The more plugged in we are, the more tuned out we become

We really need to re-examine exactly how we are using the technologies at our disposal, writes Fatima Al Shamsi

Residents walk along a lane that separate people using their phones from other pedestrians in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. AP

The other day I came across an article about how the city of Chongqing in China has created pedestrian lanes specifically for those individuals who text and walk; those wonderful members of society who apparently cannot disconnect for one second and would rather walk into traffic, obstacles and other unsuspecting humans than look up. Of all the things that we need, should we really be accommodating people who want to walk without looking where they are going?

The UAE has some of the highest internet and mobile phone penetration rates regionally and globally. At home and in the workplace, it seems everyone is plugged in all the time for both business and pleasure.

Social media has also made it a lot easier to raise awareness about public issues, with government entities increasingly resorting to online resources to get their messages heard. Twitter has redefined the meaning of “breaking news” with a much quicker turnover rate for news as more citizens are able to get events out to the world with the help of anything from camera phones to videos.

Many businesses in the UAE use Instagram as a marketing tool, showcasing everything from baked goods to fitness centre class schedules.

While there are endless benefits to the technology that we have at our disposal, there are also very real social side effects that are occurring as a result. With family members and friends scattered across the globe, I find it both amazing and convenient that I can stay in touch with them at the press of a button. Yes, we can connect with people around the world at a speed and price that would have been unthinkable even 20 years ago. But as with all things in life, I very strongly believe that there is such thing as being too plugged-in.

Many people spend hours in front of computer screens every day. Perhaps as a reaction to that I never bothered to get on most social media platforms and have slowly begun to get off the ones that I was on.

I’ve grown more and more nostalgic for actual face-to-face interactions. I have walked by too many tables of friends and families in cafes or restaurants where every single person was on their phone. Why is nobody having actual conversations any more?

Social media has also affected how we build and maintain relationships, with people thinking that “liking” a picture or leaving a comment online is enough interaction to establish some sort of base friendship.

While these non-committal, low-risk behaviours could be useful for those who are shy or suffer from social anxiety, it is unacceptable to think that these shallow gestures can replace real human connections. Although it might annoy those I love, I refuse to rely on Facebook updates or tweets for life updates and for “communicating”. While I realise that distance and time might make it difficult for people to stay in touch all the time, I would rather make a concentrated effort every so often than many superficial ones.

We really need to re-examine exactly how we are using the technologies at our disposal. So much time and effort is put into crafting online personalities that we start to miss out on what is going on around us. We’ve developed a compulsion to document everything we’ve done and then share it.

A good friend of mine would always turn his phone off and put it away whenever we went to a concert or event and this has inspired me to put down all electronics every once in a while. As much as I’d like to throw away my smartphone sometimes and buy an old-school Nokia 3310, especially when I catch myself scrolling aimlessly through news sites, one link leading to another, I do realise that there is no need to resort to extreme measures; with a little effort a simple balancing act is possible.

So, as Apple releases the new ­iPhone 6 and the Apple Watch, perhaps we should take a page out of Ikea’s new tongue-in-cheek video about its 2015 catalogue. Boasting “no cables” and “an eternal battery life” Ikea’s design expert Jorgen Eghammer introduces to us to a “bookbook”, which seems like such a novel idea in the midst of all the faster, snazzier gadgets.

Fatima Al Shamsi is an Emirati who recently returned from New York City after pursuing a master’s ­degree in Global Affairs at New York ­University