Hold your breath there’s more technology coming

If you’re reading this on the web, chances are that you’re breathing shallowly. If you’re composing a response to the piece, you could even be holding your breath. No, not with wonderment at my lyrical prose, but because that — according to scientists — is what most computers users do.

It’s ironic but true that, sometimes, the very things designed to simplify our life begin to work against us. Like technology. While it definitely simplifies life, it also causes stress. How? By forcing us to keep up with it at the expense of everything else.

Remember when we didn’t have 24x7 television? We sat down at the table as a family and ate. Remember a world without smartphones and laptops? Madonna, who has confessed to keeping her Blackberry under her pillow for a quick draw, for sure, got more sleep. And teens weren’t yet brain dead, capable only of rolling their eyes and texting. A British study has found that 19 per cent of kids between two and five can use a smartphone compared to 9 per cent that can tie their own shoelaces.

Consider also the reports on the new ‘great depression’ that’s being triggered by social networking sites. Apparently, because people tend to post only those photos and updates that publicise their successes and happy moments, users are left with a skewed view of their lives, and feel inadequate in comparison.

You could say if it’s calm that you’re looking for, just put off the machines, pull on your yoga pants and settle in for a bit of heavy breathing. The problem is: we’re also greedy. We want all the perks of technology and mental peace. And, as the Black Eyed Peas sing it: I don’t want it someday/I don’t want it one day/Gotta have it somehow/I want it right now.

Well, it’s possible, if you’re willing not to be a slave to technology. Start by setting limits. Don’t check your mail every 10 minutes even on holidays or your Twitter/FB, every hour. Next, turn off your devices for short periods of time. Once you’ve got used to that, take a bolder step forward: leave your smartphone at home when you go out with the family on Sundays.

If those steps seem too drastic, perhaps you should turn to organisations like the Calming Technology Lab at Stanford University, which are trying to harness technology to create soothing mechanisms. Yes, just as there are scientists working around the clock to create new technologies for stimulation (think iPhone5 and Toyota’s Fun-Vii concept car), there are also brainiacs around us who are toiling to invent technologies that create calm in chaos.

The Stanford lab, for instance, seeks to reduce stress and induce “cognitive, physiological or emotional calm” in computer users. For this, it creates tools that improve focus, reduce distractions and steer users towards positive thoughts. Calming Tech director Neema Moraveji says he is especially interested in improving the respiratory habits of computer users; so his BreathAware project helps you maintain a steady breathing pattern even while you’re pounding away on your laptop. Then there’s ‘Text2Smile,’ an MMS-based means of motivating users to smile at each other through their cell phones and ‘Awareness,’ which sounds a Tibetan bell on your PC to mark every hour of continuous computer use.

The scientists are clearly doing their bit; now if only they could invent a way for you to put their work to work — calmly.

shampa@newindianexpress.com