Techo Rama

Digital media has permeated almost every aspect of human society and human experience these days. One cannot simply imagine of a world sans Mr. Digital. He is literally everywhere, from the small discerning eye of the digital camera embedded in a smart phone that helps you capture your experiences and your environs, to the transmission of live events on the television set such as the euphoria of the Olympics, the drama associated with the FIFA World Cup, the clash of the titans on the F1 circuit, the finale of the NBA league, the launching of a space shuttle, the coverage and direct broadcast of natural or manmade disasters and accidents, election results, terror strikes, protests, weather forecasts, beauty pageants and countless other events, as they unfold in different parts of the world. The realm of Mr. Digital is not confined to digital cameras or to the informative and entertainment channels playing on the idiot box but it also encompasses contemporary technologies like the WWW and telecommunications. Mr. Digital has piggybacked the ‘Internet Revolution’ and as a result he has provided us with numerous means of interpersonal communication via instant messaging (SMS and MMS), e-mailing services, chatting, blogging, online conferences and discussion boards etc. Mr. Digital has emerged as a facilitator of modern learning by means of e books, e libraries, e universities and e learning (synchronous and asynchronous learning), concepts that were hitherto unknown to the student community. The WWW is not just a repository of digital data but it is a virtual world of information, data archival, communication, entertainment, and commerce. In short Mr. Digital has provided us with a literal crystal ball of information that we can use to keep abreast with the latest happenings around the globe and beyond. Mr. Digital is not just Mr. Good; he has his own set of shortcomings. Dictators, fanatics, and terrorists use Mr. Digital to spread malediction and malevolence. Since digital media has an infectious quality it can easily ensnare and enslave its users. Some sections of the modern society have turned into couch potatoes from excessive viewing of the boob tube – housewives are hooked to their favorite soap operas for hours on end, kids cannot imagine of a life without cartoon channels and men forget everything while watching their favorite sports event. Productivity in offices touch rock bottom when a live sports event is being broadcasted on the television. Other than the growing tribe of couch potatoes, the modern society is also suffering from the negative vibes of the WWW and telecommunications. Many a web user has become an inveterate chatter, an online game addict, or a roving eye who is surfing the next to whet an insatiable appetite that is fed on the dollops of sleaze being offered by Mr. Digital. The sins of Mr. Digital do not end here. He is also responsible for fuelling the ongoing advertising boom that has deluged our society with information about latest gadgets and products and has forced individually to go on a buying spree far more than what their pockets would allow. On in all Mr. Digital is a natural corollary in the ongoing quest of the human endeavor to attain means of improving human life and society. Like other human achievements Mr. Digital is a heady concoction of good and evil. We can only gauge the positive or negative effect of the digital media from the perception we form by making use of this media.