The Bogus World?

By Urvashi Srivastava

Born as a Gen-Z , brought up with millennials is tough in this era. The Gen-Z is the most straightforward and the most spoiled of all. I won’t say are truly at fault , me being one of them, I believe we are just not ready to be adults yet. Looks like the time has fast forwarded itself than before. We were the kids learning to ride a bicycle yesterday, trying to learn coding today, we were the kids trying to improve our handwriting yesterday only to realise we have to sit in front of a laptop for hours to complete our deadlines, we were the kids mastering our art which is now available with just a prompt on an AI , we were the kids who were crying over a math homework yesterday , depressed enough to work for our career with the choice of our parents today , we were the kids who didn’t want to go to a hobby class only because we were forced into , struggling to take out time for activities we used to love today. This is not running away from our responsibilities, it is just because we were not mentally  prepared for all of this to happen so soon. Family, Friends, Career, Love, Relations , Money , Growth and Stability  , I believe the more we are running behind it , the more we are losing connections with it all. We hardly have time for our loved ones. We are failing to understand the problems from the other person’s shoes. People are becoming selfish not taking accountability for their actions. Everyone is right in their story , then why do they keep getting hurt again and again? I guess blaming others is easier than trying to make things better for them is the concept they follow. This isn’t the adulting I had dreamt of. I thought it to be easier than this. The more I try to understand the Gen-z or the people around , the more I get trapped. 

Being kids we all wanted to grow up soon and now that its happening , the reality is overwhelming. Leaving behind home, friends, family for career , moving on in life when lost touch with a special friend , running for jobs 24/7, excessive sleeping ,inebriated , depressed. Is this the way of living life now? No more school , no more late night badmintons or cricket matches in the colony, no more crying over the school project, no more laughing with friends in the backbench, No more stealing  tiffins , no more school events , no more hanging out after school, no more discussing the questions after exams, no more bunks, no more birthday parties. This is the life now , wake up, scroll, run for jobs, scroll again and sleep.  

Being an almost twenty years old, I am seeing changes in life. Not just mine but with everybody. I am this nostalgic at twenty , I wonder how would it be when I’m forty. When I talk about life here , it means the whole concept of life. The traditions, cultures, values, ethics, education, food, fashion , jobs, industries and most of all the environment. Feels like the earths rotation is wiping off the true aspects of human life. Love, Care , Affection , Friendship , Compassion, Trust , Health , Devotion , these are just left as book terms. I would not say true emotions are effaced but not in front either. God created humans as the most intelligent being with love and patience. Turns out to be that we are slowly turning robots now. There is no individuality left in people , they are trying to be superior than the other, ending up being the same personalities after all. I don’t see people now , I see bodies lost their spirits. We are all running in the rat race , that has turned into an endless marathon. It feels like we are all stuck in the same time loop that keeps repeating again and again. We are turning lifeless with the need for AIs , it is right in front of our eyes but we choose to ignore. The interior changing from classic to modern minimal , buildings changing from craved and prestigious to simple straight , clothes from colourful to plain , cars from vintage to luxurious, machines made instead of handmade textiles, even love is sold online as AIs instead of real beings, handwritten love letters to AI generated messages.  There would be a time when we would have robots as pets. In  a decade or two humans would turn into real puppets of robots. For the people who can’t even write two sentences without the help of an AI , I think it is easier to put a  prompt searched online rather than put your spirit and efforts in it. 

Besides all these events , I believe that the human touch or feelings are the ones which are irreplaceable. No AIs can replace the true sense of emotions. But are we really willing to keep the spirit within ourselves? 

ISN’T IT THIS A BOGUS WORLD WE ARE LIVING IN? WHAT ARE WE TURNING INTO?

By Urvashi Srivastava