The concept of smart phone was first thought by Theodore Paraskevakos in 1971. The world was unaware of such a device. Smart Phones are highly advanced and are good in multitasking, but they changing our lives in a negative way.
The interaction between people in the world in the form of rapid interchange of ideas, money and trade is overwhelming. The era started with this concept, has brought progress as well regress, gains as well as loses, new opportunities as well as new problems. Human beings face tough challenges to lead life in this contemporary world. And, technology has become the deciding factor for people’s standards.
Life becomes updated and flexible with facilities to get connected to people and resources at any time. The mode of communication is open through several ways allowing people to enjoy and make best use of advancements. Also, people get better exposure to social life when they use smart phones with many different applications and accessories. People in all industry verticals use smart phones on a regular basis. The development in technology has given people better means to lead their life and enjoy being associated with different things. The applications one can access using their smart phones are unlimited. It is interesting to know more about the applications and use them for accomplishing different works in quick time. People feel prestigious and do not feel inferior in the society when they are aware about technology and technological advancements.
The adoption of Smartphone’s has been tremendous all over the world. Surveys show that 80% of the world population use mobile devices and 42% of mobile subscribers in India use Smartphone’s. According to a survey, large number of people almost up to 65% is using their Smartphone’s to read news feeds, post status updates, read and reply to messages and post photos. This shows that now people are leaving PCs and moving towards Smartphone’s. According to analysts, the long dominated giants is experiencing bad times due to the rise of Smartphone’s and tablets, and the pressure to gain market share in mobile device market is causing fractures in long partnerships. It is true that still millions of PCs will continue to sell, but the Smartphone’s and tablets will see more considerable growth in future.
The launch of the iPhone in 2007 transformed the humble mobile phone from a one-trick tool for communication into a catch-all platform whose functionality is constantly evolving. When the editors of Popular Mechanics drafted a list of “101 Gadgets That Changed the World” in 2012, the smart phone topped the heap, trumping technological milestones such as the TV (No. 3), the personal computer (No. 5), the telephone (No. 7) and the light bulb (No. 10). “The Smartphone … is now a pocket-size PC,” the editors wrote. “It facilitates instantaneous personal connections that make phone conversations seem like cave paintings. … The device seems to have limitless potential.”
“The human brain is wired to adapt to what the environment around it requires for survival,” writes Amber Case, a cyber-anthropologist and CEO of mobile platform Geoloqi, in her survey response. “Today and in the future, it will not be as important to internalize information but to elastically be able to take multiple sources of information in, synthesize them and make rapid decisions.” In 2012, Time Magazine and mobile technology company Qualcomm conducted a joint survey of 5,000 smart phone users in eight countries. When asked how the smart phone had changed their lives, the most common responses were that it brought them into closer contact with their friends and families and helped them be better informed. At least 75 percent of respondents in every country agreed that this constant connection was mostly positive. The ability to remain in constant contact can sometimes lead to a disconnect with loved ones. According to Pew Research’s 2014 study “Couples, the Internet and Social Media,” smart phone attachment can create romantic friction when someone feels ignored in favour of what’s on their partner’s screen. About 25 percent of married or partnered respondents to the study say they find their significant other’s phone use distracting.
A new category of consumer has emerged known as the “smartphonatic,” defined as someone who changes shopping, banking and payment behaviour after switching to a smart phone. Globally, a quarter of smart-phone owners are considered smartphonatics. Among this group, 80% use their phone for mobile banking, and 70% use it for mobile payments. While smart phones are making personal money management more convenient, in many contexts they are also the source of gross distraction, and rude and even dangerous behaviour. For example, even with all we know about texting and driving, some smart-phone owners say they check their phones while behind the wheel. Many states are moving quickly to discourage this behaviour through beefed-up distracted-driver laws and some significant points.
Everywhere we go people are glued to their phones; from the grocery store to the gym to the public restroom. This trend isn’t just irritating and borderline rude, it’s also addicting. Sixty percent of all World Population are proud owners of smart phones, 24% of those check their phone while behind the wheel, and 80% of them check their phone within 15 minutes of waking up in the morning. It used to be such a priority for employees to keep a firm separation between work life and personal life, but with smart phones, that line is blurring more and more. Emails can be accessed easily and quickly from smart phones, as well as instant communication at all times from co-workers and bosses.
