Revealed! Adam carries an MMS of Eve. Review on Technology, Boon or Bane

Technology drives our lives. You are reading this review on the Internet. While you are reading it, you are also talking to someone on your mobile phone. While you are talking to someone, you are also putting the caller on hold, and taking up the

second call which has come your way. And then, when you have finished, you get back to your previous call. While you are still talking, you are reminded on your computer (with numerous alerts that you have set up on Outlook and other softwares) that its time to pick up your kid from school. You make your access card kiss the door lock and the light turns green and you push your way out. While you near your car, you use the remote to open the door locks and then sit down to drive in the comfort of the AC in the peak of sweltering heat that others are experiencing outside. And now that you have started driving, you let your caller know that its time to hang up as you are driving.

While you make a stop at a traffic signal, you get to read the latest headlines that scroll in red on LED boards.As you near your kid's school, you notice that you had to hand him some cash for buying another game CD that you had promised him. Your wallet is bereft of all the cash. Instead Visa,Lisa,and Mastercards peeping out of the slots in your wallet make it look slim and sleek.As you always carry your ATM card too, you make a stop at the 24 hours ATM, withdraw your cash by keying in the PIN number and then drive your way to your kid's school.

Your kid sits along with you and excitedly tells you about the new MMS his classmate showed him on his mobile and lets you know that his Nokia 3230 is now getting obsolete so its time to buy the latest ones available in the market.You promise him that and then play the FM radio station in your car stereo. The Radio Jockey keeps coming up with one liners every now and then and then lets you know that you can win a new Mercedes by sending answers to the question 'Which movie has the song Dhoom Machale Dhoom Machale Dhoom Machale..' Hey, thats not tough at all, you tell yourself. You SMS your answer to 1234 and dream of a Mercedes.

As you reach home, you immediately switch on your Home theatre system to watch the Natwest ODI between Australia and Bangladesh LIVE. Your newspaper tells you that with Microsoft's latest Windows XP Media Center Operating System, your PCs can now pause live programs to be watched from where you left. Now, that would be really cool isn't it? (Wish you could do that with people around you - pause them and then continue after you had finished your chores.)So, you call up the numbers mentioned in the dealers list to enquire how you can get that. Price is not a problem for you.You just love gizmos.These gizmos always keep getting smaller, trendier and smarter and more and more effecient with every new product promising a USP.Your kid sits at his PC and plays all the Artifial Intelligence and 3G games he has loaded on it.The microwave owen in the kitchen beeps to alert you that the food is now warmed up and ready to be devoured.Wifey dear gives you a missed call, not to tell you that she missed you, rather to let you know that she will be home from office any moment.So you switch off the Television, ask your son to shut down the computer and tidy up the home.

Technology - a boon or bane?

While the above maybe true, it just shows just a slice of our lives. And a slice of the society we live in. Theres always a line between the 'haves' and 'have nots' and the 'haves' keep thinking about what they still donot have while the 'have nots'

try to keep pace with the 'haves'.But whatever it maybe, Technology has entered each and every aspect of our lives. So much so, that we cannot think of life without it. Are we getting addicted to Technology?

Lets do a reality check.Which are the fields which have benefitted the most from Technology?

1.Communication

6.Anything else that you can think of.

Out of these, Medicine tops my list.Its only because of the technological advancements(without undermining the skill of our modern medicos), that many lives are being saved. And any invention that helps the medical community better its

service to mankind is welcome.

Communication is at the second position for me after Medicine.And unlike entertainment, its made available to even the lowest common denominator because of the low price. It helps one bridge the gap. But how much of it is more than enough? And haven't we been guilty of misusing it overusing it or using it at all the wrong places? You send a dirty email to your colleague that you didn't like his handling of the last group meeting. And your colleague replies to it with an equally

vitriolic mail. You meet at the cafeteria and look at each other with an intention to grab each other but then you decide that it would be against the decorum of the place. So you decide to continue your war of words over the email.Who benefits?

Who communicates?

Science is at the third position for me. Why below communication? Thats because communication improves the lives of many more people than Science does. As Science drives technology,they are mutual benefitters. But yes,we need technology in the fields of Space research and other such areas which will improve our advancements in research and development.

Entertainment comes next in my list. Not because I hate multiplexes or want to get back to B&W Television, but because entertainment is an option and you can entertain yourself without an iota of technology to your service. Life wont come to a standstill if the technology doesn't benefit entertainment.After the VCDs, you had the DVDs and then you may even have the EVDs. But that would just be an attempt to improvise what you already have. The colorisation of old classics like

'Mughal-e-Azam'may have wowed the auidence but then it won't enhance the emotions that the characters express in the movie.With all the technology that goes into the making of modern Indian movies, don't you think its all gizmo and no heart

and soul?

Consumer goods.Well, does technology do any good to the consumer goods? Does fuzzy technology make your washing machines much better? Or it makes a lazy sloth like you even more lazy and wish for something even more better?And then make you even more lazy.

As I write this, there are many more technological advancements being made in numerous fields.And each one of them comes with a higher price than its predecessor.The versions change.And people sit up to 'have it' in order to distinguish themselves from 'have nots'. And look for more once the 'have nots' have it as well. The rat race continues. And the pied pipers of technology continue to lead them out of their houses to where they wish.