Learning in First Retirement : Technology is not everything

Before all my technical friends start calling me a hypocrite and chase me with their smartphones and sandals, let me explain!!! You do realize that this comment is coming from an electronics engineer who not only got his bread and butter from Technology and the newborn obsession towards technology, but that obsession got him running shoes and hiking boots too. (I will mostly talk about tech related to electronics and computers here)

Unfortunately, I am from a country where most people judge your success by the amounts getting credited to your bank account at the end of day. In that money driven culture, whichever field has the most number of jobs,  wins the race!! The poets, the painters, the social change-makers need to make way for engineers. 

India started producing innumerable number of engineers. Electronics and computers are the most coveted fields these days because hell ya!! smartphones  and bigger computers do connect everyone and make your jobs easier at work. Now Apps being designed in every field because people are busy and lazy. If you look at the advertisements of newer apps, you may think they want to make your lives easy but actually they mostly want your money, which is OK I guess. The technology is mostly targeted for people with purchasing power and the money is mostly revolving in that sector. However the rich persons technology today becomes accessible to everyone tomorrow and that is a good trend to be happy about.

In my country a teacher (non-government) may earn 1/100th of the salary of a mediocre engineer because business is profitable, shaping someone's life is not. Very few decisions makers are taking the future generation seriously rather we are creating more problems for them - polluted cities to connect them, un-breathable air of choked roads to employ them and a privilege based education system to divide them.

In my long list of school visits in recent years, I have asked how the school kids (first generation learners mostly) use technology. They all use whatsapp but very few know how to become a doctor or lawyer or engineer or teacher because they never google. That is the irony!! Technology is there but hardly it is used the way it should be. Forget kids, how we adults are using technology these days - to vent our anger or frustration, to spy on others lives more than to spread positive news or just connect with close friends..

Last year, I was spending some quality time at a village of Spiti Valley, India with altitude of 14700 ft. There is no mobile network and I was wondering about my happiness quotient being off-grid?

Oh yes, I was super happy. I started talking to people, I started catching the village vibe, I started noticing the trees, the mountain springs, the peaks and the deer around. Above all, nobody can reach me!! That is a bliss in the overdose of connections. Many people trekking in Indian side of Himalayas, mention that as a plus point (to be unreachable) But what about the villagers?

They have no way to connect to the nearby city or some doctor there. The older couples can not talk to their children working in Chandigarh or Shimla. They get news by TV all right but that is also limited by weather. Then is it bliss for them? Not really.

To me, Technology fails as a solution when it becomes a market case. It loses its purpose when it becomes a privilege not a right (specially life altering ones).

I wanted to realize the plus and minus of technology needs (as I was off grid for a good part of my first retirement)

In my humble opinion, we need

1) Technology with conscience - Technology for basic infrastructure is a right. There should be a differentiation between 'good to have' and 'must have's. Also destructive innovations for money is a mess. The reasons why most engineers are focusing on things other than environmental problems indicate our priority.

2) Humane bonding over technology - Interact with people directly when possible. Look at someone's eyes when you are visiting them , not your smartphone screens. Your instagram or facebook accounts are not real you. It can be a reflection of some moments but best moments in life can not be captured in frames.

3) Realization that technology can not bring happiness - Your passion or hobby does, use technology as a tool not your source of happiness. That video call to home can only bring happiness because of your emotional bonding not because of the phone itself.

4) Balance the use of technical devices to keep sanity. Catch the vibes of nature around you. Your creativity can flow without all the apps. Think about the usage of calculator. It should not be your reason to use one while multiplying 4 by 3. 

5) to prioritize own Health over this obsession - this needs no explanation. Google the problems of sleep and how recent devices affect your eyes and other health components.

6) To prioritize earth/ mother nature over this obsession - We are choking earth but technologists are not talking about that. Some world leaders are even avoiding that question. Bangalore is a good example where a city with 2M+ engineers made a mess of nature around them to fill more engineers in the city.

7) People over business - Just because we have technology-  do not forget people. In a people driven business, they are considered as human beings. For a money driven business, they are mere resources and world will collapse sooner than you think. I am extremely sad how automation is being used in most of the world.

Technology helped us build new things, solve problems that we never thought we can solve but it also created new problems and many recipes of  a stressful life.

If every problem can be solved with technology, then we would not have such problems with plastic, problems with fake news, problems of unhappiness even with everything, problems with providing basic necessities to half the population of earth. Most problems can be solved with a creative mind, conscience, love for nature and humanity....Technological advances can give us an extra hand.

Finally it comes down to the us - the users. It is a responsibility too not just privilege. The way we use our own innovations will decide the fate of humanity.

I will stop here....sorry for the serious tone and the long read!!

A free bird without access to technology (except the one to capture this photo) in that Spiti village taken by a fellow trekker