It is never late to start learning

An old lady of my acquaintance had a strange wish, when she had just turned ninety. She actually requested a young man, whom she had known for a few years, to teach her how to operate a PC, which she had just purchased along with an internet connection. Everyone was just amazed at her enthusiasm to learn something new at this age.

I have seen many people in their sixties and seventies, who refuse to touch not only a computer but also its modern avatar; a smartphone. Their logic is that they are too old to learn something new. I am sorry! Folks, I do not accept this argument at all. In fact, according to me, sixties and seventies is perhaps the best age to start learning something new, which you have never been able to do before. One of my friends has just turned eighty. Last year his son presented him with an android phone. He had never before even heard of things like Wi Fi and 3G. He checked up with friends and then got a wireless router installed in his house, took a 3G data plan and made his smart phone fully functional. He now uses WhatsApp, checks news, listens to music on his phone.

Learning something new, does not mean operating new gadgets or acquire new skills only. It essentially requires the person to keep his/her mind open to receive new things. My wife is an vociferous reader. She usually finishes a book in a day. To keep her insatiable hunger for books, she has joined a library and keeps borrowing books by making trips there almost on every alternate day. She does not like fiction at all and never reads any. Her favourites are biographies, autobiographies, essays and general reading. Having a good memory, she quotes many times during conversations, anecdotes from books, which she has learned. Other day I was quite surprised to see her taking notes from a book directly on her iPad. I asked her, why does she want to take notes? To which, her reply was that she wants to have access in future to something that she has read and liked, the book will be gone tomorrow because she would be returning it to the library and she would then be left only with her memory. This is the real urge to learn something new. There is no motive or planned achievement behind it. She is not appearing for any examination, nor is she preparing for any lecture. This is simply the quest for knowledge.

Even twenty or thirty years ago, trying to learn something new, was quite tough. In the year,2000, I thought of learning astronomy. I went around all the major bookshops in my home town Pune, which once was considered as seat of learning and even today there are scores of colleges and a university campus. Believe me or not! Only book I found was a thin paper back about star gazing. Compare this with situation today! Just type 'Astronomy' on search bar of your computer, tablet or even browser window of your smart phone. The friendly Google will respond with hundreds of thousands of web sites, offering every bit of information that mankind has acquired so far. Learning has been never so easy.

Unfortunately, the problem is that not many of us want to make use of this mighty river of information flowing through our backyards. I would not much blame the young people as their minds are pre- occupied with studies or careers and they simply may not have inclination or time for learning something radically new. The real learning opportunities are for those, who have just retired and have free time on their hands.

I can narrate my own experience here. I had opted for a technical stream during my high school years. This meant that I had never done any courses in history and geography. After retirement, I found that I was actually quite interested in these and also related fields like Archeology, Anthropology and Genealogy. I find it highly enjoyable even today to learn something new in these fields and I eagerly look for any new leads anywhere, which can take me to new stories. The readers, must have noticed this from number of blogposts that I have written on these subjects.

During active life, many find it difficult to travel. Today, you observe any group that is travelling, you would notice that majority are senior citizens. It is an excellent idea. There is no better way of learning than travel. Whatever little knowledge I have acquired about Buddhism,it is only through my travels to Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh in India. Very few countries of the world can have as much variety as we in India have. From the huge marshlands of Kutch and great sand deserts of Rajsthan at one end of spectrum, we have staggering and dizzying heights of the great Himalayas as well as balmy sea coasts at the other. For anyone interested in history, the sky is the limit as 5000 years of history presents itself to a traveller with endless lists of historical sites and museums.

Similar is the case of writing. Many have a flair for it, yet find it difficult. Earlier, it was a very tough experience to get anything printed, written by a novice. Internet has changed all that. Blogging is one such field, which can be tried by anyone who is interested in writing. In addition, nothing can be as simple as publishing on the net, what one has written.

