Dealing With the Impact of Modern Gadgets on our Lives - Part 2
Psychological dependence on computers and how it impacts personal lives:
I recently came to know of a young man who was so addicted to “Face Book” on the internet that he lost out on his MS fellowship – Face Book seemed more important than his course! Unfortunately, this is just not a stray incident of a misguided youth who behaved like a juvenile; there are many intelligent persons around the globe who perform below their true potential as their quality time is spent online in various activities including chats, unhealthy online debates (or gossip!), or addictive searches (there are many who indulge in ego-searches – searching for one’s name, one’s school name in websites, etc. just to “feel good”). In another instance, a young woman divorced her husband after just 3 months of marriage because she found it more enjoyable to play computer games and the husband was considered as an “intruder” in the happy relationship between herself and the fantasy world in her computer! Believe me, it is only the tip of the ice-berg……the two bizarre instances I have quoted are just symbolic of a wider raging psycho-pathology that is sweeping the world populace in various ways.
The virtual world seems more real to many young adults than the real world! This is definitely not a healthy sign.
I will go as far as to say that almost everyone today is addicted to the computer in one way or the other that impacts our life in various ways – it can be the chronic obsession to check emails at the death of night thus spoiling sleep rhythm, the chronic obsession to “search” matter on google or other search engines even if you are armed with all the relevant facts, the chronic obsession to log on to chat rooms while your dear and near ones are longing for your company in just the next room, and so on.
We need to understand that computers were invented to make our life easier and they should serve us. It should never be that we venerate our systems to an extent that they Lord over us! We should discipline ourselves to spending only “productive” time before our systems – i.e. we should avoid the tendency to sit before the system just for the heck of it, but simply log off once our tasks are over.
Well, there are cases when the person has to be really online due to professional compulsions. In such cases, keeping an amethyst crystal can heal the person and prevent health disorders arising out of over-exposure to electrical waves.
Similarly, keeping fresh cucumber slices over the eyes can prevent eye strain and dark circles beneath the eyes.
Cars, bikes, elevators, etc.
A person can be healthy only if he/ she takes minimum amount of physical exercise every day and the day is also generally interspersed with optimum physical activity. Taking a walk of at least 3 km. per day can prevent most heart-ailments and blood-pressure complaints. But with the improving “standards of life” manifest in the form of every mode of transport, we take very little walk. There are persons who need to take out their bikes or worse even their car for even the street-corner mall – a distance of hardly 150m!
These persons, apart from harming their bodies by depriving it of necessary exercise, also contribute to environmental pollution by unnecessary use of vehicles that emit poisonous carbon-monoxide fumes to the atmosphere. The use of vehicles for transport cannot be avoided, but at least we should limit the usage to a healthy minimum and should switch to more eco-friendly fuels (for instance, restrict use of diesel vehicles; use car parks – people going along the same route from the same neighbourhood can share cars to reduce the number of vehicles plying on the road, etc.). Similarly, one should prefer to take a flight of stairs rather than use the elevator as far as possible. Taking short walks now and then is the greatest good that you can do to your body.
Optimal use of refrigerators
While refrigerators have become almost indispensable for storage of food items, it is not necessary for a single family to have 2 or 3 fridges! Though there are environment mandates that restrict the usage of CFCs in refrigerators in most developed countries (CFCs are the major culprits in depleting ozone layer), there are many developing countries where such CFC models still rule the roost! Even in nations where CFCs are restricted, HCFC or HFCs that are used instead still contribute to global warming – even these chemicals are not completely ozone safe – the only consolation being that they deplete lesser ozone! But, they use 10% more energy and contribute in a greater way to global warming. So, the only solution lies in at least limiting the use of refrigerators as complete avoidance of a refrigerator is not feasible due to various reasons, and these are indispensable for pharmacies to store medicines. A big family living in various apartments of a building society can just share one fridge; each branch/ division of an office need not have a refrigerator – they can just share one fridge for their usage. Small adjustments like these by different groups can reduce the overall impact on our environment.
Microwave ovens/ heating appliances
Researches indicate that microwave cooking can distort the molecular structure of foods – this can range from decrease in bioavailability of nutrients (thereby reducing the body’s ability to assimilate the nutrients) to the more dangerous formation of carcinogens (cancer causing molecules) from basically harmless amino-acid chains of protein substances (this is markedly observed while heating milk and other cereals rich in proteins using microwave ovens). Studies of Dr. Hans Ulrich Hentel (Switzerland), Dr. Lita Lee of Hawaii, and other short-term studies have documented the effects of microwave cooking on food substances and the adverse impact on health. The studies indicate such effects ranging from increase of leucocytes, decrease in haemoglobin levels, and decrease in level of lymphocytes.
In Comparative Study of Food Prepared Conventionally and in the Microwave Oven, published by Raum & Zelt in 1992, at 3(2): 43, it states "A basic hypothesis of natural medicine states that the introduction into the human body of molecules and energies, to which it is not accustomed, is much more likely to cause harm than good. Microwaved food contains both molecules and energies not present in food cooked in the way humans have been cooking food since the discovery of fire. Microwave energy from the sun and other stars is direct current based. Artificially produced microwaves, including those in ovens, are produced from alternating current and force a billion or more polarity reversals per second in every food molecule they hit. Production of unnatural molecules is inevitable. Naturally occurring amino acids have been observed to undergo isomeric changes (changes in shape morphing) as well as transformation into toxic forms, under the impact of microwaves produced in ovens.
Dr. Lita Lee says that microwaving baby foods can convert certain trans-amino acids into their synthetic ciz-isomers. Further one of the amino-acids, L-Proline was converted into its d-isomer which is known to be neurotoxic (poisonous to nerves), and nephrotoxic ( poisonous to kidneys). – Ref. Lancet, issue of Dec 9, 1989.
So, ideally we should use conventional cooking methods over microwave ovens or at least limit the usage of the ovens. In no instance should you use microwaves to heat baby formulae. If you do use microwave ovens for cooking, consume the foods at least half an hour later to avoid impact of the residual waves on your body tissues.
Click here to Read Part 1 of Dealing With the Impact of Modern Gadgets on our LivesArticle by
Pandit R Dakshinamoorthi
