My mobile phone history

 After much thought and delay, I finally decided to get a new phone for myself.  This would be the second phone that I'm purchasing and the fourth one I'd be using, since the time I starting using mobile phones since 2007.  

It was when I started working as the Province Secretary that I got my first mobile in 2007. It was a Nokia handset.  And three years later when I was transferred to Kondadaba, I left the phone with my successor. 

While at Kondadaba, I decided not to get one, because there was no need. Besides, the network was very poor.  However, one of the parishoners gifted Fr KT Jose a phone and him not very comfortable to 're-learn' using a different model of the phone, preferred to get a phone of the same model and type that he was already using.  So, he passed on that Nokia (again) phone to me.  That would have been in 2011 or later. 

I had it with me till 2016. Even though the last one year of its use, the speakers had given way and I could use it only it with the wired earphones.  That was in Ramanthapur. And in 2016 when I left Ramanthapur to fly to the UK, the community gifted me with a Samsung J5 (or something of that number). 

I used that Samsung phone for most of my time in the UK. And while extensively using e-bay, came across a second hand i-phone. I bought that for GBP 42 (approximately Rs 4,000)!!! It was the iphone SE 2016 edition.  I bought it in 2021. That phone was great! Small in size and very smooth in its operations.  No wonder why people are crazy for iphones - besides the brand craze!  However, for more than a year now the battery has been draining very fast.  From recharging it thrice or four times a day, about two years ago, today I need to practically keep it for charging after every call. If not for that one single drawback, I'd be more than happy to continue using the phone. 

Given the fact that I never watch(ed) videos, or listen to music or use maps or the camera or anything fancy on any of my phones, I would say my phone use has been extensively and exclusively AS a phone - calls, documents, whatsapp and my daily alarm!! 

Today I start using my latest phone, Vivo T4x 5G.  Surprisingly I discovered that it was released on my birthday this year!!! 

Photos and videos

Driving back from Karunapuram late this evening, the traffic was held up a particular point on the Outer Ring Road.  There was some renovation of the overhead signboards and hence all the lanes were closed for nearly 30 minutes.  

As soon as I reached the point and realised that the work would take some time, I switched off the ignition and sat quiet. However, what amused me was that every other driver (and passenger) of the other vehicles were out to find out why the delay and the blockade.  No sooner did they see and understand the reason, the cell phone were out and practically every other guy was capturing a video of the traffic on the road.  A couple of guys found that the apt time to shoot some reels in the middle of the road!  

This craze of cell phone usage for selfies, photography and video of any and every event or time is certainly well beyond normalcy! 

Phone calls and responsibility

Two years ago, I only needed to recharge my cell phone once a day. Now a days I have to recharge it nearly thrice on most days. Of course, the phone battery itself is not getting any younger or better, but certainly the number of phone calls have increased. 

I am quite sure that this is not an indicator of my importance or status!! Far from it. If the increase in phone calls is an indicator it is of my inefficiency in making people and confreres independent.  The more the calls, the greater their reliance on me, rather than on themselves. I understand and appreciate those calls which are more for keeping me updated; but if for any other reason, then rather than forming the confreres to be self-reliant and interdependent (primarily on their own community confreres), they are becoming dependent on me. Which isn't a good sign for growth and maturity. 

So I constantly keep pushing the ball back in their court. Getting them to take primary responsibility and only assuring my support; not me taking on their responsibilities. 

The world through the phone

For quite some time now there is this psychological tendency we are warned of and most often everyone is familiar with: living in the past.  The danger is that we forgot the present and miss out opportunities that the 'here and now' offers. 

Of late, viewing some videos of some significant events or even of accidents, I think we're now well into a different 'time-zone'.  Most people in the video, rather than cherish the event they are privileged to witness firsthand, in person, are busy taking pictures or videos of the event!  So rather than nourish the moment live, they're viewing it through the screen of their smart phones! Earlier there was this craze of getting our photos clicked by others. Today others need not be involved. Each one is a photographer. Each one is the one being photographed.  What about the scenery or the event?  That has relevance only in as far as it is 'captured' - not by me, but by my smartphone! 

