ABOUT three months back, I was travelling to Amritsar to visit the Golden Temple. While on the train I saw a young couple sitting together with their eyes tightly glued to their respective iPads. They were either travelling from the US or were from a considerably rich family since both of them had an iPhone 4 too and international airline baggage tags on their suitcase.

In the close-to-four-hour journey from New Delhi to Amritsar – both of them hardly spoke to each other. Even if they spoke, it was for comparing scores in the games that they were playing on their mobile devices. Or, it was at times for sharing something that the wife read on her kindle application. Personally, I look forward to holidays to spend more time with my wife. In our daily lives we barely get a couple of hours together each day. The rest are either spent at work or working, eating or sleeping. Holidays give us a good chance to talk and to catch up on things that we have missed sharing in our daily lives.

But, this makes me think, is it really worth it, all this technology? Another time, I went to dinner at a nice Italian Restaurant in Khan Market in Delhi. There too, I saw the same thing happening. A young couple on a date was sitting across the table, playing games on their respective iPhones as they waited for their food to arrive. Aren’t dates supposed to be romantic, with the guy trying to make the girl laugh? Not in this case, apparently – again they were speaking to each other only to share their digital accomplishments or to exchange scores. At least they were not fighting with each other, since they were on speaking terms. Any passer-by, however, would have thought they have come to dinner after a big fight, because they hardly spoke.

Do we really want our lives to be like this? It is iPads and iPhones for the couples mentioned above, it could be a lackberry or an Android device for you. Without even knowing, accessing these devices while your loved ones are around, you are being an irritant. They probably do not express the irritation because they love you too much for that.

So, I have decided to switch off all my devices for at least one hour in the evening when I am with my family. Yes, work is extremely important, but so is the time with our families. Just try doing it once and you would realize how liberated you feel for that time. It is just amazing not to have any buzzes or rings to announce emails or BBMs while you are talking to somebody at home.

For some, their Blackberry is more like a crutch for a person without a leg. Enough or more people are suffering from Blackberry thumbs – a repetitive strain injury cause by pressing buttons on a mobile device. If you are addicted and you are not anywhere near the conditions mentioned above, its high time you checked yourself. Switch off for an hour!

Definitely worth a shot! You may even try it as a new year resolution. Do write to me with how you felt after making this small adjustment.

GEETAJ CHANNANA

geetaj.channana@9dot9.in

THE AUTHOR IS Executive Editor, CTO Forum