Held hostage by a smartphone

Smartphones today have become synonymous with our day-to-day living, so much so that one cannot even begin to imagine what 24 hours would feel like without it.

At the same time, these little gadgets have – slowly but surely – taken away the independence of the human mind, made us almost wholly dependent on it, much like a crutch, and taken away our privacy.

That was exactly why I made myself a promise to not acquire another one of these life-manipulating devices after losing my mobile phone about a fortnight ago.

While it did take some getting used to – it took me a full 10 minutes to type a text message in one of those old Nokia phones – I began to alter the way I do things.

For starters, I had to start using my mind a bit more; remembering mobile phone numbers, planning my route instead of using the GPS feature on these phones, having a physical calendar on hand to get the appointments sorted and even setting a proper alarm clock to wake up in the morning.

But that was not all.

I realised that my mornings were more peaceful without the usual chatter on WhatsApp – and numerous other messaging applications I subscribe to – and if someone genuinely needed something urgently, they would find an alternative way to communicate (I was still available on e-mail).

Then, it began to hit me that smartphones have actually made us less smart.

Now, we do not use our experience and thinking capacity as much as the generation without smartphones did.

Malaysia leads the way globally as far as Internet users on smartphones are concerned. While that statistic may send some Ministers grinning with delight, it should also be alarming.

This means many Malaysians are breaking the bank to own a smartphone while tightening their belts in other areas considering our current economic situation which leaves much to be desired.

While demand for the usual bread and butter – private vehicles and houses – has dropped, the desire to own a smartphone has not reduced.

This could probably be so because our lives have been taken hostage by these little things.

That instead of this piece of technology being one part of our lives, we now revolve around the gadgets.

And this dependency has left many of us in an extremely vulnerable situation, which is eating into our private lives.

There is less of a distinction today – as compared to two decades ago – between the public and private.

The likes of Facebook and Twitter have lent a substantial amount of weight to push this through.

We now feel a need to “document” every hour in our day by a random “tweet” or post on Facebook which screams “Hey, look at me! I’m here!”

But we then start to get flustered when no one “likes”, “comments” or “retweets” – did I leave anything out? – our status.

Subconsciously, we have allowed – albeit indirectly – for smartphones to take away our sense of a private life.

Essentially, these devices have placed a straitjacket on many of us instead of making us better off.

While it may be true that technology has saved us time in many ways, one cannot really say that it has allowed for human development and ways of thinking.

Maybe it is a phase which we should use to rethink the role of this avant-garde technology in our lives instead of allowing others to dictate the way we live.

Or we could end up being walking robots, if we aren’t already.

Three days after losing my mobile phone, I went to buy another one.

Sigh, back to square one. – October 7, 2015. 

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.