Roger Harty: Android Phones / Android People

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IF I am to be totally honest, I must admit that I was never a huge fan of science fiction. Perhaps this was for one of two reasons.

a) I thought that the whole notion was too far-fetched or

b) that it was a little too close to the bone and depicted what mankind would become and I was innately a little uncomfortable with this.

Unfortunately I now believe the latter to be correct. We are all familiar with the slogan ‘You are what you eat’!

Well I would like to add another slogan to that list – ‘You become what you watch’ (interact with!)

We can readily see in modern society how many people are constantly on their phones or playing computer games. Yes that is the way that it is and I, or anybody else, am powerless to change it but I can still ask the question;

‘What effect will this constant occupation with computers have on the human body and on our society in general for that matter?’

You don’t need a qualification to answer this and your answer and my answer is as good as anybody else’s, because these type of devices have only been with us for a relatively short period of time – less than 30 years so the long term effects are still unknown.

My guess is that the effects are not good and what I am also suggesting is that by the time we discover this fact, it will be too late to reverse.

I believe that the constant barrage of computers in our lives dehumanises us i.e. it removes feelings and emotions from our way of communicating.

These computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones etc are inanimate objects i.e. they are made from plastic, glass and electronics and are devoid of any type of emotion or feelings.

Surely it makes sense then that if we are in constant interaction with said same objects it in turn can have a similar effect on us – make us humans devoid of emotion or feelings.

We have already seen this happen in society. In the modern banking world we are no longer dealing with human beings on a regular basis but we are interacting with computers. We have a pin number and that is our identity.

I heard a great expression recently –‘I felt like an ant under the foot of an elephant.’ In other words we realise how small and insignificant we can become in a faceless society.

We are in danger of becoming like android people in are a world of android devices. So the world of Captain Spock and his Starship Enterprise might not be too far wrong after all.

The purpose of this article is not to create doom and gloom, but to create awareness of how important as human beings we are to each other.

It is an essential part of our happiness and growth to interact with each other emotionally whether these emotions are good, bad or indifferent is irrelevant.

What is most important is that we express them and appreciate our emotional connection with our fellow human beings. ‘Use it or lose it’.

Next week I am going to write about – The Hawk