I was in primary school when I used to notice fellow students wearing fancy
watches, boasting about their video games, wearing expensive sports shoes,
flaunting expensive pens and fancy pencil boxes. But I never asked my father to
buy me any of those- I was a non-demanding low maintenance obedient child. But
I secretly kept a bucket list. For me luxury would be a hand held video game,
or a terminator printed steel pencil box with a middle tray, etc. But as I put
on some years behind me, the bucket list went through a lot of iterations. New
things got added and I outgrew some old things that I had wanted before. Some
desires were fulfilled with a lot of persuasion and perseverance
but many never saw the light of day. But now I sometimes crave for those
long lost bucket list. I want to get all the things I ever wanted and keep them
as souvenirs.
I
believe all of us are built like that. We have an insatiable hunger for more.
We once needed a car, now we need a bigger and more expensive car. Once we
needed a flat, now we need a bigger flat with expensive furniture, classy
decor, air conditioning etc. Once we needed a mobile phone to talk, now we
desire a mobile phone with a giant ass RAM and storage space twice the size of
our once feature rich desktops.
If
a person upgrades to a better and bigger commodity, it is least likely that he
will ever switch back to the old and inexpensive alternative. Having or owning
something is only a continuous growing addiction.
I
did not own a smart phone 2 years back. It's not too long ago and by then smart
phones had already captured the nation’s attention, and more than 90% of my
peers owned one. I, on the other hand, had a very limited use of a mobile phone
and thought I would refrain myself from getting caught in this frenzy. But,
boom! I just changed my mind and bought myself an iPhone. I don't think I will
ever be able to switch back to an ordinary phone now anymore, maybe a less
expensive phone but never a phone with less functionality.
We
are being sucked into a black hole and there is no hope of ever coming back
out. We have let gone our social characteristics. We spend more lonesome times
now than ever. We have even stopped socializing with our most immediate family
members. We have the least amount of knowledge now than ever even though access
to information is literally on our fingertips. We are slaves to this created
need. ‘Created need’ means a need which is not inherently there but is being
created to make life simpler and better. We never had a television, but we had a
very productive life. We never had internet, but life never slowed us down. We
never had video games, but kids always found something to amuse themselves
with and have a good time.
By
that I do not shun the idea of owing video games, or a TV, or internet. Yes, we
have to keep up with the pace of evolving technology, but we also have to make
sure that WE own these technologies and not the other way round. How the human
race has evolved has a lot to do with how they have used and applied their
brains in situations in life. Being the most advanced species on the planet,
the humans are becoming smarter day and day but in the process they are also
becoming even more lazy, more and more indifferent, more and more dependent.
Basically, they are being sucked into a black hole, and they are taking
everything along with them in their journey to glory.
