While technology can have a positive impact, Ritik Shenoy shares why it’s OK to slow down sometimes.
Technology and inventions were initially created to make our lives easier. But lately, why does it feel like they’re making us work harder? Living in the Bay Area, it’s nearly impossible to ignore the vast impacts of tech. We’re always hearing about the insanely high housing prices, or that new breakthrough. Something faster, easier and better. There’s always that constant pressure of “what’s next.” And it often feels difficult to keep up. One time, I decided to go to my Java classroom after school. I didn’t expect much, but when I walked in, the room was completely packed.
Each chair, each computer, occupied by a student with their eyes glued to the screen, typing away on their keyboards like their lives depended on it. It was like they were trying to prove something, and that not being there meant you were falling behind. At that point, it didn’t even feel like we were learning anymore, it felt like we were competing. I started to wonder, are we really doing this because we like doing it, or because we’re scared not to? Are we driven by passion or by fear?
By the fear of missing out? Or even the fear of feeling invisible or unimportant in a world obsessive over speed and success? I’m fascinated with tech, but also hate what tech is doing to us.
Don’t get me wrong, innovation can do great things. But somewhere along the race to always be “ahead,” we seem to have mistaken harder work for better futures. In life, not everything needs to be optimized, not every waking moment needs to be productive and not every input needs an immediate output. Geoffrey Chaucer, an English poet, once said “time and tide wait for no man,” but I think that we need to learn to wait for time, to slow down and ask ourselves — what do we really want to do with our lives? With a Perspective, I’m Ritik Shenoy.