I read this article by The Verge author Paul Miller, who’ll tell you it’s not the internet that’s ruining us, we’re our own worst enemies. Miller recently came back to the internet after one year of self-imposed exile: no email, no Twitter, no Facebook, no Google Maps, period. Many would claim such a thing is impossible in today’s age. yet they forget or rather mostly don’t know that despite a steady growth only 2.4 billion people use or have access to the internet as of June 2012 out of the 7 billion population of our planet.

Now here I would specifically want to talk about the so called ‘smartphones’ era, whether they are a blessing to us, or a curse, though a lot other aspects of technology especially relate to this and play a major role too. I really enjoyed reading Miller’s piece, he describing his endeavors in the ‘free real world’, and his ending with his conversation with his 5 year old niece, who didn’t knew what ‘the internet’ itself was but knew everything about Skype due to it being always used and though her uncle simply didn’t want to talk to her, not questioning his absence of conversation. That really got to me too. Children of this generation pick up things so fast, they are ‘born’ with the (so called) modern world of ours.

And hey, if someone paid me for something like this, I would drop everything and do it! It’s not just the money but would be a very welcome different thing to do. Though the money helps too. 😛 But I personally would like to tell you it might be a big thing at start, but as does everything, eventually you get used to it, however troublesome it is. I lived some weeks without internet, and months all together without a laptop or phone, let alone a ‘smart’ phone. I remember over 2 years ago, plotting and begging my parents to get me a new computer, after which it was rewarding in getting my first Alienware laptop, and I got my first ‘smart’ phone, rather a new phone after over 3 years of using spares of my parents, my ex, my friends and colleagues and remaining without one or no means of contact (except the internet) for months. It was a real pain, I feel I had been through hell at such times. But amusingly it was fun in a strange way too. I spend a lot of hours in front of my laptop, but the first one to jump out at the notice of anything. My parents are still surprised why I’m not blind yet though. Also I barely use my phone, I don’t find myself comfortable in this chatting and clicking everything you eat and shit which people indulge in these days.

So in short, answering is a ‘smart’ phone a blessing or a curse?: It’s very much a blessing indeed. Made lot of things convenient for me personally and otherwise. But remember, contrary to popular belief, marketing and propaganda by the corps bent on ruling over the world, your phone is NOT an extension of YOU. You are what you, around you and your life is about. I don’t even keep my phone beside me when I go to sleep, I keep a notebook and a pen instead to write down anything worth remembering which would strike. Though I haven’t been able to write down anything worthwhile so far, it’s still a start. You ought to do the same, that’s one very useful tip I got from WordPress. 🙂