Crude mobile culture

The psychology is not difficult to fathom--self-importance through technological gadgets. It is a new and affordable status symbol. A person likes to be the centre of attention. I got a taste of it when last year our son, (out of the university and in a new job, building up his career), gave me a clear hint (I am a civil service pensioner) not to offer him unsolicited advice, and he would like to handle his problems himself. Fine, I thought, as he was my type (DNAY chromosome, as the books say). He got his PC himself while still a student; and also managed to run a second hand car while working part time. Looks like our younger generation has got the entrepreneurship spirit.

Back to our nascent mobile culture. It is the fastest social virus spreading through the society like an epidemic. The growth rate of mobile connection is fantastic, for a fast developing country, spreading, into all age groups; including the students. As for an old fossil like me, I avoided handing incoming telephone calls in the office (too busy), and asked my PA to screen the incoming calls.

The foundation for new culture takes time to be established, as is also apparent in the fashion and cosmetic industries, where the West is aped without shame or conscience. The old order has to surrender some space to the new. The question is how much (the rate). It is the IT bug, which has reduced time and distance in this world of virtual reality.

Now cheaper fixed wireless telephone nets would swamp the rural areas; while the village mobile owners would rely on solar panels to recharge the batteries. The global village is now a reality, (Bush can penetrate faster into remote regions!).

The same mobile nuisance is on public display outdoors; inside the public transports, and right on the middle of a street young men are hollering to handle emergency calls! Romancing has been digitised; but the output of life is analogue. What is coming next-GE Bangladeshis?