Worst case scenarios are where people record an accident or incident and continue doing so rather than reaching out to the victim or standing up to some bullies or goons.  

Generation iKids

Here are extracts from an article which was featured in the complimentary magazine of The Times (25.03.2017).  Written by Ben Machell, it is titled 'Addicted! Generation iKids'

The world to a baby is pretty unpredictable, but these devices are so well crafted and intuitive that they deliver something to a baby that is reasonably predictable. It makes them feel like they have command over an environment that they generally don't have much control over... (emphasis added) (p. 22)

Adam Alter, a psychologist:

The problem with modern technology, he says, is not that it changes so quickly, but rather that it changes just slowly enough for us to not really notice the effect it's having (p. 23).  

Technology today has widened the possibility of 'probability'. Earlier, one had to be at home, in front of a TV set to watch a cartoon. Not anymore.  Moreover there were barriers built into the TV viewing. The cartoon programmes were interspersed with news, "stopping rules".

Only, these stopping rules are being deliberately, systematically destroyed by Zuckerberg and friends. Everything is now designed to be endless... a sort of auto-binge option that prevents you from having to make the decision to watch another (p. 23). 

Alter adds

The biggest issue with interaction is that you get feedback. And feedback is the engine of addiction.... if you have a device that gives them instant feedback all the time, that means they don't have to try very hard to get feedback from the world (p. 23).  

Perhaps the most serious danger:

...phones and tablets allow children to pass the time in a kind of mental holding pattern: not bored, but not engaged with the world around them either (p. 23).  

The article rightly places the onus of the responsibility on the parents.  If parents are all the time facing the phone, they're not going to be far behind.  One of the serious suggestions of the psychologists: avoid using phones and digital devices when with children.  The main reason: they deserve your time and full attention.  Do not keep yourselves or them distracted with phones and tablets!

The article also lists the opposing view, namely that research shows not much of a damage is done to the child's learning skill or mental functioning.  However, I personally see the sacrifice of the actual world for a virtual world, a huge threat to human civilization. 

Information on fingertips

There was a time, not so long ago, when someone who rattled off answers to a variety of questions with great accuracy was looked upto and labelled as a genius.  He or she was believed to have all the information on his/her fingertips!

Well, today everyone has information on their fingertips... literally!

Tapping smart phones... tapping information!

On either side of the phone

One commonly observed phenomena of UK and India:
Young people are most often on the phone both in UK and in India. The only difference is that in India they are chatting away and in UK they are texting away!

Another feature related to this but reflecting a more profound reality:
Here in UK people purposely use the phone to block out others.  Meaning to say, interaction with others is not something they look forward to or encourage.  While in India, being on the phone is another way of getting closer to someone.  Rather than an escape from people, it is a tool that connects people - though, mostly a distance away.  But Indians surely are not shy of interacting with one another, even if the other is a total stranger.

Cell phone thrill

Fr Joshtrom had long time back narrated an incident of Rome in one of our Salesian houses. It was still the time when young clerics or practical trainees were not permitted to have cell phones for personal use. However, one cleric was might thrilled when his own rector gave him.  Every now and then the rector would call up the Brother to enquire if things were all fine and that he was at home in the new place.  Slowly as days went by the Brother realized, the cell phone was not so much for him, but more for the Rector to keep tab on where the Brother was!

Of Wants and Needs

While some of our senior boys have a sense of saving money they earn while they learn, most of them have absolutely no desire or will to save or plan for the future.  All that they know and do, as soon as they get some money in hand, is spend it.  And what do they spend it on?  Clothes and phones!!

The former I understand if they do so once in a way, but every month?  The latter, is purchased or attempted to be bought every month!!  There is one boy who is an orphan and has known no one else other than those inside in the house, practically he is living with them all here in the same campus, in the same house and practically in the same section.  But his craze is a new phone, every time he gets some money!

And what's the phone for? Certainly not for talking (if that were the case, any phone would have done and that too bought once).  It is for music, and camera!

I guess this is what it means when wants become needs! 

Cell phone put to use!

