Power of Gods in your hands
When humans become God
We live in a strange time.
Just a few years ago, a deadly virus killed and infected millions of people around the world and completely disrupted the way we work and engage as a society.
A war is going on in Ukraine amidst high inflation & economic stagnation in Europe, we have a changing world order between the Western and Eastern countries, increased testing of nuclear warheads among Developed Nations, and between all this we have a growing Indian economy that is finding its footing at the Global stage.
Defining God
As per most of the beliefs, the meaning or full form of GOD is Generator, Operator, Destroyer.
Someone who can create life, have control over the universe or life, and seek to destroy the very life that he/she has created can be termed as God.
When Humans become Gods
In the 21st Century, we have mastered a lot of things like Worldwide Communication, Globalization, Free Trade, Internet Connectivity for all, Advancements in healthcare and biotechnology, etc.
But the thing that separates a 21st-century human from all others in the past is the power we all have in our hands, a Smartphone.
At no other time in history did people have a device too small to fit in their hands and have a computing capacity far greater than the Apollo 11 spacecraft that landed on the Moon in 1969.
With this device alone you can Generate, Operate, and Destroy life as we know it.
Living in a world where everyone wants to be a Youtuber
The sad thing about the growth of Smartphones is that it has completely halted our abilities to communicate well as a society. Seems ironic because these things were built as a way to improve ‘Communication’ between humans.
Smartphones have turned out to be a 24/7 advertisement machine that is continuously on your face. An average human spends more than 3.5 hours a day on their phone, which equates to about 25,550+ hours (nearly 3+ years) wasted over a 20-year period.
Imagine all the content you consumed, never knowing whether you could have built or created something worthwhile that could have changed the course of history.
What the Internet Companies Borrowed from the Druglords
Almost all Internet companies have invested heavily in Social media platforms and some of the best minds in the world are building software so that you spend as much time as possible on your Smartphone.
They have created a Digital Psychedelic (drug), something that has a strong effect on your mind, often making you see things that are not there.
For example,
- With the growing rage behind short video content — multiple research findings have found that most people today have a very short attention span.
- Smartphones have become a Haven for spreading Hatred and Inciting violence among people, communities, countries, and the masses.
- At no other time in history, with 1 click of a button, a bad actor can have an audience of millions and billions of people around the world.
- Most of these Billionaires control the government through lobbyists and by funding election campaigns for their parties, in essence, they get to decide how the government works and what bills get passed. (Quite similar to how the druglords controlled the government)
Data shows that the attention span of an individual watching videos was 2.5 minutes in 2004. This has been gradually reducing and is now approximately 47 second. [1]
All the while, it has become almost impossible for you to keep your Smartphone down.
Removing Addictiveness from Smartphones for a Better Tomorrow
The use of Colorful Icons, slot machine-like graphics while refreshing apps, and extreme use of Pop-up notifications giving the feeling of instant gratification coupled with the dying need to know everything happening around you has made the cycle almost difficult to stop.
Remember we have the best minds in the world working to make them as addictive as ever!
What we truly require is improvement in the way we design software, making sure that what we create does the job but not necessarily hampers life as we know it.
Creating laws that save us from going Berserk
The thing about creating software or hardware is that we still haven’t figured out some common global laws governing how Companies can design their websites & apps, how we store data, check for ethical UI/ UX design, filter content, etc. on a global scale.
Countries have just started to realize the importance of such laws but most have kept the system open for misuse.
Calling all Adults in the room
We now more than ever need adults in the room to save the system. People who get the job done and are not there just for show. When you are not acting in the interest of those you represent, you do a disservice to everyone around you.
Imagine a world where,
Hitler would have had access to a Smartphone back when he was killing millions of Jews in concentration camps.
All the while he created powerful Instagram reels and YouTube videos of himself smiling with World Leaders, re-establishing German industries, urging German people to fight a war, and spreading his hatred (messages) via Twitter, Telegram, Whatsapp & Facebook. Feels scary right?
OR
Imagine if during the British Raj, all our prominent leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Bhagat Singh, etc. instead of fighting the British for our independence were hooked onto their Smartphones and were busy scrolling the web & abusing the British on Twitter, doesn’t look right eh?
Conclusion
Till the time our governments and institutions learn to channel this growth in technological advancements, it’s better to remember the quote by Spider-Man’s Uncle Ben:
With great power comes great responsibility.
or from the Holy Bible
From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked”
