Introspection- Are we losing our Zing Quotient to Data Managers??

Introspection- Are we losing our Zing Quotient to Data Managers??

At 56 years, I have fond memories of growing up in a military station as a kid where we would play with our friends and the fun and frolic would continue till dad got home from office or the street lights went ON – both of which were our time keepers assigned by my mom’s – these images are etched in the memories of my generation. The reward for getting back on time was a good post playtime home snack from mom and God forbid if while batting we missed the street lights getting On and reached home late we were sure to get a cold stare from dad and a sermon from mom on the neighbors kid being a lot more virtuously responsible compared to her own offspring. No matter what- The fun was unlimited and tales endless.

Well, fast forward a few decades and here we have fancy Smart devises- health trackers, watches and mobiles which have slowly steadily become our gatekeepers and companions keeping track of our every move. These smarties keep track of our steps, calories burnt, and the smarter ones get to keep an eye on our pulse and O2 levels. Conversations on the steps done last week vs missed targets are common areas of concern where potentially less joy is exercised on the targets achieved and greater anxiety created on missed goals. Some others even go to the extent of sharing their sleep pattern and trends of their deep vs light sleep mood- interesting indeed!!!

To introspect, while the apps and their smart developers made these instruments as simple record keeping however sadly the data crunching has become a way of life and slowly and steadily overtaking us and making us lose the zing of our achievements- so what if you did not complete your 10K steps for the day, so what if we did not burn the target calories today- rather it would be good to rewind back to the 80’s where the joy was having lots of fun in the evening friendly cricket match and follow up conversation on who won/lost the match the previous evening for the team in the school bus trip to the school the next morning and prepare for this evening fun time.

Data is not the primary issue rather our lives becoming tied down to the numbers making us lose the Zing in the fun of our achievements is the bane of the smart technology; trackers are cool but its cooler to enjoy the success of the day. Let’s be sure we recreate our zing daily that we may be missing unconsciously to our data smarties on hand. Do ponder for a moment- has our own smartness been overtaken by our devices and were our parents who were devoid of them less fortunate than us- maybe not. Let us mentor our next Gen positively to avoid their overt dependence on tracker data thereby preserving their Zing Fun quotient.

Cheers and do remember Life is Short- enjoy your dessert post a hard workout and for once forget the calories it adds up.