I have many times observed that it is the ladies from the senior citizen age, who are more eager to learn newer skills than their counterparts, whom I find very unwilling to learn something new. They appear to be contented with what they have learned and achieved and are stubbornly lethargic and keep on doggedly resisting to try out something new. Only thing, I can say is that the loss is entirely theirs. It is never too late to start learning something new.

25^th March 2015

Playing with fire

(photo dna)

If there is one thing that I am mortally scared off, it is the time,when I am sitting on the passenger seat in a car and the driver starts talking on his mobile phone. As long as the conversation goes on, I keep looking halfheartedly around, expecting the car to knock off someone or crash against a pillar or a tree. Just imagine my plight, when the driver, instead of talking now starts actually texting a SMS or a message on Whatsapp. Probably it is unbelievable but its true! People do try to text messages while driving. Earlier, what the drivers could do at most was to smoke while driving, but now they smoke and also talk on mobiles.

With the advent of smartphones, the dare devils now have more new challenges opened for them. They can see photos, even watch videos, while driving. They can, while driving, take photos or video shoots and send them instantly to their friends. In my home town Pune, two wheeler riders commonly talk on mobiles while riding. The sight is so bewitching that it is worth clicking. The mobile phone is pressed against the ear by tilting the neck and held between the neck and the shoulder. With an eye on the traffic ahead, the conversation goes on merrily. The rider probably does not feel anything, but the bystanders have the same feeling that they would have while watching a particularly tough and breath taking act on trapeze. Even the ladies do it routinely, even discussing new recipes and other domestic problems with friends.

A couple of years back, smartphones came up with another facility to users; that of taking a “Selfie” or a self portrait. The idea of taking your own portrait, no doubt bit narcissistic, just caught on like wild fire. From pop stars to politicians no one could resist the lure of this self portrait. Oxford Dictionaries even named the phrase as the word of the year. There have been many “selfies” that became famous for variety of reasons. One of the most famous was the Pope posing with teenagers at the Vatican. There were many “selfies” that turned out to be controversial and were heavily criticized. One of that was the one taken of U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron by Denmark's Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt with US first lady looking with a grumpy face at Nelson Mandela's memorial. Another weird “Selfie” that became famous was that of actress Kim Kardashian clicking her own posterior. No doubt, car drivers now had another field opened to them; they could take their “Selfies” while driving.

There is no doubt that a “Selfie” could get you a good memento, when visiting a famous place such as Taj Mahal, but stretching a good thing to limits can make things turn sour very fast. On the morning of May 31^st 2014, wreckage of a Cessna 150K two seater aircraft was discovered in a wheat field near Denver USA. Investigators estimated that the plane piloted by 29 year old Amritpal Singh, had crashed shortly after midnight and the pilot as well as his passenger both were killed instantly. It was believed that Singh's plane was about 740 feet above the ground when it descended rapidly and had hit the ground.

The National Transportation Safety Board in US has published its accident investigation report this week, It says "It is likely that cellphone use during the accident flight distracted the pilot and contributed to the development of special disorientation and subsequent loss of control."

The aircraft had a camera mounted to the plane's windshield, to record everything that happened in the cabin. The camera unfortunately had no recording of that fateful night. Yet it has records of pilot Singh and several other passengers taking selfies on their cellphones during a series of short flights before the crash. Based on this, NTSB portrayed a pattern of the pilot taking selfies and possibly texting while giving rides to passengers above Front Range Airport, about 30 miles east of Denver. NTSB investigators also found out that Singh lacked certification for flying at night with instruments and for carrying passengers at night. In short, the NTSB verdict is that Singh was clicking selfies when he lost control of the plane which led to the crash.

Singh's fatal accident, highlights the dangers of using smart phones while in control of an aircraft. However similar logic really extends to even driving or riding four wheelers and two wheelers, where drivers total attention is required on the road. In India unfortunately, most of the people do not follow the traffic rules, creating extremely dangerous conditions on road for themselves and others. Smart phone use has just added another dangerous dimension to the dangers lurking on roads.

Using Smart Phones on roads for calls, texting, seeing photographs and now for Selfies, its like playing with fire.

