I seriously yearn to see kids actually play nowadays. Our mother used to literally drag us off the streets at the end of the day. Hopscotch, jump rope, hide and seek, football, cricket, and many other games, which played a major role in our upbringing and taught us decision making and sportsman spirit, made us tough, are disappearing. Kids prefer playing games on the screens of smart phones and parents are happy that kids are sitting idle in front of their eyes without moving around and distorting stuff, with their mouths shut, not annoying them with repeated questions, and no chance of them changing any sooner.
With invention of smart phones, social contacts and relationships have also changed. 10-15 years back, closeness and proximity were factors defining the strength of friendships and relations, people used to meet in person to each other and giving full attentions while being with someone. Smart phones have devastatingly changed it. Distance has lesser meaning and impact on relationships today. You can be in contact with anybody thousands of miles apart without actually coming out of your comfort of home or routine. On the other hand, it has magically pushed those sitting beside you millions of light years apart. You could be literally co-existing with somebody under the same roof for months without knowing a bit about them just because you and they are always busy with smart phones. In my opinion, smart phones have made people more introverts. We don’t want actual conversations and seeing anybody in person, we are merely contended with seeing or stalking people online, having a peek at their lives through social media without being known, something like gossiping to one’s self. We now avoid meeting people, all we want is to just lay in our beds or couches (whichever is nearer to the switchboard) with smart phones in our hands and doing Facebook or frivolously playing online games.
The question is, was it better in the past when there were no smart phones or is it better now? Time is changing, the pace of life was much slower back then, now it is jet rocketing. We had fewer choices in the past, but perhaps we were happier with lesser distractions and interruptions; though less knowledgeable than present.
Ambrin Shahzadi
Lahore
