The facility will provide greater access to residents from Liwa, Mirfa, Gayathi, Ruwais, Tarif from Western Region
We admonish our kids for constantly being on their devices and see it as an act of disobedience when they rebel. Stop watching TV while eating. Leave the iPad alone. Who are you writing to, pay attention.
The other day, a young man was bemoaning how his mum, a mobile-aholic, is incessantly on the phone. She is obsessed, he says; sometimes, she makes calls just to make calls. It is like a manic obsession. If she cannot make a call, she fidgets with the instrument, cannot leave it alone for a minute. Some of her conversations cross half an hour.
It is an illustration of a situation far more common than we acknowledge. Adults are victims of the tech allure even as they deny it. The madness of playing games can become a fixation that is all-consuming. Video game addiction is now accepted as a mental health condition and can be so overwhelming as to eclipse and impact daily life. It is not yet rife but the numbers, thanks to folks like you, are rising fast.
Between being surrounded by so many electronic items and the vicarious passion that adults can express for viewing the lives of strangers and transporting themselves into a virtual reality world, blaming children for following suit is unfair.
You have to step back a bit and, as an adult, see how much you are expending in what is essentially a wanton waste of time. If you are honest, you must ask, is this person really me and have I begun to renege on my other duties while surrendering so much time, energy and effort to the altar of the button?
You might well be surprised to note that three to four hours of electronic captivity per day is par for the course. If someone said that to you, there is no doubt you would be offended. But add up the minutes and the time snatched in bits and pieces and you would shock yourself.
Test yourself. Do you reach for your phone first thing in the morning to check who made contact? Are you disappointed to discover the world did fine without connecting with you? Do you find yourself wasting hours reading about trivia in other people's days? Do you pride yourself on the number of people who are your 'friends'?
Do people at work or home complain that you are not listening to them when they speak to you? Do you have more friends on social media than in real life? Do you go into panic mode if you leave your phone behind? Do you think nothing could be a bigger disaster than a place with no wi-fi? Do you actually believe the 'likes' on your post are a measure of your popularity?
Stop yelling at your kids. Yell at yourself. you are losing it.
bikram@khaleejtimes.com
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