6^th February 2015

Flying to UK-US; charge your smartphone- laptop batteries first!

My Toshiba laptop is two years old. The internal battery somehow has gone bad and I can not start the laptop unless I power it with AC mains supply first. I inquired about getting a replacement battery from Toshiba, but was told that laptop batteries are out of stock and they shall intimate to me, when the stock arrives. There is nothing that can be done so I have placed an order for a new battery with them and wait for the replacement battery to arrive. This however did not create any problems for me so far, while travelling by air, because no one cared, whether my laptop batteries are in working order or not while travelling and I have been able to carry my laptop along with me on number of flights with ease.

This is however not going to happen hence fourth. US authorities have announced recently that air travellers with smartphones or other electronic devices must be able to turn them on batteries to take them aboard an aircraft under new security measures. Security officers now may ask that owners power up some electronic devices including cellphones and laptops during the security examination.

Department of transport in UK has been more explicit. They say that they have issued new guidelines according to which any electronic device that has a flat battery will not be allowed on America-bound flights. The advisory says:

"Make sure electronic devices are charged before travel." and warn "If your device doesn't switch on, you won't be allowed to bring it onto the aircraft. All electronic devices are screened by security officers. During the security examination, officers may also ask owners to power up some devices, including phones. Powerless devices will not be permitted on board the aircraft. The traveller may also undergo additional screening."

The new guidelines make it mandatory for airport security staff to routinely test smart phones and computers for traces of explosives. This is certainly an additional hassle for air passengers, who face so many constraint as it is. At present, one can not carry any liquids including water while going through security checks. No jells, creams, pastes are allowed. Even the safety razor has to go inside the checked in baggage. These additional restrain adds to the difficulties, passengers are facing already. 

 

 Image source : Strait times

Why this sudden change? There appears to be a important and serious reason for that. As expected the reason is nothing but a new terror threat perception. Western intelligence services say that, based on real-time intelligence, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), the Yemen-based branch of the terror network founded by the late Osama bin Laden, is passing on sophisticated bomb-making expertise to militants fighting in Syria for use against Western targets - most prominently, passenger aircraft. Experts say that a 32-year-old Saudi citizen, Ibrahim al-Asiri, hiding out with AQAP in Yemen's restive southern provinces is believed to be behind the threat of a new generation of bombs. As a result hundreds of militants travelling from Europe to fight in the Middle East, could pose a security risk on their return. Most European passport-holders do not need a visa to travel to the US.

The security threat might be real but what this new generation of bomb making expertise has to do with the smartphones and the laptops- would be natural question that comes to the mind. US officials say that smartphones - especially iPhones and Samsung Galaxy handsets could be used as "stealth" bombs by Qaida terrorists, who have found a way to turn them into explosive devices and intend to use them on commercial flights. The batteries inside these devices take a large volume of space and perhaps this is where the explosives are hidden. So obviously if there is no battery in such devices they can never be powered up. This is perhaps the rationale behind this new security measure. If you can power your smartphone, obviously there is only a battery inside, isn't it?

I am quite sure that the new security measure would soon be followed up by all major airports around the world including India, creating more trouble for the travellers. Airlines may soon start advising passengers bound for US to report earlier so that they can undergo more stringent security measures. On personal level, I must follow up with Toshiba and try to get replacement battery for my laptop or give up any hopes of carrying it with me during next air travel. It is a tough life to be an air traveler.

9^th July 2014

Smartphone addiction

What is addiction? Wikipedia says that Addiction is the continued repetition of a behavior, despite adverse consequences, or a neurological impairment leading to such behaviors. Psychologists define it as a condition that results when a person ingests a substance (alcohol, cocaine, nicotine) or engages in an activity (gambling) that can be pleasurable but the continued use of which becomes compulsive and interferes with ordinary life responsibilities, such as work or relationships, or health. Users may not be aware that their behavior is out of control and causing problems for themselves and others.

