Gizmo freaks you out

Just in case you noticed, there’s no gadget out there that gives you that digital nirvana you were searching for. Our favorite phones have issues streaming Flash content, awesome tablets don’t have USB ports, ‘affordable’ devices just don’t have the fruit company’s lust factor, the brand currently with biggest market share has a sad image and a bloated operating system, a search engine company buys out the mobility wing that started the mobile phone industry… and all this flux makes you wonder what on earth is going on out there and how good really is this device in my hands.
Television tech changes so fast you don’t know what high definition really means anymore. Do you really care if you can see cars or bullets any more smoothly than they are right now? Will 7.1 surround sound make bad music sound any better? Brand loyalty doesn’t hold any ground these days. Tech world is ruthless. Companies that ruled markets or innovated devices get copied quickly and sued by competition even before any app can get downloaded on a phone and say ‘installed’. Ads tell you how bad the competitor’s product is. So who’s taking a hit here? Their competitor or people who bought all this stuff? Where does this leave users you and me, who need devices to get stuff done in the day? How we do go about our lives without getting inconsolably depressed with what we own?

Well, here’s a way around this endless angst. Let go of the passion for devices. Stop envying your colleague for owning that awesome glistening phone you saw on the billboards on the way to work. A few generations back there were no such gizmos around. Guess how people did? Splendidly well! Get back to writing on a piece of paper. Get that awesome mind working. Talk to people face to face- and no- not on facetime. Ditch the TV, take your wife and kids out to the park if nothing else. Listen to old records. If you noticed, we have gigabytes of music we don’t listen to anymore. Compare this with the good old days when people knew all lyrics of songs on a few LPs. I wish I was born in the art deco era. Hire a horse and carriage. Let the world go by at 5 miles an hour. Ride a bicycle. Wait a bit longer at restaurants. So what if he’s taking another 10 minutes to serve you? Read something till then.

Well all these luxuries obviously apply outside our work places. But that’s where the treasure is- time. Regain your creative juices, appreciate flowers and an affectionate pet. Spend time doing nothing. And stay away from the phone. You can check your tweets later because right now there’s one coming from the tree outside your window.