Sometimes we usually end up sitting together as a family though
it’s usually rare. But on the few incidents that we get together, I have
noticed one thing, most of my siblings and my peeps are usually on the phone.
My dad is either calling some dude in the rural areas, my mum- apparently she
is on whatsapp – either chatting, my sisters are also either
chatting or taking selfies and my younger brother hooked up on the computer
playing games or he is on Facebook doing his thing.
Our family meetings are rarely about bonding. Though we live
worlds apart, we are able to meet once a month. Those are the times when we
should share stories, reminisce the good old days, remind our mum how she used
to flog the hell out of us and equally surprise us by buying us new clothes
each Christmas. But since times have flown away fast, I can’t believe that my
mum has become the best of friends with one of my sister. Someone they never
saw eye to eye. Times do change and the unbelievable does metamorphose into
what would never be thought would exist.
I remember watching a reality show in which a family was forced to
do without all the gadgets in their house. The family lived in America and
there was a price of some few thousand dollars for staying without the
technology gadgets which included; mobile phones, iPods, television, computers
and any electronic device. The first day was tough for the family, the daughter
cried all night and the son locked himself in his room as the mum and dad
looked at each other as if they were strangers. The second day the escalating
tension in the family reduced. On the third day they were able to do something
together as a family. They realized that there was much they could learn about
each other. That continued till the time they got their gadgets back. Upon
receipt of the gadgets, life went back to normal; they all reverted back to
their earlier ways.
I am also a slave. I can’t do without my phone. Like everyone I
can’t leave my phone unattended. Sometimes back I became addicted to twitter.
It was so addictive to a point I found myself tweeting even when meals were
served and hence someone had to remind me that I needed to eat. One of my
siblings was also a slave of chatting. She used to chart extensively to a point
where she became a nuisance. She became a recluse and a snob. You couldn’t tell
her anything. The digital world was however making her happy.
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In as much as mobile phones have been of great help, they have
also been a big setback. Sometime you hear a person blatantly lying without
regard of the fact that it is a communicable disease. I became used to that
trend of lying on the phone till one of my aunts caught me red handed. I vowed
never to lie. It was embarrassing and belittling.
The notion that phones only corrupt family members is also
manifested among friends. I had a friend who was virtually hooked to his phone
that whenever he was using it, he forgot that there was also a real world. You
could only see him giggling and laughing uncontrollably when something did
fascinate. It was frustrating especially when you were conversing and the chap
with no due regard would be busy chatting.
Phones and computers betray and destroy the tenets of socializing.
That could be the reason why most indoor house parties have adopted the no
phone policy. The host takes the prerogative of safe keeping the phones and
upon exit; one receives his/her phone back. At least those who are alien to
each other can easily mingle freely after partaking some few shots of ale.
Hitherto parties were a show of might, those with the latest high end gizmos
would be using them to take videos, chat or just floss that they had something
one would envy. Those with humble gadgets would conceal their devices in order
not to appear out of touch or inferior.
