Saturday, December 12, 2009

Mobile Phone Mania



My friend SAJ Shirazi is not happy the way I write. He says my blogs are too serious and “people” generally don’t read the stuff I write. So I sat back to find a subject that should interest the majority. Clueless from where to begin, I started surfing through my photo library to find a new topic - and suddenly the photo above ( that I shot while traveling in train ) struck me – “Mobile Phones” since everyone is after this small device day and night – whether on foot, bicycle, motorcycle, car or a truck, busy in digging into it as if oil will finally be discovered from within this magic thing.

I often see people talking for hours on this device as if no bills are to follow. Once I was sitting in the airport lounge and the Young man sitting next to me spoke with someone for good about 45 minutes and I could tell that in those 45 minutes, there wasn’t a single thing that merited such a long call. A recent survey shows that most of the users are from low income group, who spend a sizeable portion of their earnings on mobile phone cards.

Then I thought, that there must be something interesting in possessing this magical device, so I also bought one (courtesy my son who has all the knowledge about it). But buying the mobile wasn’t easy as my son (and my mentor on mobile technology) asked me hundreds of questions, most of which I did not understand. For instance which OS should the mobile possess – Windows based or Symbian technology.  Now how would an aging man know what’s the difference between the two. Then should it be 2G or 3G? GPS or WiFi or WLAN? And then as enough wasn’t enough. The next question was its memory status, choice of colours, screen size, conformity with MP3/MP4 and God knows how many formats. And not finally, what about the video capture and camera? And yet another: should it be touch screen or keypad operative.

Well this shows the amount of technology that has poured into our younger generation and how much digital have they become. So while I struggle to handle my new mobile phone, technology keeps on adding new features into these tiny yet very effective devices. And this just reminds me that how dependent we have actually become on our mobile phones as we no longer need to remember phone numbers of our near and dear ones by heart ( as we did in good old days when few people had phone and so was it easy to remember their numbers). Now even my Meat/Beef seller tells me to phone him before going to his shop, and so does my plumber, sweeper, vegetable shop wala and others ask me to get information about their whereabouts before looking for them.

More so, the mobile phone also has a camera, so no need to carry an additional load when attending marriages, conferences or going on vacation. It also acts as my timepiece to wake me up in the morning, serve as a calculator, or as a currency converter. And one last thing: I can send the SMS to anyone I feel like (on my phone list) and tell him anything I LIKE (whether he likes it or not – after all these are times of Freedom of Speech). 

So I enjoy its usefulness and nuisance fully now – I am digital too.

1 comments:

S A J Shirazi said...

Jalal HB: You write much better. As a matter of fact what you wrote (Can One Wait) is what we need. Life will go tough without such reminders.

What I suggested was that you should loosen your self a bit. We need mentors but don't be a mentor all the time. What I am suggesting now is that you mix your valuable assertions with topics of human interests. And I am sure you know what are human interests today.

I have been writing on this subject in past. Here are two of my posts for your reading pleasure.


And did I tell you that I enjoy reading what you write. Keep it up.

Have a look at the following links...

http://www.quasifictionalviews.blogspot.com/2009/06/sms-me.html

http://www.quasifictionalviews.blogspot.com/2009/06/mobiles-mania.html