Much has been said recently about cellular phones with cameras and of how technology has exposed people and robbed them of their right to privacy. Many loud accusing voices have been raised against this particular gadget, demanding that it be prohibited and that severe punishment be given to those who carry, use and promote it. Over the past week, local newspapers have competed with each other in publishing articles about the threats and dangers the “cursed” gadget poses, how it spreads corruption and encourages indecency. One newspaper went as far as to publish three “stories” dealing with the topic and presented cellular camera phones as perilous and invading dangers that must be eliminated and how society must be freed from its evils.
This approach — the demand for prohibition and prevention in addition to punishment — is what is always heard when a new device is used in the wrong way. This approach is of course based on the justification that whatever is damaging to the community must be stopped. At this point, let us call time and be honest with ourselves and with those who accuse the objects themselves of being dangerous rather than the human beings who use them incorrectly.
The community and its members are harmed only because of the evil within the minds of some people. No invention is inherently evil but what may well be evil is the user of the invention. We must realize that technology is mostly innocent and harmless while also realizing that no civilized and progressive community can afford to ignore the advantages of technology. What is required is the purification of people’s minds and creating community awareness of how to use technology properly; prohibition is not the solution nor is strict punishment.
Everyone knows that what is forbidden becomes desirable and the more the prohibition is emphasized, the more the object is sought after. Whatever unfortunate incidents occur because of cell phones are due to their being misused and not because the phone or the camera is evil. Once again I stop and question: How long will we fight technology that will surely win in the end?
