By Barnes Mawrie
Statistics show that next to China, India is the highest user of mobile phones with a number of more than 900 million mobile users. This is not difficult to grasp when we see even the rickshaw-wala or a poor labourer using a mobile phone. The number of commercials related to brands of mobile phone which the TV telecasts every day, just indicates how this industry is gaining prominence day by day. Mobile phone has come as a big boon to our society. Who could imagine the way communication has developed in the last twenty years in our country. Today with mobile phones there is no more boundary for communication and connectivity. With the arrival of smart phones in these recent years, communication has been carried to unimaginable levels of excellence and efficacy. Today smart phones have been turned into a compact portable computer with every facility that a laptop has. Practically, one who has a smart phone today, is actually carrying his laptop around in his pocket. One can access the internet even while travelling in a train or a bus or even when working in the field. Smart phones have also become means of entertainment for one can watch on-line movies, news telecast or play games etc. Access to internet has also enabled serious students to garner a lot of additional knowledge other than those from text books. More facilities are in the offing as assured by many mobile companies. So in short, mobile phones have transformed the way and manner we communicate with people. It is definitely a giant leap in the area of communication.
However, we are well aware that any blessing can become a curse, just as any good tool can be turned into a dangerous one if not used responsibly. Today mobile phones are being abused in many ways especially by young people. Many students are affected in their academic performances because of their addiction to mobile phones. Children and teens alike spend a lot of time on mobile games. It is a familiar sight to see youngsters glued to their mobile screens and their fingers fiddling with the keyboard. Addiction to mobile games is becoming a great concern for parents and teachers. Students spend a lot of time also sending messages, sharing videos, music and photos with their friends. Many times students are found sharing indecent pictures and videos with their companions. Thus even the moral life of youth today has been compromised to a great extent by the use of mobile phones. The spread of pornography among mobile users is a concern of the whole society at large. It is a slow poisoning of the young minds, a brainwashing and a manipulation of a person’s life.
Today’s youngsters have become highly static and lethargic because they spend more time indoors than outdoors. I have seen children and teens sitting down lazily in their homes fiddling with their mobile phones when they are supposed to be playing and jumping around in the playgrounds. No wonder our society will inherit a weak and dull generation who would have no stamina for hard work or resistance to diseases. Most parents today have no more control over their adolescent children with regard to the use of mobiles. Unintelligent parents feel consoled because their children are not going out, but they seldom realize that staying indoors is doing more harm to their children intellectually, morally and physically.
We may say that mobile phones have improved communication considerably. This is true with regard to communication with distant persons. But let us not forget that when it comes to socialization and communication with persons closest to us has mobile phones has broken down . There is a communication disruption in society . In olden days, when people travelled in buses or trains, they would invariably begin to strike conversations with their fellow travelers and thus friendship was easily established during the journey. Today however, fellow travelers continue in their long journeys sometimes for hours and days without even knowing who the other person sitting next to him or her is. This is because they have the mobile phones to divert their attention from real persons next to them. So it is not strange to know that after traveling for three days we remain strangers to each other in the same bus or in the same train. How often, attending to mobile calls has uncouthly disrupted conversations at dining tables or at any gathering. Sometimes even in churches people have distracted the entire assembly because they forget to put their mobile phones on silent mode.
However, what I see as the most dangerous trend today especially among young people, is the tendency towards a highly mobile-dependent life style. Youngsters forget even to eat or to sleep because they are completely glued to their mobiles. The way young people invest in the latest mobile sets and in latest apps and games etc, clearly shows how mobile-dependent they have become. It looks like life without a mobile phone has become unthinkable. Therefore, more than any other addiction, today mobile addiction has become so detrimental to the physical health, intellectual growth and moral integrity of the youth. It is really an issue society has to grapple with. This issue cannot be solved by punitive measures, instead it can be done through conscientization and education. Governments, parents, teachers and even religious leaders play a great role in conscientizing the youth regarding the potential dangers of an unregulated mobile use. Society should not be complacent about this issue because it is something that affects our immediate future. The old saying “virtue lies in moderation” is highly applicable here. Mobile phones are very good but if we want to get the maximum benefit out of them, we must learn how to use them moderately.