LOOK UP!

That must have been the life! Life was beautiful. Life was beautiful when a paper made airplane flies high then the other flying insects. Time is a funny thing. It has this way of wearing down memories until they are like the soft edges of an old photograph — I can still see us on that cloudy gray morning, laughing at nothing at all, but the image no longer cuts into me the way it once did. When we were child, we would never be at home. In those days we spent our leisure playing dandi biyo, kabaddi, chungi, guccha, baghchal. We would be out with our friends chasing after dragon flies and dandelions in a field of endless flowers, with joyous abandonment. We would be on our bicycles we would roam. We would build our own house, high up the trees. We used to be waiting eagerly for Saturday to come so that we could spend it on some parks and garden. Now the parks are so quiet, it is hard to see children outside, not even once in blue moon. There is no skipping, hopscotch, and marbles. The lively moments are captured inside a room when we open our computers and it’s our door of enjoyment with nature’s pleas we shut. We aren't experiencing life. We're losing moments with every tap. It's cheating, really. We may be physically present with our friends and loved ones but we're texting someone else... or checking a sports score... or tweeting... or reading.

It seems like on a day to day basis, we see human beings glued to their cells phones when they could be interacting with other humans. Hand in hand with the increase of a mobile phone’s technical functions, the mobile phone’s social and psychological functions also changed. Today, people have their mobile phones with them at all times and use them to organise and manage every moment of their lives, from work (using functions like the calendar, alarm clock, address book and clock) to free time (using the games, camera and video camera). A recent Internet trends reports by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers suggested that the average person checks their smart phone 150 times a day. We text and Snap chat and Kik our friends. We Instagram what we eat and post where we are on Facebook -- and that's all before lunch. We’re so deep in it ourselves that our cell phone sits right next to our pillow in bed. We begin to get tinges of anxiety when our phone hits the dreaded 20 percent battery level. That little red icon on the upper right of a screen is our sworn enemy. This black hole of endless, unimportant streams of technology-enabled information is devouring everyone living in the 21st century. You are wandering down a busy thoroughfare, when your eyes fall upon people hovering around. They pull out their phone and start swiping a finger. I've noticed this lately. Generally, if someone is talking to another person stood next to them, it's at the average level of sound, yet as soon as their mobile goes off, they're into shouting mode and letting everyone know what the conversation is about? We’ve been noticing a trend more and more within our circle of friends and within our generation as a whole: We can't seem to get by without some sort of interaction with our phone. You are out to dinner with a friend, who leaves his phone on the table, face up, constantly checking it while you're eating. You began wondering if you are completely boring or if he was expecting a text from the Pope. Another friend couldn't watch a movie at home without checking his phone every 15 minutes or so. At concerts, we're seeing the concert through the lens of the camera app rather than experiencing it as it was meant to be experienced. We have friends whose faces we haven't seen in years because they're always looking down at their phone -- but we know the top of their head very well.

Relationships today are contaminated by technology. First of all, technology has changed the way we categorize each other. Different factors determine whether someone is considered a friend or foe. Do they follow you on Twitter? Did he comment the heart eye emoji on your selfie? Now, we have preconceived ideas about each other that can be made without actually even seeing each other in person. By putting people in these tightly-locked boxes, we are dumping each other down from actual human beings into remarks of 140 characters or less. We are reducing each other to statuses and numbers.

We now have the world at our fingertips whenever we want and wherever we might find ourselves. When we step away from the device of fantasy we awaken to see world of confusion. A world where’re slaves to the technology, is full of self-interest, self-image, self-promotion where we share all our best bits but leave out the emotions. We have many friends on social networking sites yet we are alone.  We live in a world where we continue to find ways to make it easier for us to connect with one another, but that result in us spending more time alone. As cell phones have become prevalent in modern society, some people have a significant issue with not being able to disengage from their cell phone. If the trend continues, young people will soon be incapable of forming and maintaining relationships without the help of a mobile. These are making it too easy to be anti-social and lazy! Mobile devices make us “socially isolated” because we no longer need to have face-to-face interactions, or even voice-to-voice. After all, when you can unload your chores with the swipe of a finger, it makes picking up the phone seem like hard work! People, yeah not how they were before the advent of smart phones. Nor the way they live up the moment as before. Of course, their ears are deaf to nature's pleas nowadays. The things they miss because you don't live in the moment. So look up from your phone, shut down the display and enjoy enticing warmth of the sun and delicate breeze around outside. Take in your surrounding and make the most of today.

We can live a happier and more compassionate world if we tune into ourselves and the people we are speaking with. The goal of mindfulness is to be in the moment, when you're doing something. Instead of letting your mind ruminates or compulsively checks your cell phone. Work on training your focus on what you're doing -- if you're eating just eat, try to taste everything. You will find the significance in things and recognize it; because that's something many people fail to do -- by falling into the technology trap. Escape the black hole of technology, because when you do....you feel free.

We challenge you to try this: Put down the phone. Put down the iPad. Be present and be in the moment for just one day. Enjoy the conversation of those that are physically with you -- those who have chosen to take time out of their lives and spend it with you. Watch an entire movie without checking your phone. Have a full conversation without glancing at a screen. Disconnect for just a moment. Dear readers, just look up. I’m up for the challenge...are you?