Technology and electricity make good working partners. They do wonders in our life - Convenient and fascinating.

However…

When they die on us - we feel totally Helpless.

For older generation, perhaps, life does not necessary come to a standstill when technology decides to play prank.

However, for the young generation today, it could mean “disaster” or “end of world”!

Do a simple survey on the younger ones …….

On what they can’t do without in life and no surprise….

Answers : Mobile phone… electronic game devices …. tablet ….. social media like Facebook.

Reality in life - our over dependance on technology, IT and electronic devices in life.

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“Dinosaur Era”?

So, I started to share stories about how we could live without mobile phones, without PC and without electrical appliances when I was younger.

I know - that sounds like a “dinosaur” era to our boys. “So boring”, “How to survive?” - are anticipated reactions.

And…

That day, when our water heater broke down, you could imagine the distress at home.

Our sons echoed: “What? I have to bathe in cold water?”

They totally have no idea how to adopt alternative method to create that warm water for shower. The young ones realise that it is so easy to just press a button to turn on the heater. However, what they refuse to rely on is that there is an olden technology called “boiling a kettle of hot water to mix with the cold water.”

And…

When there was a power failure in our neighbourhood last year, our boys were totally lost and annoyed.

Till I brought out the candles and torches, the boys were elated.

Next, we were totally helpless because the fans, air-conditioners, PCs, fridge and many others were not working.

So…the grumblings went on but there were hardly any solutions by our boys.

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Survival skills

Then…It struck me that our kids have totally no SURVIVAL SKILLS to handle situations when electricity and technology die on us!

(I will not always be there to show them the “dinosaur” method of how I survived without technology in my earlier days.)

Then…I start to appreciate these moments of crisis when water heater got out of order, when power failure happened and even when we forgot to bring along our mobile phones.

It is only during these moments that our kids could start learning that they could still survive without technology although it is just more inconvenient.

Perhaps, the younger generations are very much influenced by their peers, society and even ourselves. How often are we not guilty of being addicted to our mobile phones and PCs? How often are we not being guilty of over-relying on technology and not sharing with our kids the more primitive way of life?

As I was watching the US TV series “Revolution”, I wished I could share with them that the world will not come to an end just because technology or electricity die on us. 

Humans are capable of adapting to a different way of life for survival.

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