Medicos describe addicts as those people, who have no control over what they are doing, taking or using. Their addiction may reach a point at which it is harmful. Addictions do not only include physical things we consume, such as drugs or alcohol, but may include virtually anything, such abstract things as gambling to seemingly harmless products, such as chocolates. In the good old days, there used to be alcohol or drug addicts and gamblers. Other forms of addiction must have been latently there, but rules of personal and social behaviour were so stringent that chances of addictions of most other types used to be fairly well controlled. Let me explain this! Let us first consider the personal behaviour aspect.

When I was a kid, most of the families around used to be large with a senior person as the head of the family. He controlled, how members of his family behaved. What were working and leisure hours? What kind of food or drink was consumed and when? What kind of attire was worn by the members and when? There were strict modes for behaviour; for example, not arguing with elders or raising your voice while talking to them. All this meant that individual members of a family just had to behave in a particular way; like a military camp to say. This no doubt suppressed individual aspirations and freedoms but kept strict control on behaviour of individuals.

Similarly, there were even stricter norms, for behaviour within a society. These norms again covered dressing, modes of behaviour, speaking and communication with others. Traditions paid a big part here too. All this meant that any person, who wanted to behave in a way, not in tune with prevalent social norms in the society, was ostracized and restricted.

All this started to change during last few decades. I do not want to go into the reasons for the social change, but as nuclear families emerged, so was the complete relaxation of earlier rigid norms of individual and social behaviour. With these profound changes in the individual and social behaviour, came in changes, in habits of the people. With the new habits, came newer forms of addictions too. Psychologists, health care professionals and even lay people now believe that any kind of psychological dependency, which may be caused by simple day-to-day human functions like work, exercise, sex, use of internet, etc. should also be counted as addictions. The reason for this assumption is that this dependency also can lead to feelings of guilt, shame, hopelessness, despair, failure, rejection, anxiety and/or humiliation. Technology also has helped this change in many ways. When I was in college, even listening to popular tunes or songs was something, that was difficult to do. In a family, if at all it had a device like radio, what programs are to be listened to was usually decided by the patriarch of the family, who almost always differed with what young generation preferred.

Telephone was one such contraption. When I was young, I used to be scared of even answering a call on a land line, leave aside making it. Call duration also was a great matter of concern. Old habits die hard. Even today, everyone complains that talking to me on telephone is a short affair as I just hang up the phone, once the message has been communicated; I can not help it. Making long conversations on phone is just not in my blood.

All this changed, when mobile phones first appeared. Initially they were very expensive and not many could afford the phones as well as the talk time. In India, after the liberalization of telephone network and appearance of private networks, changed all that. Today, almost every other Indian has a mobile phone and the talk time charges have really hit the bottom.

Availability of phones and liberalization of an individual from all the old world behavioural norms- social and within a family- has brought about stupendous changes in the manner in which people use phones today. It is common to see all adult members of a family talking independently on their phones, even when they are together in one room. At public performances, announcements have to made to audience to make them switch off their phones. People talk on their phone, while driving even when it is against the law. However, it turned out that the phone revolution was only just the beginning.

The things became even more complicated, when in the year 1997 Ericsson, a Swedish multinational telecommunications giant brought out a new phone called as GS 88 "Penelope" and called it as a Smart Phone. Early smart phones typically combined the features of a mobile phone with those of another popular consumer device, such as a personal digital assistant (PDA), a media player, a digital camera, or a GPS navigation unit. Modern smart phones obviously have all these features plus the features of a touchscreen computer, including web browsing, Wi-Fi, and 3rd-party apps.