Today, in a period characterized by financialization and globalization, where “information” is king, the idea of any commodity defining an era might seem quaint. But commodities are no less important today, and people’s relationships to them remain central to understanding society. If the automobile was fundamental to grasping the last century, the smart phone is the defining commodity of our era.Smartphones is a godsend for the dramaturgical aspects of life. They enable us to manage the impressions we make on others with control-freak precision. Instead of talking to each other, we can send text messages, planning our witticisms and avoidance strategies in advance. We can display our impeccable taste on Pinterest, superior parenting skills on CafeMom, and burgeoning artistic talents on Instagram, all in real time. Take texting rituals, which, with all their complex, unwritten rules, now play a commanding role in the relationship dynamics of most young adults. One need not deal in toxic nostalgia to admit that new, technologically mediated rituals are displacing or radically altering older conventions.
It’s as if you’re in a smartphone zombie apocalypse. I’d like to ask you honestly what your morning looks like. I personally wake up, turn off the alarm, and start checking notifications from dozens of other applications on my smartphone. Some mornings I’ve found myself an hour later, still in bed, in a very uncomfortable posture, still browsing on. What is going on? It’s an addiction that many of us share, but usually choose to ignore. Social media is all about displaying the better version of yourself, showing off to your friends that you go out, that you have a more fulfilled life than they think. But how much are these people actually living the moment? You could call me a hypocrite for bashing the very technology I overuse myself. Don’t get me wrong though, I’m not criticizing the technology here, but the problems that are related to society. Do not think what you get out of it but think of what you can bring out of it.
I am following the principles what Paramhamsa Niranjananda Sraswati of Bihar School of Yoga , Munger opined in an article …. Harmonising the mind ,” Pratyahara and dharana constitute the third and fourth stages in the practice of yoga, according to the yoga sutras. It is not important to sit down and close your eyes to practise pratyahara and dharana. Remember that the aim of pratyahara and dharana is stilling the activities of the mind. The pebbles that we throw into the still waters of our mind are known as pratyayas. The ripples they create are known as vrittis. The pratyaya is the stone and the vrittis are the ripples. A pratyaya is an impression that goes deep into the mind, into the psyche and that impression creates a reaction which is the vritti. You cannot stop the vrittis from altering the natural state of mind, but you can make an effort to release some of the impressions that go into your mind.
Meditation is not the only way to practise pratyahara or dharana. It is also important to reduce one’s involvement with the world of objects. Let me make it clear in a slightly different way. You sleep at night and when you wake up in the morning you are absolutely fresh and relaxed. Generally what do people do after waking up and drinking their cup of tea? They read the newspapers, turn on the T.V. or radio and listen to the news. What kind of news do you listen to or read about? Scandals, murders, accidents, thefts, criticism. You throw such negative pratyayas into that fresh, relaxed state of mind. These are the first impressions that your mind receives early in the morning. Stop that for at least two hours! Don’t turn on the telly or read the newspaper for at least two hours until your mind naturally becomes active and extrovert.
This is a very important matter. Allow your fresh, relaxed mind to come to its natural state of vitality in the course of time. Don’t plant the seeds of negativity early in the morning as the first input. You will find that your day becomes different. You are free to do, read or see anything after two hours but give yourself this time to wake up. This type of affirmation to yourself is the beginning of pratyahara and dharana. It is not sitting cross-legged in a meditative posture. Disciplining the mind and lifestyle is the beginning of pratyahara and dharana.”
Finally, I don’t think we’re heading to the right direction when it comes to mobile technology, smart phones and tablets are supposed to bring innovation into our lives, get people connected and save us some time by facilitating simple tasks, not that it doesn’t have the potential for it, but what I really see in most cases is the exact opposite effect. Of course it still brings many benefits to our modern society, but when it reaches a certain point it starts being harmful, time consuming, counterproductive and even dangerous.
Siddhartha Shankar Mishra
(Author is a Legal practitioner and a writer )
My Musings 