How times have changed: Life in a Condensed World

Children these are living in a very condensed world. They no more have space for outdoor games and physical interactions in real life. They are busy all day either in school or in front of pixels. They have forgotten the art of childhood. Childhood is really fun and I feel sad that the children these days are not getting their due. This is due to the advent of the Information age where everything has been reduced to the computer. Every person is involved with computers in one way or the other. The following article is a sarcastic note on such changes which have started to deprive the children their much deserved time out doors and with people physically.

Physical Activities to Virtual pixel fascination.

The scenario today is children and adults together sit on the computer. It has substituted most of their other activities like listening to music, playing music, watching a movie together with friends and chatting with friends. In earlier days we used to do these physically but now use the cyber world.

The above scenario is a perfect example. It perfectly explains the current scenario. Children now see the Computer as an alternative to every thing physically possible. They have made the computer their world. A decade ago, listening to music was so much fun. We used to even hum, dance and sing along. The it is all limited to a Computer and Headset.

Watching films is considered a social active till now. We go to movies with friends and hence socialize. But now, with availability of movies online, no one is going to the theaters anymore. The children simply download the movies and watch them instead of enjoying the movie time with fellow friends.

Chatting with friends is another such aspect. Everything has been replaced by Facebook, a Social Networking site. It has so deeply seeded itself into these children's life that they now no more talk to people face to face. Everything is either online or in the form of messaging. There is very very less physical face to face interaction between the kids. This is a major cause for concern because soon the child would forget the art of conversing with people and wouldn't know how to talk with people outside in the real world. Also they would fail to manage people of different personalities.

Reading the news was considered an important activity. Now no one even bothers to see a news paper. Unfortunate thing is that the parents as well are not encouraging their child to take up news paper reading. Gone are those days when we used to read the paper, make a summary of it and present in the day's class at school.

Physical games to Virtual Gaming

The scenario compares today's modern gaming and the olden day's gaming. Today's gaming is completely virtual and olden day's gaming was completely physical. This drastic change has led to many diseases like laziness and obesity. Also children these days are very fascinated by the virtual pixel games. They no more are passionate about real gaming sports like soccer, tennis, badminton etc. This is a very bothering thing for the future.

The above picture depicts the current scenario in which the children these days prefer pixel gaming above physically tiring games. There have numerous reasons like the risk of getting injured, wasting time, unnecessary activities etc. But then, they need some exercise to grow healthily and sports provide that. But the children these shun the sports and have started playing video games which are just a simulation of the reality. Here various aspects of the game can be fabricated according to comfort and hence the children are loosing the real gaming experience. Also these games are addictive and hence children large amounts of time on these pixel oriented games. The children need to be pushed out of the house to play games like cricket, soccer, tennis etc. Gone are those days of Gully Cricket, playing various types of marble games, stepping stones, out out, chain cut. All these games are history now. They have been forgotten by many. The fun obtained through these games is immense and this the children to be made aware of.

Hating the room to Loving the room

The scenario here is today's children are far more interested in spending their lives in a closed room bound by four walls. They have sufficient virtual tools to substitute for their social interaction. They now prefer lonely rooms to healthy social interactions.

This is true as well. We used to hate it when our mom told us to get back to our room didn't we? I in fact got very disappointed every time she told me to get back to my room. This is simply because there was literally nothing to do in rooms then. Everything was outdoor. But now the situation is pretty different. The children love spending time alone. They want to live for themselves in their little world bounded by the four walls of a room. They stay in these rooms all alone for long hours together and spend time playing with virtuosity. They love their gadgets more than their fellow friends now and value them above the physical friends. Also this reminds me of an old saying, "God gave man objects to use and humans to love, but the man now uses men and loves objects".

Birthdays!

Here the scenario is the way Birthdays are celebrated these days. People feel happy seeing the number of birthday wishes on their Facebook account/Twitter account instead of going out and enjoying.

The above image will sum up my lament altogether. People these days are so engrossed with online activity, that there are no birthday parties and physical interactions during birthday. The happiness of the birthday boy is judged by the number of wishes he gets on an online social platform. This is a very harmful practice. It is simply increasing the communication gap and also shunning the fun involved in birthday parties. The children to need to be allowed to enjoy such social meetings with their friends instead of settling for a few wishes in the virtual world.

Google much?

Here the scenario is the way people get answers for their doubts. Google has become the supreme teacher and almost everyone is familiar with this and uses it atleast once a day for numerous purposes.

Yes. Google is the buzz word now. It is the most used word online/offline. People use it often when ever some one asks for help. They now see Google as Everything there can exist. They have started to believe that Google has everything and anything can be found by searching in the cyber world. This is another humorous change. The children are simply directed to Google when asked to clarify a doubt. This will increase the communication gap between the two people and hence will later lead to loneliness. Such practices need to be stopped and good interactions need to be established.

Student's mistake to Teacher's mistake

The scenario here is a very funny and humorous one. In earlier days, the parents used to scold their own child for his/her poor performance in studies. But today the converse happens. Now the teacher is the target and the parents only bother about why the teacher fails to train their ward to get good marks which is very stupid indeed.

This is a reality. I have till now seen many such scenes. The parents see bad marks of their child, then simply start a war of words with the teacher in-charge. They curse the teacher instead of finding out the reasons for their kid's poor performance. The kids are given a reprieve this way and are indirectly encouraged to fail more in further life. The children are no more asked about the reasons behind failing and its always the teachers these days who have to face this heat. What can the teacher do in such a situation? The teacher is being subjected to such meaningless abuse. It is the duty of the student to learn what ever the teacher teaches and put it in the exam paper. But now the child gets away even after failing to do so. How can a teacher forcefully make a child learn unless he is not willing to learn it by himself? Such practices are really asking for trouble as if such trend continues, then there would be no one in the teaching field as they will see it as an invitation for trouble.

Who has grown obese?

This is a wonderful scenario again. We see the past decades TV and today's TV. We can clearly observe that the TV has become slimmer, clever and more user friendly. But we, the humans have become obese, fat and over fed. We don't bother to be friendly with others as well as our lives have become too self centered.

The Television. The above picture sums it perfectly for a conclusion. The television has become slimmer and flatter and the people have become fatter and obese. The size of the people has increased and their wisdom levels decreased. People sit in front of TV's for hours together watching serials, reality shows and simply wasting time. Such a wastage of time is a national disaster as there is literally nothing productive from such activities. The above picture is the perfect sarcasm there ever can be. The man has replaced the television as a fat and lazy object and TV has become smarter and slimmer.

Conclusion

I would like to end it here. No more humiliation of our growth. Yes, technological advances are very essential. But one must also realize the importance of non-computer activities like physical exercises, face-to-face interactions, communication etc and act accordingly. The computer is simply being abused. It is being forcefully dragged into many fields which do not need it. I request the reader to please encourage the children around them to reinvent these lost forms of enjoyment and pleasure. They must encourage the children to participate in physical activities and physical interaction with different people. Please don't allow them to get alone and spend time as they want online. It is nothing productive and as they are growing up, they need to experience the thrill of childhood. I write this article because I don't want children to see a Computer all through their childhood when they look back for happy memories.