Like any other contraption, wide spread use of smart phones is also bringing out changes in the behavioural pattern of the people, which can soon lead to addiction. What are the symptoms? Getting easily distracted, finding it impossible to deal with the idea of being separated from your smart phone, constantly checking the smart phone for no real reason, are some of the telltale signs. Such affected persons usually show symptoms like the inability to control craving, anxiety, when separated from a smart phone, loss in productivity in studies or at work, and the need to constantly check one’s phone. Such addicts can be easily detected as they always have their heads lowered and use their mobile devices constantly on the go, even while queuing or even crossing the roads. It was observed that a Taiwanese high-schooler could only sleep, when clutching her smart phone in case someone tried to call her. Singapore and Hong Kong have the highest smart phone penetration rates in Asia with 87 percent of Singapore’s 5.4 million population owning smart phones, much higher than 65 percent penetration rate in US. It is obvious that symptoms of smart phone addition are more predominant in Singapore. However even other Asian countries are no way behind with South Korea, China and Taiwan already having taken steps to tackle the issue.

A government survey in 2013, in South Korea, estimated that nearly 20 percent of teenagers were addicted to smart phones. China already has an estimated 300 Internet addiction centres, according to a report on state broadcaster CCTV’s website in February. It also cited a survey showing there may be more than 24 million young Chinese addicted to the Internet.

Perhaps things in India are not as bad mostly because not many young people can afford smart phones. However in the middle classes, as the affluence grows, we are likely to face similar problems. Already we can see many affluent ladies and men all the time with their phones.

Smart phone addiction problem is no way different than any other form of addiction. We would need more counseling centers for the affected people, just as what China as done. Any form of addiction is equally bad as it ruins the mental and physical health of the addict. Smart phone or digital addiction is no exception.

16^th June 2014

Take a break please. Be gadget free!

Since last several decades, three to be exact, I have been meeting a group of friends over a cup of coffee, every morning at a popular joint in my home town Pune, whenever I am in town. Things have changed over these years. My old group of friends is almost disbanded. Some have grown too old and are no longer able to make it there every morning. A long time friend is no more. Yet I continue with my routine as I have found new friends, who are much younger to me, but apparently can tolerate me for that half or three quarters of an hour, when we chat over a cup of tea. (I no longer drink coffee and have since changed over to tea.)

Though our discussions, on any subject under the sun, over that cup of tea, have remained equally engrossing, ardent and intense as before, yet another definitive change has come over. Earlier, when we left our respective places of business to enjoy company of friends for next hour, we left our business worries back at the office and would spend next hour or so in the company of friends with a tension free mind. Now, it is no longer that simple, each and everyone except me, carries a mobile smart phone in his pocket and even when we sit in the coffee shop, most of the time my friends keep watching that gadget for incoming calls or e-mails. I do not do so because, firstly I do not have a smart phone and secondly no one really calls me. There are occasions when everyone in our group, except me, can be seen talking or writing replies to mails on the phone. I would be only person in the group just sitting idle and watch the friends so engrossed with their phones.

Same thing happens these days, even when I meet my relatives in their homes. Their mobile phones keep ringing all the time and disrupt any talk, we may have. I often wonder, how did I manage to do business during my working years without a mobile phone. A couple of years ago, I made a short trip to New Delhi along with my friends. Throughout this trip, my friends kept talking to their offices in Pune and helped people back home solve day to day problems in the office. I remembered that I also used to make quite a bit of business travel, but since there were no mobile phones, I was never burdened with attending my Pune office local problems and situations.

I am not against mobile devices at all. I often admire and wonder, the changes and speed, they have brought to our daily lives. Yet I feel that we are being over burdened with more and more technology, all the time. We are now totally addicted to our gadgets. The question is do we continue like this or is their a solution to de-addict ourselves.

An informal group has been formed (again over internet) that calls itself as Technologists Anonymous. Interestingly, some of Silicon Valley guys, who in the first place, build the technologies, we are addicted to, are trying to join this group to wean themselves from this 24-hour technology diet. But how do we do it? Silicon valley addicts suggest few ways.

Set up gadget-free zones in your home, maybe the bedroom or kitchen table, or both. In those settings, make it a strict rule that there are no smart phones, tablets or laptops allowed. Do not rely on smart phones and laptops for listening to music, taking photos or jotting down notes. Switch your gadget to “airplane mode,” which turns off the wireless data connections, when you need a break. That way your device can be still used for capturing and creating information, but you won’t be prodded by texts, tweets or e-mails. If you feel that you must remain connected at least turn off all the notifications on your phone, including Facebook, Twitter and text messages, so you’re not constantly disturbed. You can still receive your phone calls..

