Can we have a hassle free and a balanced life?

Recently I saw a note about a launch of a new shoe. The shoe is equipped with blue tooth and can synchronise well with your smart phone. The shoe can help you navigate, synch up with maps and provide you directions to reach your destination.

The shoe is also designed well. The blue tooth module is supposed to take the shape of the sole and aesthetically designed well with beautiful curves. And there are of course a plethora of other features and benefits that it can offer including the calories burnt, fitness levels, BMI whatever…

Brilliant!

Interesting to see such new devices being launched on a daily basis.

However that set me to think. Where do all these all lead to??? Aren’t we becoming slaves of technology day in and out? I know that the shoe can be very useful in day to day life amid the stress and chaos...

Fundamentally – is it really helpful? Well, I was once a geek myself. Grew up as a kid with a dream to make it big in the Electronics world. And was an early adopter of whatever technologies and gadgets that came my way.

Now slowly my tendencies are shifting, while grappling with the thousands of apps in my smart phone and tablet. I am yet to have a glimpse of the Google Glass though.

However my submission today is that, in the process of technological advancements are we losing the simple skills that we were once proud of? We have forgotten the art of remembering telephone numbers(you might argue previously there weren’t this many telephones), thanks to the smart phone’s address book. We don’t have to remember birthdays – Facebook is there to remind us. We don’t have to waste our time calling someone – texts and video sharing have become so easy.. Aren’t these leading to a bizarre concept of people avoiding to talk? Meeting people is far-fetched.

Kids are happier playing a weird and a scary game on the iPad than playing outdoor with other kids. Oh, they connect with new friends online L! Don’t know if it is a good idea.

We need not remember roads or directions – the shoe will help you!

Call me a laggard.. Or even a luddite..

I prefer a simple hassle free life. I wouldn’t like to miss out on those simple skills that I had developed over the years. Do I need to enrol my kid into a specialised coaching program for developing those simple natural skills and instincts?

Technological advancements are good, but the perils are too costly too.. Challenging times!