C 5 — Really virtual — A Journey Of Mobile Phones
It won’t be surprising to know if human anatomy soon takes a new course and makes human palms more adaptable to grasp the most inseparable commodity of our times — mobile phones! Such is the dependence of this generation on mobiles phones. The first mobile was invented on April 3, 1973. With this came a new era in the history of technological innovation. Every mobile phone emerging in the market, thus contributes in making a dynamic virtual space, coexisting with the reality.
The lines between virtuality and reality are blurring to a large extent. The easy access to this virtual space has given a lot of physical comforts to human beings. People mostly access social media through their phones, and create alternate identities of themselves in this virtual world. People find solace in online friends, even sometimes more than they can find in the ones existing physically. They use such platforms to influence the world by being vocal on media platforms, and also in turn, get influenced.
Apart from networking, mobiles are now used in conducting online transactions, shopping desirables, clicking pictures, listening to music, recording videos, playing games, booking cabs and in many other entertaining, as well as, resourceful purposes. It gives humans immense powers to feel that they run the world through a tap on a screen.
Stratification is an inevitable phenomenon which takes place in every era. In this era, mobiles are the leading factors in creating a class divide. A person owning a phone of higher brand value, automatically gets a privileged position in front of the other ordinary phone users. Mobiles have become the new status symbol. This has given rise to an unhealthy capitalist environment. Also, it has weakened physical interactions. People get so engrossed in their screen, that they start losing their touch from reality. Heath issues like obesity are on the rise as children too prefer playing online games, rather than playing games in playgrounds with their peers. Mobiles also weaken eyesights and our ability to think clearly.
Thus, according to me, it is the imbalance between virtuality and reality, that makes one ponder over the disadvantages of this phenomenal innovation. No innovation is worthy enough to cause one their mental or physical well being. Hence, we must build an equilibrium in order to reap the sweet boon of this technological boon.
