DOWN THE MEMORY LANE: mobile phones killing direct interaction:

By Ali Noor

A friend of mine and a father of five children came home and entered the Livingroom to find each one of them holding his mobile phone with his fingers working hard on keyboards. There was a complete silence in the room. The father asked “why don’t you talk with each other? The answer came from the younger one “who said that we are not chatting with each other”.

Before Sudan ushered into the world of internet, family members used to gather at meal times and engage in conversations about almost everything. Today you see people in buses, streets and workplaces busy using chat apps to engage with friends, colleagues and family.

Direct Interaction and face to face conversation among family members foster healthy ties among them and means the existence of affection and intimacy, a matter that contributes to having a more cohesive family.

These days, the sight of people being engaged in a conversation with the absence of mobile phones in their hands has become alarmingly rare. Receiving the full attention of an individual during a conversation where emotions and body language are directly felt and expressed is being threatened by the extensive use of mobile apps as means of contact.

Today, smartphones with chat rooms replaced direct interacion among members of the society, thus weakening chances of dialogue and meaningful conversation. Scientists and researchers claim that this phenomenon might lead to negative attitudes such as social isolation and introversion. Some avid users of such technological devices may also lead them to live in a virtual world away from the realities of the community they live in.

A recent British research concluded that spending time with family members and friends decreases the possibility of early death by 50 percent. The research also found that traditional families are facing the increasing pressure of modern life manifested in the use of mobile phones, emails and messaging apps.