In the past couple of years, the world has made immense progress in the field of science and technology. In order to make everything fast, reliable and easily accessible companies developed portable electronic devices. Constant research and innovation in this industry led to product evolution and they became more portable and user friendly. With the passage of time individuals do not only use these product for convenience rather they are dependent on these devices. These products tend to create a delusion around the users providing them with the elements of their satisfaction that sooth their senses such as the sense of sight and sound. Users are able to escape the reality of life as they get involved with the consumption of these products. Tech toys are now isolating us from the real world, and inviting us to live in the virtual world of illusion and imagination.

All these toys are now forming a world of new bond and companionship of man and machine. Everyday we are taking another step to form what is so called “emotional attachment” with the machine which humans created. Instead of forming bonds between humans, we are forming this relationship with a machine to create our own perfect world. The question is, if it is even perfect? We see little kids playing video games, PS3 and the Xbox 360, Nintendo and all these consoles are making these children’s stick to a world of illusion, violence or sometime fairy tale where they are the heroes and they have control over the world. On the other hand adults live in there own world of gaming and some live in the world in internet the cyber space, where people chat in different chartrooms for hours and hours using different IM’s.

If we look around in universities in America, train stations, airports or any other place. We will see a growing trend of laptops. We see people chatting connecting with other people in a virtual world of internet through WI-FI. We see other people with a Bluetooth headset in there ear walking around talking , without caring much about what the person next to them is doing. Everyday we are advancing toward our virtual world. We can see this coming in small things, like the portable electronics. Thing which were once needs are now wants. They develop our status symbol in society they help us live in our glass cubicles, where we are visible to the outside world. But somehow this outside world is invisible to us.

This issue is not a big philosophy; we can even see our relationship with electronics to a next level of robots. Sony, which has developed a robotic dog called “AIBO”. Sony marketing strategy shows that AIBO is just not a piece of metal and plastic or computer chip rather something with which we can interact like other living things according to Sony “From the first day you interact with AIBO, it will become your companion”. Thus, AIBO is a companion, we can love him and he can feel us. The dog can fetch, recognize the owner, it can even wake up and sleep at a perfect programmed time, it can be a perfect pet. But can it really replace another living creature which really loves us? Can the same piece of metal really love us back or is it just programmed to represent some different moods.

Not just that, these toys are becoming more and more popular each day. We can see another toy “Robosapien” developed to walk like human, it can fetch stuff and even fart like human, it can even rap and perform move of kung fu. We now love these things like we would love our pets or other people we would like to be close too. Computer advancement has taken us to a whole new level but at the same time enabled us to form a world of our own.

In an essay “Technology and Human Vulnerability” the author Turkle Sherry we can see that author is pointing our direction toward the same issue. The love and intimacy between humans and machines. The question is about the replacement of human bonds with humans. The author also states that “what will it mean to people when their primary daily companion is a robotic dog?” (1) We can see this change everyday in today’s world, where robotic dogs are sold with iPods which show their moods with songs and colors. Like example of the “I-Dog” which is sold in stores like “sharper image”. Although humans did progress but falling in love with a machine which cannot love you back does sound strange if we look into it deeply, author in the same article also states this in such a way that “the idea of child bonding with a robot that presents itself as a companion seems chilling” (3) this is because children’s are the one who develop strong attachment with there companions, pets or friends. Why should we let them think and understand of something loving and caring when it is actually not.

Aside from robots love we are now in the age of “cybersociality” (5) as compared to socializing in real world we can be whoever we want. Hidden behind the screens in our own rooms we can put on which ever mask we like. Choosing whichever name or gender we want to be far away hidden from the truth in our custom developed world. No wonder cyber world gained a lot of popularity where we were the God of this world. The world of multitasking has given us so much to keep ourselves busy in that we can barely think outside of it.

“The Multitasking Generation,” the author Wallis Claudia talks about how the teenagers today are involved in their world. Studies also reveal “The survey by Kaiser Family Foundation shows that teenagers put 8.5 hours worth of time everyday into computers, thanks to media multitasking” (2). So in a twenty four hour long day, if an average person is putting in about 8.5 hours in computer and then another eight to ten hours in sleep. We can see the whole day may have almost passed already. Computers are useful but there addiction does move us away from the real world of friends and family. We should always keep the difference of the real and the virtual world in our heads to set our priorities right. According to Wallis Claudia technology just does not make us addict rather it block us from seeing the reality “don’t let technology steal your kids from you, enjoy your children…the dinner with family, … the car ride without iPod, videogame or fold-down DVD-player” (7-8). Thus we should enjoy a quality time in the real world with our loved ones. And enjoy each second of the world which is ticking away every second of reality from us.

Bibliography

The website and article used for this essay are.

Turkle, Sherry. Technology and human vulnerability.” Harvard Business Review 81 Issue. 9 Sep: (2003) 43-50. U of Stony Brook, Frank Melville Jr. Memorial Library, Business source premiere Database 5 Dec. 2006

Wallis, Claudia. “The Multitasking Generation.” Time 167 no. 13 March 27 2006 48-55. WilsonWeb. U of Stony Brook, Frank Melville Jr. Memorial Library, http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com.libproxy.cc.stonybrook.edu/hww/ shared/sharedmain.jhtml?_requestid=16020358

Sony AIBO robotic Dog. 2 January 2007.

Robosapien, the human like robot. 2 January 2007.