Pinterest is one of the successful social media platform. Its founder Evan Sharp, and his wife have found a way out. They go on long drives together until their cell signal drops out. Many drive on weekends to a place that has no cell coverage and go there for a drive and a stroll. For Indians, this solution may not work, because firstly, very few of us can afford the luxury of a long drive every weekend and to find such spots, you may need to travel to remote places away from highways. 
 

The best way to break the habit, according to me is to use your willpower. Treat your smart phone or a laptop as a tool or a communicating device, which should be used at your own sweet discretion at the time and places you decide to use them. Ideally there should be no need to run away or reject them to be free of them.

Meanwhile, I can only hope vainly that my coffee friends would see the light and we can go back to the days, when we had those wonderful uninterrupted and intense discussions over a cup of coffee.

p.s. While writing this, I took a small break and checked what everyone else in the house is doing. They all are either looking at laptop or their smart phones. Do you get me?

23 May 2013

Need for parental controls

A curious case of an young Indian boy from New Delhi, has been reported by Singapore news paper, Strait times. This young boy, just 13 years old, is studying at the Global Indian International School in Queenstown, Singapore.

This boy, perhaps peeved and frustrated due to some pressures from unknown reasons, vented out his ire and frustration by writing a 4 line message on facebook, which said that the day he leaves Singapore, he is going to take “a big big revenge,” “spit everywhere” and “plant bombs on Marina Bay Sands.” The four-line post also contained an expletive and was critical of Singapore.

An Internet user who saw it, immediately made a police report last week and the police took prompt action by arresting this 13 year child for allegedly making an online threat to bomb Marina Bay Sands. Global Indian International School also lost no time and suspended the boy from the school and says that it was in touch with his father “to offer advice” pending the result of the police investigation and adds that it has set up an internal review committee to investigate further and to reinforce its online and offline codes of conduct. Meanwhile facebook profile of the boy has been taken down and he has been released on bail.

According to Singapore laws a person found guilty of falsely threatening terrorist acts can face being fined up to $100,000, jailed for up to five years, or both. A criminal lawyer from Singapore says that people, who carry out bomb hoaxes are often referred for a mental examination and adds that this case was “unique” as most juvenile offenses involve crimes such as theft.

It would be easy to put the blame of this incident on facebook. However facebook stipulates that a person above age of 13 can open a facebook account and since this boy meets that condition, facebook is pretty much in the clear here. Whether age limit of 13 proscribed by facebook as an age limit, is good enough age to allow children its use or not, is a different issue of of debate, with which I am not concerned here.

I have highlighted this case here to point out the potential hazards of allowing, uncontrolled free use of modern gadgets and internet to children and preteens, by their parents. Anyone who has raised children, would vouch for the unstable temperability of the preteens, particularly boys. They are highly emotional and have a feeling of injustice being done to them all the time. I have seen many present day parents gifting internet connected devices such as smart phones or tablets to their preteen children without any form of parental control. It is like giving a sharp edged instrument in the hands of an untrained, where most likely result would be a self inflicted wound. There is no wonder that unfortunate cases like the one I mentioned above, happen. Such an happening can ruin the life of the boy as well as the parents.

A generation back, most of the parents, particularly mothers, used to watch their preteen boys and girls all the time. Who are the friends? What kind language they speak? How they dress? Hundred things like this. Even though, this parental caution still exists in most other fields, somehow, whenever any demands come from preteens regarding modern electronic gadgets, parents usually oblige without thinking much about the potential hazards. According to me, this generosity on the part of parents, may turn into a danger trap as seen in the above example.

The case of this Singapore lad, could be considered as a warning for today's parents and greater need to exercise full parental control on preteen children till they grow up. Once the kids start understanding consequences of their own actions, they are free to face the world on their own terms.

4 January 2012