Hello!! Are You Awake?

By Asmi Mukhopadhyay

Again, there is Selfie-death! This time, the indiscriminate use of mobile reached new heights with two bizarre incidents in 2025. In July, a 15-year-old girl in Italy was crushed to death by a boulder while trying to take a selfie with friends at a scenic spot—another victim to the deadly risks people take for the ‘perfect’ shot. Around the same period, a 24-year-old man in Uttar Pradesh, India, tragically fell off a bridge while capturing a daring selfie—proof that despite countless warnings, our obsession remains as outrageous as ever. There are many such news every day. But still, it does not move us… still, we are sleeping.

Holding the hand of modern technology, many evils have also crept into our civilization. Cell phone or smart phone addiction is one of such evils which appeared very recently and grabbed the entire human civilization, particularly, the teenagers. We all have heard the proverb "All work and no play makes Jack of a dull boy". It means without playing life would be dull and monotonous. These days, all Jacks are playing but with the smart phones. As they are engrossed in smart phones not in physical activities, these lead them towards excessive mental tiredness, and finally they get relief and mental solace in doom. Young generation has enough time to play with computer or a variety of electronic gadgets, but they have no time to play with their siblings.

The addiction to smartphones among teenagers is progressively increasing every year. Excessive usage of smart phones has a negative effect on mental health. Teenagers started comparing looking at other people's lives online, which are often highly manicured or misleading. Young people habituated with mobile phones feel a sense of loss without their phones. Studies revealed rise in depression and suicide in teenagers in recent years. Interestingly, teens who spend more time doing sports, homework, and socialising with friends in real life, has a lower risk for both depression and suicide. There is a recent trend in the society. We never forget to wish 'Good Morning' through social media to all even if they are not known properly but we forget to wish verbally to our family members or those who are really close to us. We are always ready to send 'Likes' to all others whom we may not be able to recognise if they stand beside us, but we have no time to motivate or appreciate our near and dear. We have no time to look directly to the beauties of nature but spend enough time to appreciate it but we have enough time to send 'like' to the photos of nature, posted by others. We immediately send 'Like' sometimes even without going through the message, whether you actually like it or not. We great many people every day in Facebook or WhatsApp but don't say a single word while we actually meet them, 'Facebook' becomes 'Fakebook'.

We actually want to be 'liked' by others, not by self. We always want to attract others by our 'selfie' or beautiful outer self not by our beautiful inner-self which will stay with us till the last breath. We are habituated to be guided by others, but we never try to be guided by our heart. We are modifying or editing our photos to the maximum extent possible until we look 'awesome'. Our own self becomes shadowed or hidden! But whom are we hiding? It is our real selves. We never ask ourselves why all these social media or apps are all free? If we think deeply, we would understand that all these social media or apps are designed to trap us. It is our attention, the most valuable thing we have, that we are giving to them at the cost. They get to know about our preferences, likes and dislikes, the items or brands we look for, taste of our entertainment, and many such personal information apart from our identity and many other vital information like address, email, mobile number, and even banking related information.

It appears ridiculous but most of us are getting transformed from having two hands to having just one; the other one is usually holding a smart phone these days. A poll reported that more than 90% people could not go a single day without their mobile devices. While this device is helping us in numerous ways, but excessive usage of this gradually reducing our work efficiency, personal attention, and causing social nuisance, and psychological addiction. We are constantly checking our cell phone every minute for no reason, feeling anxious or restless without the phone, waking up in the middle of night to check the mobile and communication updates. This reduces thinking capabilities, affects cognitive functions, and induces dependency.

Finally, the question comes – Are we really progressing? The answer is 'Yes' but towards the backward side. Everything in the world has two sides - good and bad. Fire is very useful but if we don’t know how to control this, it would ultimately burn us. Similarly, technology is a gift of God as it helps us overcome many difficulties to make our life comfortable. But where to apply and how to apply, it totally depends on our judgement otherwise it could be a curse. The technology media is gradually pushing us towards a virtual world where our real self is lost in the darkness. Now the time has come to ponder over again – whether we need to control the use of technology or to be controlled by the technology? The choice is ours.

By Asmi Mukhopadhyay