Brave new world

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><span style="" font-style:="" italic="">Gadgets and gizmos actually meant to help us keep in touch, may only isolate us further</span><br /><br />The Mehtas have a cool arrangement. When Mrs Mehta watches the K soaps on television in her living room, her husband watches cricket on TV in the bedroom, while her daughter chats with her friends on the Internet.No conflicts, no arguments about which channel to watch, no discussion about the programme they are viewing. The picture of a happy family. Good? <br /><br />Bad. "Technology... the knack of so arranging the world that we don''t have to experience it," said Swiss novelist Max Frisch. For ages, technology has been blamed for the disintegration of human relationships. And even as we are taking bigger technological leaps, the threat to human interaction is growing, say psychologists. City psychologists believe that technology has become a source of conflict in families today. <br /><br />Says Veena Matthew, a banking executive, "Sometimes my husband is so engrossed in playing games on his mobile phone that he doesn''t pay attention to what our son is saying. It''s a frequent cause of argument." <br /><br />College student Alok Patel thinks technology is cool. "I can chat with all my friends in the US and even make new friends," he enthuses. Of course, Alok''s mother does frequently complain that Alok doesn''t spend time with her. <br /><br />"We are losing touch with each other. Typewritten content can''t express human emotions," suggests counselling psychologist Brinda Jaisingh. <br /><br />Phone calls may have replaced personal greetings for festivals and now smses may have replaced phone calls. People prefer video conferencing to actual meetings. Psychologists fear that gadgets and gizmos actually meant to help us keep in touch, only isolate us further. <br /><br />Says Jaisingh, "Technology aids couples to be more secretive these days. Spouses often become suspicious because they don''t know what their partners are upto. Parents are suspicious because they don''t know how to control what their kids are watching on TV or Net. Couples don''t communicate properly. They live under the same roof but there''s no sharing. They should take more effort to break these barriers. Otherwise this isolation can lead to a lot of resentment, rejection." </div> </div>