Is technology slowly making us anti-social?

Remember the good old days when young people showcased ultimate respect to their elders. Whenever you happened to board a bus with an elderly person, you had no option but an obligation to stand.

Those days when if you were playing with your colleagues and an elderly person passed by, you’d to stop the game and stand aside until they had passed.

Remember those days, if you failed to answer a greeting from the neighbor, they’d punish you, severely and “commission you to your parents for the final phase of punishment?”

 Greetings were more of tradition, ‘Good morning…good morning auntie’. Leave out the ‘auntie’ and everyone will gossip about your great lack of morals.

There used to be story telling sessions. You’d all gather around the normal fireplace for the norm, stories from grandpa. He’d talk about the “wazungu’ (The Whites) and how he used to work in the big hotels.

Fast forward to the current state. From experience, I normally take my studies far away from home. Hours hardly pass before checking out on my friends.

I wonder where stories come from, but we never lack a new story. Surprisingly, whenever we meet face to face, five minutes hardly pass before bidding each other goodbye only to start a chart on phone few minutes after departing.

 I may not be the only culprit though. We might be in a class waiting for a lecturer, pin drop silence, everyone busy on phones, tablets or even laptops, finding out about their friends’ latest escapades. You’d be forced to believe the “minds at work” poster right outside the class.

I am in Nairobi heading to my brother’s place along Thika road, boarding the famous ‘Zuri’ matatus. Everyone is busy, it’s in the evening and while standing, you can possible spot the well-lit phone pattern all around the bus.

 If you are lucky to miss a light spot, well, maybe they are experiencing a hard time. A broke up maybe, or a failed interview, though that’d be subject to confirmation. Mostly, they’d be updating their status to “Why me?”

Technology has moved the world into great levels. However, I tend to think we are missing our normal social human character. We rarely acknowledge the presence of our fellow beings. We rarely share our moments directly.

Should I say ‘live’?.What we may have is a whole bunch of soft copy friends. That might explain why people post photos of themselves in hospitals, a couple of likes may be better than few actual hospital visits by friends.

Much can be said, more and more experiences. However, let’s not forget who we really are. We are much more bonded that technology should separate us.