Age of Speed

The age we are living in is sometimes called the Digital Age or the Computer Age. However, if you look at it very closely, you will realise that you are living in the Age of Speed.

Life is speeding up in many spheres. Take for instance, the child birth. Normal childbirths are gradually becoming a thing of the past. A doctor once told me that many pregnant women prefer to have a Caesarean (a method of delivering a baby by cutting an opening in the mother's body).

This was something rarely heard in the 1940s and 1950s. Caesarean section is a less painful and a speedier way of giving birth to a baby.

When a child grows up, the scramble for Grade V scholarship examination begins. Tiny tots begin their battle while they are studying in Grade 3 or 4. Parents drag their children from one tuition class to another to speed up the process of education. They think if they fill the young minds with facts and figures, the children will pass the examination with flying colours.

The poor child has to attend numerous tuition classes after normal school hours. As a result he finds no time for play and hobbies. The only recreation he has is to watch silly cartoons and listen to crude music telecast on so many channels of the idiot box.

After the scholarship exam children are not allowed to have a sigh of relief. They are then goaded towards GCE O/L and A/L classes. Parents are generally not happy with what their children learn in the classroom. So they send their children to numerous tuition classes which exploit the situation.

When the student enters the university or any other seat of learning, he has lost his childlike qualities. He refuses to learn or to do research. Instead of engaging in academic pursuits, undergraduates start fighting for their rights.

They demand the removal of the Vice Chancellor if he happens to be a strict disciplination. When their demands are not met, students start agitation campaigns sometimes destroying university buildings and equipment or attacking rival groups. The unrest among university student population is fanned by opportunists who are waiting to topple the government.

The Age of Speed is evident in many other spheres too. When it comes to learning English, students are not prepared to spend many years in order to master the language. They seek tutors who can teach English without writing a single word. They also attend private classes where the tutors promise to teach English in seven or eight days.

Meanwhile, some students do not want to attend any class. Instead they buy a set of cassettes and an instruction manual prepared by a half-baked tutor.

However, I have yet to meet someone who has learnt English by following seven or eight-day courses or by listening to a set of cassettes. You cannot blame the students because they are victims of the Age of Speed.

In this Age of Speed we see the powerful presence of "multimedia" - the blending together of the computer, TV set and telephone into one all-purpose, supersophisticated communication device, although the limits of multimedia have yet to be established, anyone who does not have even a nodding acquaintance of multimedia is considered to be a square.

Some of the future possibilities of multimedia include viewing films from interactive compact discs, telephones that can transmit voice, data and pictures and computers that can construct custom-made media menus.

Today we laugh at the slow postal service and call it "snail mail." We no longer wait for the postman to bring examination results because we can visit the website for a rapid glance. We no longer write those passionate love letters. Instead we e-mail them or use the mobile phones to sms our feelings.

These are inevitable signs of the Age of Speed. Look at our eating habits. We think it is a waste of time to cook our meals in the traditional way. We go for microwave ovens that cook food very quickly using electromagnetic waves.

Meanwhile, we have developed a taste for fast food - prepared fast, served fast and eaten fast. Fast food appeals to the whole family. As busy working couples cook at home less often they look for places that can substitute for the family dining-room.

Fast food restaurants originated in the 1920s to serve hurried tourists in the United States of America. The tourists did not want to waste time off the road. Gradually, people who lived in the suburbs also wanted to get in and out fast. At fast food restaurants customers usually serve themselves at counters where multiple checkouts reduce waiting time.

In production, fast food follows the lead given by Henry Ford who manufactured cars swiftly and cheaply. What is known as "fordism" is a careful, organized division of labour to reduce costs and time. Fast food workers tend to be young and unskilled.

That means, they are interchangeable, as is the product. Ford believed that mass production worked best if the product options were few. He even joked that customers could have a car of any colour as long as it was black. You can see this pattern even in fast food restaurants which are reluctant to introduce any new products.

The most dramatic change during the last few decades is the vastly increased tempo of life. As a boy, I remember spending some of my school holidays in Kolonna and Wellawaya. At that time, everything was peaceful and leisurely.

I saw loin-clothed farmers tilling the fields. There were no hideous tractors to pollute the environment with their noxious fumes. Sometimes my neighbour gave me a special treat by taking me in his bullock cart to the village fair. The leisurely clip-clop of the bull's hoofs and the rhythmic motion of the cart are as fresh as ever in my memory.

The scene has changed dramatically. Fast vehicles roar along the road throwing up dust in dry weather. In wet weather unlucky pedestrians are sprayed with muddy water from spinning car wheels. Those who travel in these fast vehicles miss all the intimate pleasures and wonders of nature.

So far as trade and industry are concerned speed saves time and money. Today we do not want to walk even a short distance because trishaws are available in every nook and corner to pick us up. However, this kind of fast travel has produced many ills. One is the loss of lives as a result of the increasing number of accidents.

Respiratory diseases, aggravated by petrol and diesel fumes, and working hours lost by victims of road accidents are some other instances that show the price we have to pay for speeding up travel.

Amid the swirl of life's varied changes we are likely to be swayed by false estimates and lose our sense of true values. Therefore, we should not accept every change without question. Sometimes it pays to be old fashioned. If we keep our balance and think logically, we will be able to enjoy a sense of true perspective.