Now being worried is a new normal.
BAHAWALPUR: A couple of decades ago humans did not have to worry about much. However, now being worried is a new normal. Global warming, climate change and economic crisis have impacted the mankind collectively.
However, individually there is a lot to push someone towards constant worry and unhappiness. Technological advancement has paced up so rapidly in the past decade that the concepts which were quite imaginary and could only be seen in sci-fi or James Bond movies have now become a reality.
From video calling features to driver-less cars and social media platforms to hyper loop’s fastest travel mode the world has seen so many things in such a short span of time. All these changes have impacted our lifestyles and social integration in a way that majority of the people we see are indirectly in a race of catching up with the latest of the modern technology.
On the one hand, we proudly claim that all information has shrunk into small machines, but the truth of the matter is that this huge amount of information has made us so ‘information-driven’ that expansion of our knowledge has come to a halt.
For example, we now do not feel the need to remember any telephone numbers anymore because our phones can do that for us. We do not try to learn the new skills to handle daily matters because everything is available on video sites. So depending too much on technology is affecting our mental and physical abilities and we are considering it as an evolution and hence the new normal.
Social media platforms have done no good to our social behaviour. It is ‘normal’ to film a person who is drowning in water rather than saving him. It is ‘normal’ to violate the right to privacy of any person and making videos and sharing it with the insensitive world of social media. It is ‘normal’ to accuse anyone you do not like of being unpatriotic.
It is ‘normal’ to label your enemy a blasphemer. It is ‘normal’ for our law enforcers to kill a whole family in the broad daylight in Sahiwal. It is ‘normal’ for a personal guard to kill a governor, of Punjab. It is ‘normal’ to defend your leaders despite knowing that one is morally corrupt. It is ‘normal’ to promote hatred against any race, class or religion.
We have hundreds of examples of how society has been injected intentionally or unintentionally with uncertainty, intolerance, ultra chauvinism and trust deficit towards civil institutions. We should all think on how we can overcome these challenges for a sustainable, peaceful and just society. Technology can be used for positivity and productivity. It’s important that we choose reality over perception.
Aleem Ahmad Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, February 7th, 2019.
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