"Both the develpment of technological tools and the uses to which humanity has put them have created modern civilizations in which loneliness is ever increasing."
An old chinese proverb goes like- The key to the heaven is the key to the hell.Development of technological tools as well as the uses to which humanity has put them are like this key. It can open both the doors. So in saying that it hasopened the door of hell of increasing loneliness, we are wrongly condeming technology for what it has not done. Lets see how this thing can be unfolded.
We have to understand the notion of loneliness carefully. No doubt that increasing no. of appointments with psychiatrists to cure depression came out of loneliness has shown that loneliness is really increasing. It is not only the phenomenon in developed countries but also in less developed countries that are introduced to modern technology. However, such simultaneous existence of these things can not (and does not, in my opinion) imply causality. Modern technology has no doubt made human life easier, happier than earlier. We have umpteen electronic gadgets in our homes to illustrate this. Right from microwave and mixer to vaccume cleaner to automobile and elevator and what not? Gadgets like these have essentially reduced the amount of efforts and the time that was earlier required to do those tasks. Now if someone says that he or she can not use the extra time and energy that is saved by using these tech-tools and hence feels lonely, who is to be blamed? This is precisely the point. Loneliness and tech-tools have this common link. Althogh somebody may point out other links as well. But they are not as important as this one. It is easy to blame somebody who has no life for creating problems in our life, here it is the machine. If, for example, one is not happy in his relationships, not keeping well with his parents and friends, why blame the machines, the technology? It is really because the bonds of love, trust that keep people together have become weak. If someone possesses an expensive car and looks down upon his or her pal who does not have one, is it the car to be blamed? It is far simpler to say ' materialism is bad, creates greed in humans'. Can we think of those humans who are gifted with an organ called brain? Tech tools may be enhancing quality of life, providing unheard services and conveniences, who is the one to benefit? Machines, defintely not. It has to be their creator who is a human at the end of the day. In a typical family with two children, if parents think that we have given our children the best resources, so our duty ends there. It will be alright even if we do not talk to them, play with them( since we have given them the brand new latest computer video game(?) ) Years later, same parents would complain that gadgets have spoilt our children, they no longer talk to us, we feel sad and lonely. Who is the culprit?
Technology, in itself, is neutral by definition. So long as it is created by humans, (so we do not have a world like MATRIX) it depends upon humans to use it. It is the act of balancing between the fruits of technology and retaining human bondings of love, faith and trust that will be in the direction of solution to the problem of loneliness, chaos of today. Please do not pull the technology in it!
