The Modern Mirage

Photo by cc

IMAGINE you are thirsty and traveling on a desert, and you see something that might just quench your thirst. Unfortunately it is just a mirage. Oxford dictionary defines it as an optical illusion caused by atmospheric conditions, especially the appearance of a sheet of water in a desert or on a hot road caused by the refraction of light from the sky by heated air. I coined the term ‘modern mirage’ to refer to the virtual reality that we are all too familiar with.

Everything has a quality of being ambivalent. To put it simply, this phenomenon can either be good or bad.

As I type this piece I am reminded about the strides that have been taken in terms of communication technology. Gone are the days of typing laboriously on a typewriter. While doing this I toggle and research supportive data on the world wide web. This same innovation has preserved countless trees and help in the conservation of the environment.

Also, I am grateful to this modern matrix that helped me find relatives on the internet. I communicate regularly with family who live abroad. Before, was the telegram, snail mail, and telephone. Now we have the cellphone and video calls on the web. Everything is real time. Amazing.

Since the invention of the wheel, and to the making of jet planes, getting to one place to another took a lot of precious hours. Furthermore, it took months on ships to go to one country to another across the globe. Planes made it easier, more comfortable, and much faster. Traveling has become advanced.

But this modernity has made me a little apprehensive about what we have become. Everything is fast now. With a snap of a finger you get instant results. (Or maybe not?) Haven’t you noticed that children and teens of this generation tend to be impatient and easily irked? One contemporary told me that they can’t keep still unless they are holding a gadget for games.

This made me nostalgic. Admittedly, I like being ‘old school.’ I remember playing outside with neighborhood kids. I doubt if children now are acquainted or friends with their neighbors. I also remember when trying to catch cartoons on television, the schedule was just about two hours on Saturday mornings. Now if one has cable or satellite TV everything is 24/7.

Even shops during my childhood closed really early at six. Seven in the evening was late. Now I am amazed that my city doesn’t sleep anymore. There are stores and restaurants that are open 24/7. It may be convenient yes but it is tiring if you ask me especially if you put yourself in the shoes of the people working in the graveyard shift.

Anything that is extreme is bad. So what I am suggesting to my readers is a sense of balance in using the technology around us. Like for example family time during meals, gadgets must be set aside. This is where reality steps in and virtual reality takes a back seat. Scheduling a time frame each week for family bonding is a win-win situation.

Let us control technology. Not the other way around. I for one talk for hours with family or friends and the rest of the time I read online. I read voraciously. It comes with the territory. I keep abreast of what is happening and what people are interested in and my goal is to shed light on matters I can discuss on articles such as this.

Nature actually will tell you if you are doing things too much already. Two words: eye strain. What I do is take breaks. Go out for a walk. Look at the sky and into the horizon. It heals your eyes and clears your mind.

We don’t want information overload either. You will know this when all you can do is play games and recall bits of information from the net from all angles ricocheting in your brain powering the windmills of your mind.

On a final note, technology is a tool. Use it wisely. Balance is the keyword. If you do this then you are good to go. After all this is the 21st century. Do not be left behind. Learn from the past. Control the present. And keep dreaming for the future. As always, the best is yet to come.