JEDDAH, 22 July — Much has been written and said about the transfer of information in this new electronic age but does any of it exempt us from being human? In the recent edition of Gulf News, there was a story of the first court registered divorce carried out by a mobile phone. People are now divorcing their spouses by sending them text messages by mobile phones. It might be convenient but where is the social responsibility? The morality? Is the institution of marriage so trivial that it can be dismissed with a few words typed into the latest technological gadget?
As technology facilitates our lives and connects people in milliseconds, it is also now disconnecting people in the worst possible ways. SMS text messages are becoming very popular and will continue this trend. People use them to send jokes, short important messages and anything that is within the allowed letter limit.
According to a report, more than 50 billion SMS text messages were sent to GSM wireless phones in the first three months of 2001. The report says that the number of SMS messages sent per month should pass 25 billion by December 2001. The SMS service is expected to gain even greater popularity as extra multimedia features and new handsets with bigger displays enter the market.
Yet with advanced technology, there is a necessity for greater social responsibility, not less. A colleague of mine told a story of how a man called him and said, “You sent a love message to my wife!” My colleague was completely perplexed as he had never sent any such message. Technology is not infallible and mistakes do happen. Messages can even be sent to the wrong people by a slip of the finger when entering a phone number. Obviously, the wrong message can also be sent to the right people according to the Gulf News report. According to the story, the message was, “Why are you late? You are divorced.”
Asking people what they thought about this incident, most agreed it was ridiculous. However, there was a time when people also thought the notion of speaking into a metal contraption to communicate across distances was ridiculous and would never catch on.
Recently, I received an e-mail from a man in the United States requesting that Arab News assist him in getting a message to some royal family members about some visions he has had. Distances are eliminated, playing fields are being evened and messages are getting across. E-mail remains the No. 1 communication application: reaching the largest number of people in the shortest amount of time. Also as an application, it is easy to use and the only limits are in access to equipment. Most importantly, free e-mail services on the Internet increase its convenience.
Yet this convenience comes with a social cost and responsibility. Viruses which can be hard-drive fatal are transferred via e-mail. Mass e-mails which spread rumors — many of which are complete fabrications — are being used to tarnish reputations worldwide. Even socially, e-mails can hurt people. Such an incident occurred two years ago when e-mails were used to damage the reputations of Saudi students studying in the United States. Mass e-mails were sent out with pictures and identities of students, exposing their anonymous screen names with malicious captions. Most students canceled their Internet accounts, some even left their studies.
There are many courses that teach people how to use the latest advanced technology applications. There should also be an equal number of organized efforts to increase social awareness to ensure that these technologies are used responsibly.