THE MOST HATED GADGET BY MOMS

Almost most of us can guess from the title what could possibly be the most hated gadget by mothers especially in the subcontinent. YES! You’ve got it right. It is a great invention known in otherwise world as SMARTPHONE. To the entire world, it is a useful device which allows you to connect to the world but to Pakistani mothers, it is a wicked toy. It is an evil spirit which keeps you awake, lets you not study, cause of your headache and what not. To this extent, they may be very right in their perceptions. Smartphones, on one hand have made our lives easier and interconnected. Their creation has revolutionized the world. The once very vast globe has turned to a global village where people are connected to each other as much as possible. It has diminished distances but on the other hand, it has put us into chains. It can be visualized as a modern way of imprisonment. And this imprisonment is not merely physical but also psychological. People can usually be noted as chained to electric sockets via charging cables. Siblings fight over the bed near to charging spot.  According to a new research conducted by British psychologists, young adults spend twice the time on their phones as much they estimate. Smartphones have psychologically caged us. One would sacrifice their family dinner for the sake of uploading stories on the internet. We connect to the entire virtual world at the expense of our real friends and family.
Anyhow, turning to the Pakistani mothers’ viewpoint, smartphone is the source of all misfortunes. If your stomach has gone upset, this must be the act of your smartphone. If you have caught flu, your smartphone will be blamed for it. From tiniest problem like itching on your pimple to a huge political shift like mujhe kyun nikala? (Why was I displaced?), smartphone is to be held responsible. Imagine a political leader’s mother saying to him that the reason for losing his seat in NA is his smartphone. Well, it could be if one sends dirty messages to their colleagues.
The only possible solution, according to mothers, to eradicate the problems of life is to put this smart gadget of Satan on fire. Most of us hear this phrase at least few times a day yet we are a consistent and prudent bunch of people who would never imagine of wasting our parents’ money by burning our precious. While saying this, the other side of the coin must not be ignored. No gadget is evil, it is how we use it. Human notions and usage give meaning to things and this is what we have been doing wrong. Instead of using smartphones as a tool of technology and communication, we have turned them into oxygen cylinders.