My dependence on tech

It is getting worrisome. I actually fear the day where I will have to figure things out on my own, without the help of the internet. When they coined the term ‘internet of things’, they weren’t kidding around! It really is the internet of everything!

I honestly don’t remember the last time I asked someone for directions. I really don’t. I just type it in and boom! I’ve got the shortest route with the least amount of traffic. What about places that aren’t on a map you ask? Papa don’t roll that way, dog. Papa don’t go to no places that aren’t on a map. Lol.

This is how I view my dependence on technology: It’s like a parasite feeding on my brain. You know, like that thing from the movie, Venom. My dependence on it has grown so much over the past few years, that I get very upset when my phone or tablet starts to fail. It actually messes with my mind. At the same time, I look at one of my best friends who, doesn’t really pay that much attention to his phone or any other gadget for that matter. He seems to be absolutely fine. The only aspect about a phone that bothers him is that he’ll have to pay to get a new one when the old one dies. This dude reads a text A WEEK after I’ve sent it to him. It’s like he lives on another planet (in a way, he does. Life on the island of Maldives is a little different). Check out the episode where I interview him:

My phone has started to do something weird where it reboots by itself from time to time. I’m trying to not make a big deal out of it, but the truth is I cannot. I can’t stand a situation where I’ll be cut off from Whatsapp. I can’t. It’s weird because I am an introvert and everything, but life in 2021 needs Whatsapp. I am sorry, that’s just how it is! So what I am trying to say is, if you are that type of person who doesn’t really give a damn about your phone or the internet, realize that you are not missing out on anything. Yes, use tech to keep tabs on current affairs, and do what you need to do to stay on top of your game, but stop there. Don’t fall into over indulgence. Don’t let Mr. Zuckerberg stare into your soul with his mysterious eyes. Be free.

Reddit live

Just a few minutes ago someone was live-streaming a Microsoft Flight Simulator game on reddit, and I thought it was real, and then he crashed the plane into a forest, and I was very very upset (for the planet of course).

“Send school children on field trips, without ever leaving the classroom” sounds a little depressing even for a virtual reality device’s ad. 

The age we live in

We live in an age where, if you need to send a letter via mail, like actually physically with your hands, you need to google ‘stamp store’, realize its too far away, buy the stamp online instead, wait for it to arrive, stick it on the envelope, and then drive to the nearest post box, crash the car into the post box, explain to the postmaster that you never dreamt of stealing from the post box, pay a fine and then get back to your job, working for a satellite communications company. 

No holes left

It’s weird how reality hits you in the face sometimes. Like the other day, I was sitting in a bus, ready to go on a long bus ride while listening to some good music, when I realized my phone doesn’t have a headphone jack. Like, how out of touch with reality does one have to be to not know that your phone doesn’t have a headphone jack?

There’s no hole there. Well, technically there is, but you get the point. Times change, people change, most holes get filled, but some remain open. Like the hole in my heart and the hole in my pocket.

A fear of the apps

Installing a new app is basically like inviting someone new into your life. The only difference is that, an app has to ask for “permission” before going through your contacts or using your camera. People on the other hand, can just turn up and tear your life apart. I am not saying they will. I’m just saying they could.

The year is 2018. You can now report harmful apps. But then, there is also spam and malware. I’m just going to leave it there.

Back to YouTube

 

Joy, pure joy

I just watched a robotic arm pour beer into a glass, with so much precision and elegance that I couldn’t control my emotions when I saw it. It was beautiful.

Contrast

I learned today that there’s a computer out there called Watson who is actively reading through millions of medical research papers/articles/doctor’s-notes to find out solutions to problems that even human researchers would find difficult to tackle.

And I’m sitting here, in my bachelor pad thinking, “what the fuck am I going to do for dinner today?”

How real is real?

I was talking to my grandma the other day when I got an email saying my booking for a one-on-one ‘intimate’ experience has been confirmed. So I took a moment and thought to myself, “it doesn’t get much worse than this. On second thought, at least its not a mail from work”. So my natural reaction was to hit the spam button before reading it just like how I deal with all the other problems in my life. But it also had an attachment with a name that I usually use as my username. This creeped me out a little. So I opened the mail. It said, with my ticket, I would be able to watch a concert on my phone, live, in VR. I confirmed it was spam but it got me thinking. How real is real? How much ‘immersiveness’ do we really need to be able to say, “wow! that really felt like real life”? I mean, TV is getting real, movies are getting real, reality TV is…wait that piece of shit is still garbage. People like it when actors show a little humour even during the sad scenes. This, I think is a step closer to reality. Same goes with virtual reality. A ‘true’ virtual reality experience however, would take a few more years of development. There is however, a problem with this whole thing. This tech is tailored to satisfy the average customer and will keep on adapting with that motive. I am not saying that all immersive tech is evolving this way. I am only talking about those used in the entertainment industry. Let me explain.

There was a study done in the field of psycho-acoustics where people were made to listen to recorded sounds of a forest they hadn’t been to. The test was conducted in a controlled environment using high quality speakers. The aim of the experiment was to identify the type of surround-sound tech that people liked the most. So the sounds were played back a number of times, each time using different surround sound technologies. They were also made to listen to a version where the played back audio was perceived to be closest to the actual environment (with minimum special effects). It was found that people preferred the slightly exaggerated version over the close-to-original version. This is what I am slightly concerned about. Despite having the tech capable of replicating the actual experience, we still prefer to go for the artificially modified versions of it. Does this imply that you need to make the reality ‘realer’ to make it feel real? Or do people prefer distorted realities over actual ones? I can imagine a future(not that far from now) where people would be exposed to these ‘fake’ realities even before experiencing the real thing. For example, an AR experience of a jungle where you can go on a trek, run around, scare birds, eat a snake, you know, all that good stuff.  I am interested to know how the future generation would react when they experience the real thing for the first time in real life. Pretty sure there will be quite a lot of disappointment because they couldn’t do it while sitting on their couch, eating leftover pizza(like me).

 

Not quite, but almost there

 

The idiot box?

Look into my eyes! Worship me!

The idiot box. That’s what they called the TV when it started to ruin people’s lives. They believed that it created dumb people. Maybe in some cases it did. I always thought of the TV as a doorway, a medium of communication that transcended all boundaries. There is no denying the fact that it helped spread knowledge. It might have been biased knowledge but still it did something. It invoked curiosity in people. I don’t know if TV was the result of evolution or if the TV affected evolution in some way. I know for sure that it has affected people’s lives. It has tremendously affected mine.

Having said all this, I have to acknowledge the fact that I don’t watch TV anymore. In fact I kind of hate cable. I am very happy with the internet. I get to watch, listen, read whatever I want, whenever I want. Here’s the problem- sometimes it sucks.

I read a magazine the other day. I hadn’t read any print magazine for a very long time. As I read it I thought to myself,” Everything here is very well thought out, neatly laid out and properly researched. This is frikkin great!”. I don’t get the same feeling when I read about something on the internet. The search results are tailored to satisfy me. The results I get are the ones that I want. Not the ones that I need. We’ve all internet-diagnosed ourselves with cancer at some point in life. However, it depends on how much I am willing to delve into the research. There is no hiding from the truth after all. I am also curious about radio. There is something cool about the randomness. There is something cool about the presentation, the radio edits, etc. I sure as hell don’t miss buying cassettes and CDs. It was a whole different experience though.

I think there is something strange about the way people take in information depending upon how it is presented. The other day, I saw an ad for an app. It said,” Don’t like reading the long boring news articles? Well now you can read every top story in 60 words or less!”. What the fuck has the world come to?