Our forefathers never received any letters. I am not talking about email, but letters written by hand. Then post began and they started writing to each other. A letter used to be received with great expectations and joy. It was answered very carefully on the best stationary. Then came the advent of courier companies. You could send and receive a letter overnight by paying extra. This added to stress and reduced some fun out of letter writing. Mobile phones and couriers brought us more in contact with each other. This made us think more about others and less about ourselves, because a lot of time was spent talking to others on phone and sending couriers. This was the first stress causing factor. And then came email it changed the way we communicated with each other forever.
Most of us are afraid of opening our mailbox. Because it is somehow always filled with inward mails, a lot of it is spam mail offering great deals. Every mail must be responded immediately. We are all becoming slaves of emails. How many times have you opened your inbox and shut down the computer without answering a single mail? It is a rare phenomenon. Answering emails immediately has become instinctive to most of us. Unless it is a business mail, most of us do not bother about grammar and spelling. The mail must be answered immediately that is the goal why? We do not sit back and think about that.
Blessed are those who have no computers they may not have an email id but they also do not have stress that may cause cardiac problems. Our lifestyle is getting stressed in every possible way because of communication technology. The mobile must be carried during holidays, sight seeing, bedroom and also toilets. We have lost the joy of peaceful living. The technology is dictating us. Rather than using the technology to improve our life we are using to make our life a goal chasing nightmare.
In a way email made all of us easily accessible but also added lot of stress in our lives. It is said that Begum Noorjahan, queen of Mughal Emperor Jehangir had trained pigeons that carried her messages. She had no stress about how they reached their destination and when. Whereas we get frantic if an expected email does not arrive in time. This age of information technology has made many medical professionals who treat stress related diseases much richer.
The next quantum jump was with online chat. You will find many people who are constantly on the look out of friends who are online for chat. Why? So that they can discuss something with them while doing their work at the same time. Most of such chats are of no use except that they are great stress builders and work spoilers. Earlier we used to go out to meet friends. Now a days we join chat rooms and chat with people about whose real identity we have no clue. A man may be acting as a woman and vice versa. Please read further in part two of this article series.