Government has announced the auction of 5G spectrum to be held in 2019 and India is going to be a 5G country by 2020. Around 2-20Gbps internet speed is being estimated through this.
Digital and information revolution will be at its peak and communication technology will connect every corner of the country. Telemedicine, Tele education and easy access to governance will improve social indicators. Reading books will be more cheap, attending any professional course will be easy. Now a person will pursue his/her hobbies or interests very easily while sitting in a remote village. one can follow any of his/her passions like entrepreneurship from online expert advice. Knowing the whole world and every society will be easy. We can get in touch with anyone in minutes and get counselling, underprivileged sections of society will get empowered. The economy will get a boost. Isn’t it great news? I think, yes.
It is very strange that despite the arrival of 2G, 3G, 4G, and upcoming 5G technologies, we are still not aware of anything in our country let alone the world. We still vote without knowing anything. People defecate in open even after knowing its consequences through PM’s speech on the smartphone. People have still traditional mindset though, they are installing a new app every day on their phone. We still have not connected to the world and its experiences. We still don’t know about the great personalities of the world and take inspiration from them.
Use of social media is limited mostly to gossiping, self-promotion, telling others about our quality life and show off about everything. Most of the time, we are worried about the number of “likes” on our posts. Imagine, the quality time of our valuable life is being used only in these things. This is applicable to all age groups including our parents.
Let’s ask a question to ourselves. Are we all using our internet and other digital technologies at its optimum level for our benefits? Are we aware of happenings around the world? Are we learning something valuable sitting at our home which could not be possible earlier? Are we using our time more productively than earlier? Can we use this information revolution in a more positive way?
I think instead of benefitting, a certain section of people are being harmed more with such technologies. Our daily life has become a mess. Our valuable time has been taken away by unnecessary things. We have become more separated from our society than coming closer. Mental disorders are common nowadays among young ones. Deaths due to games like PUBG, blue whale are not new. Life has become like a robot which does not know its real purpose. I am not stereotyping this thing with everyone and talking only about the general trend. I am not against any of our above-mentioned activities online but only if they are in the limit.
I am not going to say anything about how we should use our future 5G smartphone. It’s all up to you. But think once, can we make more meaningful and progressive use of it and make ourselves and the whole world more developed and smart?