Peerzada Nazima Shah
Yesterday, at around eleven o’clock in the evening, my jiju called me and said, “My son’s date sheet was released a week ago, and your sister does not even know that it has come out.” He said it jokingly, but afterwards I called my sister and spoke to her about it.
I told her that nowadays everything comes online and is shared in groups. Sometimes something catches our attention and sometimes it does not. This took me back to my own school days, when we had to pay printing charges. Only after paying them would we get our date sheet. We would stick it up somewhere with rice paste or glue, and we would remember which paper was on which day, when the exam was, and what we had to prepare.
How much the world has changed!
Today we live in a paperless world. Everything has become fast and digital. Earlier, we paid in cash. Then Google Pay arrived, and now, whenever you want to shop, you can use a credit card or a phone.
Earlier, when relatives wanted to invite you to a wedding, they would come to your home personally. Now the invitation card often arrives on WhatsApp. In some places, even the wedding itself takes place online.
But there was a time when these conveniences did not exist. People had far fewer things. Yet there was love among them. There was affection, warmth, a feeling for one another, and respect.
Even in education, people studied properly and with seriousness. There were fewer facilities, but perhaps more effort, more patience and more personal involvement.
Today, what do we not have? This is the age of ChatGPT. We have calculators, computers, mobile phones, the internet, online payments, online shopping and much more. Almost everything is available to us immediately.
The world has become extremely fast.
And yet, somewhere in this speed, the love for reading and writing seems to have reduced considerably. The habits we once had of sitting down to read, writing, remembering things, keeping papers safely and taking time over a task are slowly disappearing.
Everything has become so quick that we have forgotten how to live properly. We have forgotten many of the simple things that once gave us happiness.
Earlier, if we needed to know the date of an examination, we kept the date sheet with us. We looked at it again and again. We remembered which subject was on which day. There was a certain attachment even to a piece of paper.
Today, the date sheet comes on the phone, in a WhatsApp group. We look at it for a moment, perhaps take a screenshot, and move on. So much information reaches us all the time that even important things sometimes escape our notice.
The same has happened in almost every area of life.
Money was once counted and handed over in cash. Then came cards, and later digital payments. Invitations were once delivered in person. Now they are sent through WhatsApp. People once went to meet one another. Now a message or a video call can take the place of a meeting.
Technology has made life easier, without any doubt. It has saved our time and made possible many things that were once difficult. But when I think about those earlier days, I feel that something else was also there, something that cannot be measured in speed or convenience.
There was more human connection.
People had fewer facilities, but they had more time for one another. They sat together and talked. They visited relatives. They remembered important dates and occasions. They invited one another personally to weddings and other functions. There was warmth in these small acts.
Today, we have facilities for almost everything, but we are always in a hurry.
We have calculators, so we do not have to calculate ourselves. We have computers, so many things are done automatically. We have the internet, so information is available within seconds. We have smartphones, so we can reach anyone at any time. And now we have ChatGPT and other forms of artificial intelligence as well.
But perhaps, in gaining all these facilities, we have also lost some of our old habits.
Our patience has decreased. Our habit of reading has decreased. Our habit of writing by hand has decreased. Even our habit of remembering things ourselves has decreased, because everything can be stored on a phone.
The paperless world is convenient, but it is also a reminder of how quickly our lives have changed.
I do not mean that the old days were perfect or that technology is bad. Technology has given us many wonderful things. It has made communication faster, education more accessible and daily life easier. There is no doubt about that.
But sometimes I wonder whether, in making everything faster, we have also made ourselves less connected with the simple pleasures of life.
There was something beautiful about receiving a paper, keeping it carefully, writing something down by hand and remembering it. There was something beautiful about visiting someone instead of simply sending a message. There was something beautiful about sitting with people and talking without looking at a screen.
Those small things were part of our lives.
Today, everything is available at the touch of a button. A date sheet can come to your phone. Money can be transferred within seconds. A wedding invitation can reach hundreds of people instantly. Shopping can be done from home. Education can be taken online. Even meetings can happen without people being in the same place.
The world has certainly changed.
But when I remember the days when these facilities did not exist, I also remember the love, affection, respect, patience and human connection that existed among people.
Perhaps that is what I miss.
We have moved from paper to screens, from cash to digital payments, from personal invitations to WhatsApp messages, and from physical meetings to online ones. We have gained speed and convenience.
But in this fast-moving world, we should not forget the value of slowing down sometimes.
We should not forget to read. We should not forget to write. We should not forget to meet people. We should not forget to sit together and talk. And, most importantly, we should not forget to live.
Because life is not only about having every facility.
Life is also about remembering the small moments, the simple habits, the people around us, and the feelings that make those moments meaningful.
The world may have become paperless, but I hope it never becomes heartless.
*The author is an environmental specialist and writer who focuses on social and environmental issues, raising awareness about sustainability, climate change, conservation, and the relationship between people and the environment.*
Two things to check with the author: the original said the date sheet was put up “with rice”, which I read as rice paste, and “my son’s” assumes the jiju was talking about his own son.
