I was standing at a red signal the other day and happened to look around at a few cars alongside me as well as some two wheelers. Almost all of them whipped out their cell phone the moment they came to a halt.
It suddenly struck me that all of these people must have something really important to do on their phones. So much so, that even a 80 sec signal stop compelled them to bring it out and start scrolling through stuff.
While I was thinking this, I also realised that the only reason I could think of this is that I was at the signal and not actively doing anything. This made sense. My brain could afford to think only because I had nothing to think about (!?!)
This post was literally born in those 80 seconds. I thought of all our lives, how we end up as slaves to the ecosystem around us. How many of us have done the same I wondered? Searching for answers in my closed cranial ecosystem, I began to recall all the times when I had people around me who stared into their phones, not because of some work, but simply because there was nothing to do but wait!
Consider this a social experiment and if you could humour me with some honesty, I'd like to ask the following of you:
Remember how we used to stand at our windows or balconies (those that haven't been taken in) and stare out and think of the day?
Our commute use to be time to reflect on the day and plan our work for the remainder of the day or the next day, was it not?
Would you ever just sit at the window of the bus and look out and imagine what was going on in the lives of the passers-by?
Had you ever woken up in the morning and given yourself 10 mins to just lay there and think?
Remember walking on your own with your 'thoughts' and not with your 'phone'?
Ever sat alone in a cafe or tapri sipping on chai/coffee just to think?
Almost all these scenarios have been replaced with the cell screen taking the part of the thinker!
Is it even surprising that the generation today can't think of keeping their minds idle for even a minute lest the horror of thought enter! They are onto the phone screen in an instant.
What evil is this? How much content can we even consume? How is it not boring anymore?
At the end of the 70th second on the signal timer, I had an evil thought of my own - I should make a note of this on the phone so I don't forget it. Then I admonished myself and forced myself to commit it to memory. I returned to my work place and promptly forgot about it while working and getting on the internet for calls and work!
Then a radical thought hit me about two paragraphs before this. Perhaps, its time we had a period in school for 20 minutes where the kids are just told to do nothing. No input to the brain, only output allowed. No putting your head down and taking a nap. Just sit there and think!
Shudder the thought!
