I have often been called technologically challenged by my technologically competent kids but I love being one. Hear me out……

In times when Netflix gives me suggestions on what I should be seeing, Apple Music plays its own playlist, assuming very conveniently that I am in a mood to listen to some hip-hop or jazz without even knowing that I no longer fall in that category of music lovers, I really want to be technologically challenged.

I no longer need to remember numbers or even names. I am told that ChatGPT can even write Essays for me, make presentations and so on. 

My love for reading has been stolen by Kindle, do not misunderstand me. Yes, it saves space and so much content is available in my palm but I love the smell of pages,the sound of turning pages, writing my name on the first and last page so that no one takes my book away. Ah! the simple joy of holding a book!!

Bear with me a little more….

Uber and YouTube have made us parents unnecessary. The panic call for pick up when a taxi is not available or a teary call to mom to know “Why my curry does not taste like yours” are all conversations of an era bygone. YouTube does all that and better, no judgements, no criticism, no scolding. It’s just them and some random person on a screen.

I was still getting over the idea of some person who knows nothing about me advising me on where to go, what to wear, how to talk, and here comes another challenge. This one has no face, no place, and not even Real; it is Artifical Intelligence. The name itself brings contradiction to my simple layman mind- Artifical yet Intelligent and here I am Human yet challenged….

The irony in which we live!!

Before anyone comes to any unfounded conclusions, I struggle, I learn each day but I do try to keep pace with the rapidly changing world even though I feel that I should be able  to write what comes to my mind, not what someone else is suggesting, not what ChatGPT says. I may just be in the mood to listen to some slow numbers or some instrumental music with a cup of hot coffee today, particularly because my mood is not the same as yesterday and will not be the same tomorrow.

It’s all supposed to make our lives simpler, easier but is it? We eat supplements to compensate for what is available free outside, we travel by cars and run on treadmills, our calendar reminds us of birthdays and meetings and we say that more people are suffering from dementia. The simple joy of baking a cake which got burnt, or too much salt in a dish, the joy of totally ruining it and then trying and trying till we get there. 

I wonder, are we becoming technologically- abled or challenged?

Do we have free time or are we becoming enslaved in an AI generated world?

Are we the liberated ones or are we being fed information by what has already been fed  by someone?

My art may not be perfect, but it is mine, not some AI generated masterpiece.

My creation is what will give me satisfaction, a feeling of achievement.

If all art pieces or writing have been done by AI, how do you decide a Best Seller or a Masterpiece?

What makes us Human is our uniqueness, our differences, our originality; we have not been made in a lab. Our differences are what set us apart or else we will soon be a crowd with no direction.

Imperfection is good. It will make you strive for something better and unusual.

I do not want to be perfect; I want to fail and learn again, get lost to be found again. I do not want to live someone else’s suggested life. I want to continue to be technologically challenged because…

I AM ME and YOU ARE YOU!!!