In the eyes of a normal upper class man in any ‘developed’ city electricity enjoys the same status as air and water, the place of worship is a shopping mall and gadgets, gizmos and technologies are more respected than nature. For him the idea of living without the earlier mentioned ‘basic commodities’ is beyond his imagination. And then there is another man who is completely alien to all such concepts. His place of work is piece of land, his sweat is his offering for which he may or may not be blessed with some bread in return.
The futile efforts of erasing the gap between these two men have given rise to a new breed of men. This man lives in a city but originates from the villages. The various development policies, the evolutions in technologies, the globalised institutions where every sort of information is just a click away are all responsible for his migration from his homeland to the fast paced cities where he becomes just a part of the crowd filled with more people like him. This is the common man.
To know more about this interesting creature and his views on technology and information which supposedly aims to benefit him I interviewed three men from different fields, age groups but with common needs and problems.
My first interview brought me to an auto driver who was in his late thirties and who did not wish to share his name. For him information and technology were not very familiar terms. The only words he could relate to were mobile, radio and television. When asked about their usage he said that he no more owns a radio, there is a television set at his home but he rarely gets the time to watch it. On the use of mobile phones he explained that though he is not a great admirer of mobile phones he needs it for his work so that his customers can contact him if required. “I only know how to answer and make calls and that is all what is required for me to know” he retorted when questioned if he knew all the functions of the mobile phone. Though he had heard about computers he seemed completely disinterested about knowing more about them and the existence of the mighty internet made no difference to him.
My second interviewee was a worker in a daily goods shop, K. Pradeep Pujari(21). “Mobile phone has now become a necessity for me” says the young man who wants to be as up to date as his engineering student customers are. “Television and radio are for my leisure time but I can’t stay without my cell phone” remarks the shopkeeper completely awed by the product of evolution of Graham Bell’s invention. Pradeep showed keen interest in learning in computers about which he had little heard of. To my surprise, Facebook was not a new word to him and not did he wanted to know more about it but also wanted to use if he gets the time.
The third interview took me to a gatekeeper who had come all the way from Assam to Manipal to earn a living. Rahul Das (28) shared a very interesting observation he made by simply sitting on a metallic chair everyday and watch people pass by. “Seeing small children roaming around with cell phones and other gadgets has become a very regular sight for me. That I used to think that toys were the only things kids should play with” he mocks. He does not despise the use of electronics but feels that they should only be used if needed. He himself can’t think of not owning a phone as that is the most cheapest and convenient way for him to communicate with his family back home. “Now the time has changed and I need to change with it, I can’t write letters to my family everyday especially when I have a better option” he justifies his use of cell phone. But he still felt that these electronics, gadgets etc. should not be treated larger than life and should not replaced by their natural competitors. “I will make sure that my kids only get to play with toys”, he jokes.
Based on my interviews I have come to a conclusion that technology may have not received a very warm welcome but has managed to have a very strong hold on its users in some or the other form through its products. But to term technology as a necessity is underestimating man’s efforts to fulfil his needs on his own and there are millions of people untouched by technologies that are a living proof.
