 |
||
|
||
TRENDS |
|
||
|
||
TRENDS |
Chat Caveat Relationships made through
the Internet alarm some health experts By THAKUR AMGAI Gone are the days when people always had to
sit across each other face to face to chat about the ills and perils of life or exchange
intimate feelings of the heart. Today, people sit in front of the computer monitor,
twiddle their nimble fingers on the keyboard and develop relationships.
Salini Gurung of Gongabu chats every
morning and evening. To her, a day without chatting is simply unimaginable. If such a day
does arrive by any chance, she feels restless, fails to concentrate on her work, and
cannot sleep well. Withdrawal symptoms, they call it in the old-fashioned addiction
debate. Like most addictions, chatting has brought
about strange changes in society. The first thing it has changed is the individual itself.
Anyone who is hooked onto chatting can't quit thinking about the modem's purr and mouse
clicks. They are constantly on the lookout for new friends on the net. The chatters begin
with a formal relationship that sometimes ends up in strong bonds of the heart. There are more than 500 cyber cafes in the
city, which have made chatting more accessible. Rates have plummeted since Nepal was
connected to the World Wide Web in the mid-1990s and are still going down. Cyber outlets
are on a bidding contest - revising downwards the per-hour Internet rates and posting them
on the front window - in an effort to attract people from all backgrounds. With more and more households getting
connected to the Internet, and service providers reworking daily, monthly and annual
charges corresponding to the users' requirements, the number of chatters is growing by
leaps and bounds. However, there is a downside to being
garrulous netizens, according to psychiatrists. Chat addiction can be more dangerous than
drug abuse, since it has a direct effect on one's psychology. When people begin taking
online relationships seriously, experts say, the habit can be particularly harmful. People can be seen deeply involved in
affairs of the heart through the net. They introduce themselves, talk about almost
everything under the sun, often propose and even start making post-marriage plans. And
they do all that without ever having met each other. In real life, these people spend less
time with friends and family. And they want to 'utilize' all their free time on the net.
They withdraw from once-favorite pursuits like music and sports, leaving parents,
relatives and friends anxious. And who knows how much time youngsters spend nursing broken
hearts. The Internet, lauded as an unprecedented
source of information, is being abused for fatal ends. Almost all the cyber cafes are
filled with chatters delving into all kinds of subjects. For the uninitiated, these people
seem to be a generation bent on wasting time and money on nothing. Isn't that what they
say about substance abusers? School children and college students spend
a considerable amount of their time online. Often, this means abstaining from studies or
other forms of entertainment. Parents who normally do not allow children to use the
telephone unnecessarily leave their children alone on the computer in the expectation that
they would learn about the latest good things floating in cyberspace. Many are simply
oblivious of the kind of 'education' their kids getting. It has become a fashion for many to chat.
Peer pressure coupled with the growing influence of western culture has driven an entire
generation of Nepalis toward the chat-rooms. A country that intends to harness advances in
information technology for development also has to be vigilant against possible misuse.
When chatting goes on to the point of obsession, experts say, it can create new problems
for society. What do you say? |
Send your feedback to the
editor: spotligh@mos.com.np |
