Technology; often used as the generic term to encompass all the technologies people develop and use in their lives (from the internet, mobile phones, to electrical appliances and aircraft) and a wide array of things we take for granted in today’s world. Can we do without it? It depends which side of the argument one is on, but in the final analysis, we just may not be able to do without it. Raliat Ahmed writes.
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Going without the internet and other modern technologies, even for a short period of time, can be as traumatic as giving up smoking or drinking, says a new study.
A new report from British consumer research firm Intersperience found that over half of people asked not to use any technology for 24 hours felt upset and 40 per cent felt ‘lonely’ when not engaging in activities such as social networking, emails, texting or watching their favourite TV channels.
Technologies significantly affect human as well as other animal species’ ability to control and adapt to their natural environments.
It has also affected society and its surroundings in a number of ways. In many societies, technology has helped develop more advanced economies (including today’s global economy) and has allowed the rise of a leisure class.
Philosophical debates have arisen over the present and future use of technology in society, with disagreements over whether technology improves the human condition or worsens it.
The whole world today revolves so much around technology that asking one to stay off phones, internet televisions or other modern technological gadgets for just one hour is like serving a death sentence.
Mr. Abdullahi Tukur in his view thinks we can live without technology. “Technology is like living by numbers, or so it seems. Maybe most of us cannot live without it, but for a tiny minority, going by several surveys, we can survive without it.
“Due to technology, there are a lot of things we have come to take for granted. Look around you, it’s not hard to see those things – from the electronic appliances in our homes, the communication gadgets in our hands, the cars we drive, the airplanes, the ships, even the bikes, the drinks, electricity – they are all technology and there are those of us who feel we can do without them. We’re in the minority though,” Tukur says.
“It may be tough for one to withdraw, but it is not an impossible thing to do, because you find out that there are those who go on holiday to exotic hotel locations devoid of technology and they enjoy it. It depends which side of the divide you are on. It’s possible, but can be unbearably difficult,” he adds.
Mr. Solomon Agabi, an IT expert says he quite agrees with this notion, because the internet and other modern technologies today have really come to make life very beautiful and simple for us.
“Going without them could really be as tasking as abstaining from cigarettes is for a chain smoker,” he said.
“The Internet, for one, is so vital right now in our life that I cannot do without it; my world now revolves around it, as it helps me to stay abreast with current happenings all around the world,” he says.
“I’m able to communicate with anybody anywhere in the world via Skype and at a very cheap rate. I can be in Nigeria and attend a degree programme abroad without stress, via an on-line programme.”
Relationships, Agabi says, are not left out of the many advantages of technology. “For example, I can have access to the most beautiful girl I want via Facebook and Twitter (a number of marriages have been recorded). If one is denied access to these things even for a day it will be like facing the hang-man because to me, life will cease to exist.
The same thing goes for modern phones (IPad, Galaxy tabs). The need is just endless. So, it would not be that easy to stay for a day without these modern toys.
If experts or researches are saying technology withdrawal is as difficult as quitting smoking, I agree one hundred per cent. We can’t deceive ourselves, technology has come to stay and withdrawing at this level of its sophistication would be like taking the world a million backwards,” Agabi says.
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