With the growth in technolo­gy, people seem to have fallen under the influence of technology. There are a number of reasons why technology is an obsession for man. As it is increasingly becoming clear that technology has become a won­derful source of entertainment, a tool to access things quite easily, a way of staying together with the rise in com­munication networks, we seem to have created a lot of gaps in all walks of individual and national life.

For example, over dependence on technology is reflected in everyday affairs. There are numerous social websites and apps like Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, and Skype that turn out to be our sources of communication and interactions. Though increased communication through these tools has connect­ed us, they have dealt a fatal blow to social interactions and gather­ings. As it goes without saying: “A Day will come when technology will surpass human interactions and it will produce a generation of idiots.” It stands quite true in current times. People have been connected only to disconnect from one another.

We know that technology has broadened vast avenues of knowl­edge; meanwhile, we are igno­rant of the fact that a proliferation in knowledge by easily accessible tools of technology does not stand us in good stead as expected. The simple fact is that it is a two-edged sword that has not only benefited mankind in numerous ways but at the same time, it is also responsible for horrible repercussions spawned by the growth in technology.

The implications generated by technology are manifold; some are positive, and some are negative. For example, our obsession with tech­nology has resulted in a plethora of mental disorders, stress, and in­creased anxiety and a growing num­ber of suicide cases across the world. In the past, as the words of Charles Dickens go, “It was the best of times”, when there was no such advance­ment in technological growth as it is now, people were well connected, and their social interactions proved very fruitful for a healthy life. How­ever, the current times as fallen un­der the influence of technology bear a resemblance to the same writer that “it is the worst of times”. It is re­ported that due to people’s overde­pendence on technology, people are under the spell of technology which leads them to commit suicides. It proves to be a dark cloud hovering over our lives on a daily basis.

Adding more to it, technology leaves no stone unturned to attack our privacy through the emergence of cyber attacking. Even if we are optimistic about the benefits that it offers to us, yet the undeniable fact is that technology peeps into our private lives and creates adverse effects for human lives. It is the in­strument used to threaten national security as it is used for propagan­da and disinformation at various levels. Countries are engaged in a ruthless quest for power over other countries by means of technology. For example, China and the US have been competing with each other in the realm of this field, since this is now the main criterion to deter­mine the success of nations on the international scene. Hence, they re­sort to various means to tarnish the image of rivals by propaganda and disinformation. As a result, it leads to economic losses with the loss of foreign investors’ trust.

On the other side of the coin, technology has positive aspects too. With the coming of it, our lives have been reshaped by the vast av­enues of knowledge that it has pro­vided for us. It also transformed the fate of countries by its influ­ence on socio-economic and polit­ical development. Therefore, it is not wrong to say that our overde­pendence on technology has both advantages and disadvantages.

Yet, progress is only possible when we depend on it for useful purpos­es. For that purpose, change of mind is the first step in the right direction. As Bernard Shaw once wrote: “Prog­ress is impossible without change. Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”

ABDUL QADEER SEELRO,

Larkana.