The Dots That Dominate Us

iconJust a random thought… I remember watching the video of Steve Jobs speaking about “Connecting The Dots” in his speech at Stanford University. The context in which he referred to the dots was about connecting a sequence of events in hindsight. Here is what Wikipedia says about connecting the dots  – “In adult discourse the phrase “connect the dots” can be used as a metaphor to illustrate an ability (or inability) to associate one idea with another, to find the “big picture”, or salient feature, in a mass of data.”

An average person should ideally be spending some time introspecting and connecting the dots. HOWEVER, in today’s world, everything seems to be about connecting WITH the dots. Dots are dominating our lives. Dots are everywhere. Yes, I am referring to our urge to stay connected. In the age of computer networking – social or otherwise – we are living with constant distractions that appear in the shape of a dot on our mobile devices or our computer screens. The red dot of a Facebook notification. The red asterisk of a Blackberry notification. The green dot of a windows mobile. The red and white dot of the i-phone.

The colour of the dot is immaterial. What does matter however, is that each time a dot appears, we are tempted to check it out immediately. Who liked out status messages, who clicked a “like” on our pics. Who sent us a message. Who wrote on our wall. Who sent us a BBM message. Each time a dot appears, we are compelled to connect with it. Instantly.

Yep.. it is the dots that are dominating us. Whatever happened to focusing on the task on hand ? The dot just took it away.

So what colour is the dot that dominates you ?

Author: Rajiv

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