Have I become a ‘Screenager’?
12-10-2009

Anil Kumar

Like everyone else, I grew up passing a stage where I was addressed a “teenager”. As a kid and as a teen growing up, I played outdoor games outdoors; played chess on a chess board and indoor games indoors.

I loved watching movies on a celluloid screen in a cinema, loved reading books, comics and novels on a print version and the smell of the print every time I picked them up from a bookstore gave me joy.

I had different applications for different purposes. I had music cassettes to listen to my music on a tape recorder and player and I had cricket bat and a ball to play cricket in a play ground. And with the technological advances; I accepted the change and started listening to music on CD’s on my walkman and now I have moved my music collection onto something called an Iphone which came as a gift to me.

I use this gadget primarily as a telephone and to listen to my music although I have learnt that there are many things that can be done on this palm sized machine which basically acts as one-stop-shop-for-all purposes with an application for different purpose.

I wouldn’t go so far to use them all as I find most things that are not to my taste. For instance, I will never use this piece to read books, watch movies or play games. Why would you want to do that? Aren’t reading books or novels or even for that matter, newspapers fun when you read them on traditional print format? I fail to understand today’s kids.

They should be called “Screenagers” for their entire life depends on these tiny screens. One kid even had the cheek to ask while playing with my Iphone. “You don’t know how to use this?” referring to an application called e-book. I replied, kid it’s for no-brainers.

Like a traditionalist, I barked back: What’s wrong with the printed word on paper that’s worked fine for centuries? And why would you want to read a book on a telephone anyway? He gave me a look which I think meant “you are obsolete” and went on to say that his generation plays Cricket, Tennis and Football on screen, read books, novels and comics on screen, watch movies and TV episodes on screen and communicate and keeps in touch with friends on screen.

Then I wondered. If they do everything on screen, what do they do outside? Does the term “outdoor” even exist in their e-dictionary? The latest reports indicate that, especially throughout the summer months when kids are out of school, teenagers spend an average of nearly ten hours (nine hours and 54 minutes is the exact average) on some sort of screen - computer, gaming console or TV. That is about FOUR solid months a year. But then, we too are on the computer screen most times.

I am writing this story with the help of my computer screen; you are reading this story on your computer screen. Do you think we are becoming screenagers too? You think I should start using those applications on my Iphone like that kid suggested or continue to live my life as I did all these years – like a traditionalist?

The views expressed here are those of the writer and not necessarily of expressindia.com
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