Conversation stopper - The downside of mobile telephony and the internet

March 18 , 2015

COMMENTARAO: S.L. RAO

In my column some weeks back, I had written about the new revolution that is upon us as a result of the transformation in communications. Mobile telephony has made Indians well connected to one another. Information on anything is available to anyone almost instantaneously through the internet. The farmer knows the ruling prices in differentmandis. Remote manipulation of household equipment is becoming common. So is the remote control over machines and equipment. Factories and offices have all the data they need at any time, without making any special effort. Organizations have eliminated a layer of middle management because enterprise resource planning analyses and presents up-to-date information to top management at any time. Manufacturing complex products can now be scattered and without the volumes that were required once. 3D printing, a technique now in its early days, enables smaller volumes and will diffuse manufacturing geographically. This could make pastoral living a reality for many. Election campaigns and raising funds for them are changing with the use of the internet. Technology is transforming lives in many ways.

There are negative aspects to this transformative process. My argument here has been bolstered by the same technology that gives me the ability to get different views on any subject instantly. Expertise is available at the touch of a computer keyboard.

The internet and the mobile phone have made human interchange much easier. Are they also reducing people's personal and physical interactions through meetings and letters? This diminution of social interchange is a growing feature of societies experiencing this revolution. What will it do to societies that have been based on such interactions?

Many parents are aware of the deleterious effects of these technologies, particularly on children. So apparently was Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Inc, who famously said that he did not permit his children to use the computer, iPod, iPad, iPhone, on which he made his fortune. Unless strictly rationed, there is a fear that children will lose the habit of personal interactions and even the capacity for play and sport.

Not just the number and duration of human interactions, but also their quality suffers. Attention span declines as people keep looking at their mobile screens for messages and emails instead of being fully focused on conversations. I am told that in many campuses, the coffee shops which would have boys and girls in boisterous or scholarly companionship at all times are relatively deserted now as the students go back to their rooms to check their mail.

In my school days, over 70 years ago, it was common for children, when taught arithmetic, to memorize the tables up to 30 times 16. I believe that this almost universal school practice was one secret behind the mental agility with numbers of many Indians. We are in danger of losing it as children use calculators and computers to make their calculations.

This extends itself to writing by hand, as laptops and iPads replace paper and writing instruments. People stop writing letters. They send emails or call on their mobile phones instead. A hand-written letter has a personal touch that no email can have. So social interchanges have become more superficial and impersonal.

Salman Rushdie told an interviewer that he experienced a significant improvement in the quality of his writing when he was writing The Moor's Last Sigh. This was after he began changing his residences frequently after The Satanic Verses made Ayatollah Khomeini put a price on Rushdie's head. The computer has certainly improved the quality of language in much writings. Writers are able to review frequently what they have written, and add or subtract any portion, because the computer allows them to do so without ugly deletions by pen or blotches from erasers. Writing is also much quicker, since looking up references has become so much easier and comprehensive through the different search engines. The downside is that students and scholars are much freer to plagiarize. Readers or examiners have to be alert and well-informed on what is available in these "searches", so that they can penalize plagiarism.

It is said that there are also adverse health effects because of the computer and the mobile phone. Depression, deteriorating eyesight, radiation effects, hearing problems and other less obvious ill effects will surface in future years. As these devices become universal and new versions keep getting introduced, disposing of electronic waste has become a growing problem. Indian urban concentrations already have a major problem in disposing of human waste. Electronic waste is more difficult because of the lack of biodegradability. There is also the problem of security.

Individuals have to design passwords for almost every application to secure their information. Hackers keep trying to out-think them and break into private data, credit card information, and into bank accounts. Corporate, government and other organizations keep looking for ways to improve the security of their data while hackers organize themselves to break into them. As the "Cloud" becomes a growing store of information, there are thieves who are trying to break in and steal the information. Intelligence agencies need more and more people with powerful skills.

The rise of the terrorist group, Islamic State, has brought to the fore concerns regarding the internet as a means to attract followers, recruit terrorists, and even give them a sense of being modern yet linked to fundamentalist beliefs. Young boys and girls from many countries in the West and Asia, including India, are believed to be joining this movement. Such mobilization, and with such speed, would not have been possible before the communications revolution. A whole new industry has exploded into the world because of the mobile phone and internet. It is e-commerce. It offers services that were otherwise time-consuming and not comprehensive. Today naukri.com is the largest recruitment agency in India for all types of jobs. Shaadi.com has become the major matrimonial agency. Flipkart and others of that ilk are replacing old-fashioned shopping with internet shopping. Already, in many cities, it is believed that shopping malls are losing business as people shop and get deliveries on the internet. This will lead to a major change in life-styles. Most shopping could then be by the family instead of the mother trudging to the shops and carrying groceries home. Book shops have begun closing as online purchases at cheaper prices become possible. With more books, magazines and newspapers in electronic form, second-hand bookshops and circulating libraries will replace the old-fashioned bookshops. The iconic Strand Book Stall in Bangalore has shut down because of this competition. As electronic reading replaces the feel of paper in publications, there will be an effect on family and social interchanges.

We must think of the implications of this for society and what adjustments are needed, as this revolution goes wider and deeper.