Gadgets obsession, virtual destruction!

Aarti Jaiswal (40) is a proud mother of a teenage daughter and her husband is a bank manager. She is a business development manager in one of the leading FMCG companies handling Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts. She is a proud owner of iPhone, iPad, and Android.

With a multitude of gadgets, she wanted to get rid of everything and just wanted to attend to her family and spend a few hours watching a movie or have a candlelight dinner. While she was spending a few private moments with her husband Rohan, an urgent mail from her country head popped up.

He wanted an urgent solution to an ad campaign over email. She had no other option but to respond, taking her mind off a gripping movie. Subbiraman who was working with H&R Johnson said, “These gadgets have sabotaged our life and our personal freedom is at risk.

iPhones, iPads, blackberry and Android help in keeping people connected and information is given on time. But companies do not expect us to switch off the mobiles,” says Jeetendra of Aircel. “Companies have been talking of leisure, hike in salaries, holidaying, honeymoon packages but they do not want the graph of the production to come down.

The top brass of the company expects us to be connected 24x7 as they are travelling,” said Bharat Thukaral of Six Sigma, an HR consultancy. Dr Anand Agarwal, a cardiologist with one of the leading hospitals in the town said, “I came for my honeymoon to Goa.

Though I was reluctant to carry my work mobile, I was forced to promise that I would be disturbed, if the hospital received a life threatening case. As expected, a senior executive called promising to talk for less than 5 minutes. But he took more than one hour and ended up sending solutions by mails and had to be in a con call for two hours.

This left my newly married wife complain for days about a wasted holiday.” “We are becoming too obsessed with the online world and the latest gadgets such as smart phones. We may be cocooning ourselves in our own little online world. We have to be liked just as much online, as in person and we are missing out on things in the physical world to a certain extent,” feels Ram Narayan Shetty, retired AGM, BSNL.

“When you check your information, when you get a buzz in your pocket, when you get a ring, you get what they call a dopamine squirt. You get a little rush of adrenaline. Well, guess what happens in its absence? You feel bored. You're conditioned by a neurological response: 'Check me check me check me,” said Dr Shobhavati, a neurologist. Gadgets have become an addiction. It leads to anxiety.

There is sleep apnea caused by gadgets and lack of concentration. A recent study by Sheffield University, England covered over 8,000 mobile enterprise employees at 1,000 companies worldwide. More than 40% responded that they spend more than 15 to 18 hours extra per week working on their projects or files.

This was affecting their life personally and professionally. We think technology will make our job easier. One can see that in some ways it’s making it harder. Personal freedom and health is at stake. Gadgets are surely giving a sleepless time to the employees who do not have the freedom to use the “switch off ” button.