind with enormous possibility be made slave to technology? Creativity of minds stifled! Further he spoke about Robodoc and Robolawyer and much more. There were people listening to him with their jaws dropped, totally fascinated by his futuristic projections. How far it is to be a reality and how realistic, I do not know. But the picture that came to my mind is that of majority of old generation at loss with the complexity of technology and younger generation lost in the technology overload, their mind being drugged by the advanced technology. This to me is the slavery of different sorts.

What would be the plight of uneducated masses in country like ours. Other day , my domestic help Ramu , who is illiterate, brought his children home. Somehow he managed online classes of his children during Covid Pandemic. The technology became accessible to schools and students. Apparently, presently the teachers are circulating home works through WhatsApp and students share notes through WhatsApp. Ramu cannot buy smartphones for his children. His role now is of a postman, in addition to many others, sharing the messages for his children , on his phone. Though there is positive side to it that more people are able to use technology, the flip side is that there is a gap and we can never fill the gap. There are now illiterates and computer/technology illiterates. The second category of people are across the economic classes and definitely we can take pride in breaking barriers!