During my trips to Europe, South Asia and some Gulf countries, I attempted to activate the Bluetooth device on my mobile phone. The only place where my device was able to receive a connection via Bluetooth was inside a shopping mall in Bahrain. Appropriately, the shopping center was crowded with Saudi shoppers. Elsewhere, the Bluetooth wireless connection was quiet.
The zeitgeist characteristics of the technology has come and passed in many parts of the globe, but not with Saudis. They love their Bluetooth. They only turn off their devices when they switch off their other sensory radars: at bedtime.
I expected that the Bluetooth fad would vanish with time. Society quickly adapts new trends, and usually forgets them just as quickly. (Remember minidisk players?)
This continuous obsession with Bluetooth is confusing. It’s not just a youthful fad. It has extended to the elderly as well. The Bluetooth wireless connection is considered an essential medium for easy acquaintance, digital harassment and other less seemly audiovisual exchanges.
Inappropriate use of technology is found in any society, but technology is also utilized within well-defined limits matching society’s culture. Unfortunately, mobile phones, Internet chat-rooms, instant messaging, and Bluetooth can all be abused. This abuse is widespread and it proves that society suffers from ethical and behavioral problems.
Why is this happening in spite of all the moral lessons we are taught since the day we are born till the day we die?