During my journeys there have been several occasions when I wished I had a camera to click photos of something I knew are really 'different'. This wish of mine seems somehow to be true since I have with me a cell phone with a camera (how I came in to possess one is a long winding story, though!). This time on my trip to Bangalore and back, I did come across something really hilarious. One such is what I found in the Visakhapatnam railway station... a banner of an official railway stall. Check out the first line! I did click a couple of other photos too, but someone lost them while transferring them to my laptop. Anyway, next time!

Alarm piece hunt!

The other day was a wild-goose chase... or should I call it, a digital alarm piece chase?? Since we were in Vizag for lunch and wishing the Bishop, on his birthday, I decided to make use of the chance to purchase a digital alarm piece. The one I am currently using is so eccentric that it either needs an overhauling or needs to be hauled over the fence!! Anyway, what surprised me was that after searching practically the whole of Vizag, I couldn't find one decent, simple, functioning digital alarm piece. I remember seeing them galore in Hyderabad everywhere. Here not even the best or sophisticated shops had one.

I wonder: Is Vizag too different from Hyderabad or is it that I was not looking for the thing in the right place. Whatever it be, I hope to get one soon. It is another story that Fr KT was trying to make use of this opportunity - again - to convince me to get a cell phone. But I think I'm pretty much clear and decided about that: no cell phone, at least for now.

Of watches and cell phones

My travel back to my home from Bangalore yesterday by Banglore-Guwahati Express was another interesting experience. As usual on this train there were more passengers than it could contain. So in my section, instead of the usual 6+2, we were 12. Don't ask me where we found the space, but everyone had some comfortable corner. I occupied the upper berth, almost all the while.

The best part of the journey was when the train reached Ongole. Since I woke up late, I had no idea of what the time was. So when the train reached Ongole station, I got off the train to take a walk on the platform. I looked around to see if there was any clock or digital watch to see the time. Finding none, I did the next best thing I could think of - I asked the man sitting on a bench. He gave me a strange look, glanced at my wrists and then with great solemnity looked at his watch and told me the time "11 o'clock." I could very well register every move and thought of his but decided to play it cool. And so, I politely thanked him and then continued my stroll. Once in a way I casually looked in his direction to find him still watching me intently... He must have been wondering which planet I came from, not to have a watch or know the time.

The second experience was the learning that railways have almost closed down all the phone booths on railway platforms. Understandably with so many cell phones (more than cell phone users), the need for these landlines has reduced considerably. It took me 35 minutes of search to find one on the first platform of Visakhapatnam railway station. Strange but true...

For others, this observation of mine may be strange ... but true!!

What a miscall!

Baby aunty (my Mummy's younger sister) in Mangalore has devised a simple but novel way of staying in touch with all of us her dear ones... everyone, everyday and without incurring any expenditure too! She gives us all a miscall early in the morning just to mean, 'We are fine... have a nice day!'. We give back the miscall to reciprocate the same. In the beginning I found it very funny, but now when i have found out that she never misses a day and if by chance, I fail to reply her miscall by noon, she'd call up to enquire about my health. Now I know, it is not a child's play but a genuine effort of a loved one to be in touch, to express one's solidarity and affection - all of it, through a miscall!

Charity of/through Music

I always thought that those who blasted music from their mobile phones in public means of transport or at gatherings as someone who wanted to show off his piece. But of late I realised that with every Tom Dick and Harry having a mobile there is practically no one left to flaunt the mobile piece to! Besides these guys who play their music melodies loud on buses merely want to keep the spirit high of not just themselves alone but of those around too. Travelling this evening from Uppal to the Provincial house (clean 2 hours from one end of the city to another!) I heard the groans of my co-passengers as we struggled to get a foothold in the crowded bus. Each of us reeking of our prespiration and the fatigue of the whole days' labour. To make matters more irksome were some ladies squabbling over a seat in front. Just when all this was about to blow off the head of the conductor (poor guys, having to put up with this all day long - they should be given the Padmashree!!), there echoed a lively song from one of the mobiles. What a break. And just to confirm my musings regarding this musical charity, came a voice from behind the bus, "Volume please!"