Gone are those days when sun was the only source of guessing
the time. Then came the hourglass followed by the spring driven key clocks and
our huge grandfather clocks. But what is commonly found today? Be it
beautifully painted walls or the tender wrist of a 6 year-old kid, a digital
watch is a must. Even daily utility machines like fridge and washing machine
are marketed high time with the new digital operations. The old reel cameras
have been quickly replaced with the latest digicams. In fact, accompanying them
are the digital photo frames. Handwritten letters have been taken over by
emails and social networking. So have the stage dramas and kathputli plays taken the form of television and cinema halls. Huge
radio boxes have been substituted by mini music players or iPods which boast of
up to 32GB memory storage. Whereas the simple toy cars have been revamped by
the remote controlled ones. One thing which remains common to all -
digitization. The letter “e” has prefixed most of our words: e-banking,
e-books, e-paper, e-commerce, e-bay shopping and the list is never exhaustive.
So what has been so influential in this development? Again,
it’s the letter ‘e’ which gives the three main reasons – Expeditious, exact and
ease. Digitization has lead to a lot of time saving. Information can be
accessed on our fingertips 24X7. There is more precision to every calculation. As
a result, the productivity graph has shot up. The fact that digital products
are small in size is the icing on the cake. There is no limit to the amount of
data which can be stored in the form of minute chips, data cards or memory
cards. Apart from this, digitized technology has found way in entertainment.
The smart touch phones have become the latest muse of the young generation.
Nevertheless, children are attracted more to computer games rather than going
out and playing in the sun.
The older generation on the other hand, feels that the
digitized systems have made things costlier than ever before and that life
has become more materialistic. Electronic goods have become a mere showcase of
status symbol. Although digitized systems are completely machine dependent which
leave less room for human errors; one flaw in the smallest link of this system
can lead to a bundle of mishaps. We have become addicted to the digital world. For
that matter, fancy a day in your life without the internet! Life would be
miserable. Availability of information is to its peak; however privacy and
security issues are of great concern. Increased digitization has led to a
flood of data where choosing the right content has become a misery. The wide
range of products on display for everything we do has reduced the gap between
need and luxury considerably.
Having a look at both the pros and cons, it is difficult to
decide the righteousness of digitization. Belonging to the 21st
century generation, even I feel that the need of digitization is not wrong
and should be encouraged. However, limits need to be set on its use, after all
the beauty of this digitized world lies on how we use it.
