As photography was introduced across the world in the 19th
and early 20th centuries, many traditional cultures, particularly Native
American tribes and indigenous tribes in Central and South America, viewed the
camera box with suspicion. A common belief was that the act of taking a
photograph was a blasphemy, stealing the soul of the individual in front of the
lens. Eventually, many tribes relented and adopted photography as a way of
keeping alive their ancestral heritage, but even then many would still
refuse to have the photos of infants taken, as they were unprepared for this
soul-sucking process.
Today, we may chuckle at the naivety of these pre-moderns
and their clumsy approach to technology, but in a sense, they did have a point.
The world now is saturated with imagery, and much of our daily routine involves
staring at some screen or the other. The screen itself is the preeminent image
of the modern man. Screens have become our gateways to reality and our portals
to past, present and future. Whereas for decades, the television played the
role of the wise sage who extolled earthly wisdom in family gatherings, now
computer and smart phones are our techno-friends whom we share more time with
than their human counterparts. Surely there is a cost to this?
Those of us who grew up in the 90s, 80s or earlier may
remember a time when life was about simple pleasures that involved a good deal
of physical play and face-to-face interaction, normally outdoors. Occasionally,
we would enjoy the odd card game or board game at home with friends and family
on a rainy day. During childhood, indoors and outdoors were two entirely
separate domains each with its own pleasures and protocols.
The childhood today for those with handheld devices is in a
sense always indoors, inside their pocket dimension where time has no meaning
and the definitions of reality and fantasy are in a continual blur. It doesn't
matter if they are in school or in a masjid or in their bedroom, their are always at home. Parents may
brush this off as knee-jerk alarmist rhetoric, but how can they be so confident of the
long-term impact of these devices on their children's health if the smartphone (which is leaps and bounds more complex than the handheld games of
the past) has only been around for less than a decade?
Let us set aside the possible medical risks associated with early
exposure to similar technology, such as psychological problems, addiction, and
radiation exposure. As Muslims, we should be concerned with the spiritual
health of the next generation we are raising. A cornerstone of the Deen is
salah (prayer), to stand in front of our Lord in the entirety of our being at
least five times a day. To do so requires a complete sense of presence, a
combination of mental focus with spiritual clarity and humility. A major
stumbling block in achieving such a state in salah is our inability to resist
the gravitational pull of the Dunya as it weighs upon our soul. Having the mind
preoccupied by a fantasy digital world that acts as escapism from the Dunya adds
only an extra layer to this problem.
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