"Our absorption with computers in whichever form and the attraction of the ICE (information, communication and entertainment ) that they can provide is making us more 'atomic' and less social. We can be very well connected with hundreds of 'friends' on Facebook, thousands of 'followers' on the Twitter and live in a virtual world of social networks. But on reflection, it should be evident that 'connection' is not 'conversation' and that to befriend someone on Facebook is not a substitute for a real friend with whom you bond.
But this view may be contested by the next generation, who may find virtual friendships on cyber space more real than relationships in the physical space. Going a step backward as it were, we also need to wonder whether we can sit 'still' without friends and conversation, whether real or virtual.
The stillness in the core of the being, the ability to meditate or at least to speculate is a step towards Ananda as all great philosophies or religions teach us. Is that precious quality of 'doing nothing' getting negated by the 'always connected', always distracted, and attention deficit inducing nature of modern technology?
Can we keep our fingers still and not text or type, let alone 'still' our minds and spirits? Finally, are we submerging our individual abilities, memories and consciousness to a larger anonymous cloud over which we have no control? Is this a surrender of our mind to an omniscient, omnipotent Viswa Chaitanya, a Universal Consciousness that the great scientists or rishis dreamed of, or is it only to the iCloud of Apple?"
- B.S Prakash is the Indian Ambassador to Brazil and I hope this article wasn't anyway influenced by Nicholas Carr's book The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains
But this view may be contested by the next generation, who may find virtual friendships on cyber space more real than relationships in the physical space. Going a step backward as it were, we also need to wonder whether we can sit 'still' without friends and conversation, whether real or virtual.
The stillness in the core of the being, the ability to meditate or at least to speculate is a step towards Ananda as all great philosophies or religions teach us. Is that precious quality of 'doing nothing' getting negated by the 'always connected', always distracted, and attention deficit inducing nature of modern technology?
Can we keep our fingers still and not text or type, let alone 'still' our minds and spirits? Finally, are we submerging our individual abilities, memories and consciousness to a larger anonymous cloud over which we have no control? Is this a surrender of our mind to an omniscient, omnipotent Viswa Chaitanya, a Universal Consciousness that the great scientists or rishis dreamed of, or is it only to the iCloud of Apple?"
- B.S Prakash is the Indian Ambassador to Brazil and I hope this article wasn't anyway influenced by Nicholas Carr's book The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains
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