Technology and social relationships: self-destructive weapon under guise of an approach to an affluent life?
We are living in an era where technology is booming and at possibly its highest level. In Bangladesh, particularly in the capital Dhaka, we can observe significant changes in lifestyle of the urbanites due to technology that could not be imagined just 15 years ago.
The whole pattern and lifestyle of people in Dhaka city has drastically changed. The forms of social relationships have changed significantly in that many people have become very much used to having access to modern devices like cell phones, laptops, thus they surf the Internet and make use of the ‘very now’ social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, eBuddy, Skype, Mig33, Linkedin, etc. The influence of those technological means is highly visible not only in Bangladesh but also all over the world.
In 2011, we saw how social networking site Facebook paved the way to the ” Arab Spring ” in Tunisia. Now living in 2014 we cannot ignore the impact of this technological development on relationships person to person. This changing form of relationships is surely a subject that needs to be analyzed cautiously.
In the context of developing countries the relationship between technology and social relationships demands special attention. Interestingly, this change has happened very quickly. It is not the scenario of Europe or America where people are quite accustomed to going through these technological changes repeatedly and rapidly. In the context of Bangladesh these are a whole new set of experiences in terms of dealing and maintaining social relationships through the lenses of technologies like mobile phones and social networking sites.
Social networking sites are very popular with people of the metropolitan areas. They engage them in a variety of purposes from personal amusement to serious issues related to political, economic, and social debates where they have the opportunity to express their views on any issue as they like.
Comparing with the mainstream print media, sites like Facebook and Twitter are much more capable to reach the masses where they can evolve into an active pattern. Not only can they be the readers but also they have the opportunities to be writers as well. But, now-a-days these users have become dependent on those sites where people prefer online blog articles or Facebook notes in order to know or gather information about particular topics instead of searching in convenient articles or books. This could definitely be considered an advantage but can also generate superficiality or flawed news as well, besides delivering news or knowledge that is far from authentic or constructive.
As we are speaking of technologies and their merits and demerits, we must not forget that these technologies cannot be considered something we have control over. Rather, it is undeniable that all these technologies control the mindset of us as well as our lifestyles. Even though the advancement of technology is undeniable as well as expected, there are some other thoughts that have to be considered seriously.
For example, whether to control technology to make our lives easier or be controlled thoroughly by it and thus deteriorate our social life – these are big questions to ponder. As the current situation goes, it is largely the second scenario that often becomes the determining factor. Instead of controlling technology to make life easier, we are being controlled by technologies that have made our lives more complicated than ever before.
Technologies, particularly cell phones and social networking sites have made communication easier with each other by far but also have made people detached from each other in a sense that it has reduced the need to have interaction personally.
The socialization of the young generation is quite vulnerable to excessive use of technologies and this is one of the main reasons that we have increased stagnation as a pattern of socializing. Because of being over dependent on technological gadgets, youths are taken aside from interacting with the others outside their home. Apart from this, the effect is to decrease the wide range of activities those of previous generations were accustomed to.
This alarming sign is something that has to be taken seriously. Besides, if we look at the current scenario of the modern urbanized society we will find many individuals who suffer from various mental stress related problems and often that goes either unnoticed or unheeded. This isolation is quite devastating for any individual.
Technologies have indeed given us a lot of new things but still their impact on society is to be analyzed carefully and systematically. When that is done, then it seems high time we rethought the matter so that we can analyze the role technology plays in our daily life. It often makes us restless both physically as well as mentally. These negative effects often result in severe stress related problems that we have to deal with.
At a glance, it could be perceived that the ultimate availability of technologies has reduced the distance between people. But if we look at the scenario of the society then we would find that we have become much more technology oriented in maintaining personal relationships. This tendency has surely deteriorated the pattern into which social relationships are being transformed. The time has indeed come for all of us to rethink about how the development of technology could be implemented for the betterment of the people not only so that they can lead a comfortable life but also to develop social relationships in a healthy and steady manner.
Al-Birunee and Priangka Das were co-authors of this article, with Niamat Ullah Sarker, all students of the Department of Development Studies at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
