Two young ladies sat beside each other inside a car: From afar, it looked like they were in a deep conversation. Indeed, they were, except that each was engaged with a person on the other end of a chat, viaFacebook, WhatsApp, Messenger, or some other online platform. You could see the strains of addiction as they gazed intensely, with pursed lips, at the equipment they each held.
They were physically proximal, but emotionally far apart, and in tune only with obvious objects of admiration several physical realities removed from themselves. Prof Anthony Kila reveals that the number of Internet users in Nigeria grew from 200,000 in 2000 to 51 million in 2015. This ranks Nigeria as ninth among countries that use the Internet.
These young ladies, who were so physically close, yet with minds that had wandered elsewhere, exemplified the associative society, where people exist as a disconnected mass. In this “virtual country,” described by John Naisbitt, in his book, “Megatrends,” the low tech, high-touch emotional connectivity between people is lost. Well, almost lost.
About the online paradox, Jay Shetty says: “It is phenomenal that the same technology that brings us close to those who are far away, takes us far away from the people that are actually close. Thirty billion WhatsApp messages are sent per day, but 48 per cent of people say they feel lonelier in general.”
The following must have been composed by a technophobe Pentecostal Christian, who abhors spiritual fare travelling on the Internet superhighway: “A pastor would say to his congregation, ‘Can we please open our iPads to Exodus 2:1? When you are done, kindly switch on your Bluetooth to receive the sermon. Please, have your debit cards ready as we collect the tithes and offering. You can connect to church Wi-Fi using password Lord3732. And as for the donations, you are welcome to contribute via cellphone banking.’”
“After the pastor is done, the Church Secretary announces: ‘This week’s meeting will be held on variousWhasApp groups. So, please don’t miss out. Wednesday Bible Teaching will be held live on Skype @ 1900GMT. By the way, you may follow the pastor on Twitter for counselling. And don’t forget our weekly prayers on YouTube. God bless you.’”
In an essay entitled, “The End of Geography,” Richard O‘Brien argues that the movement of capital and information, enabled by the computer chip, has moved trading on national stock exchanges from physical locations to big screens across borders. In other words, space and time have merged.
You can now run your business without a street address. A prospect can view, and order for her shoes, bags, and air travel, that you sell, all online. The only physical contact between her and your organisation may be through the physical delivery that may even be done in her absence.
If you didn’t match her specs, she could call your customer service, tell them her impression of you all, and get the appropriate “Yes Ma! We’ll change it right away.” And change will be made-with minimum physical contact. All these in-voice, in-text, in-picture, or in-graphics communications are enabled via the Internet superstructure across the world’s 24-hour time zone, in real-time.
Through the enablement of desktop publishing, you can create your company letterhead; write a letter, and print from your printer. You could ditch printing, and send the letter by email. You could also scan hard copies of land surveys, and send by email, if DHL’s promise to “deliver absolutely, positively, overnight,” will be too late for your purpose.
If you suspect that the recipient of your correspondence may be tardy in checking your mail, you can send him an SMS alert via your mobile phone. If you run an advertising agency, you could send visuals to your clients, and get your approvals, online. You could also forward the progress of jobs to clients, receive their comments and final approvals, and effect changes online.
To receive advance payment to proceed with the job after all approvals have been given online, you can forward your bank account details to your client who will then make electronic money transfer to you. When the job is concluded, your outstanding balance will also come by electronic money transfer. And all transfer notifications come via SMS or email correspondence.
You can obtain legal counsel, view and confirm legal and contract details, and communicate job specs, deliverables, targets, and exchange documents, all online even without voice communication.
Technology has got to the point that you do not necessarily have to meet a client that lives in your city or another country, before you assess each other, and decide to do business together. People get hired after their credentials and competencies have been verified on the LinkedIn site. You could explore search engines, like metacrawler for even more information.
You do not need a Prof Kila to remind you that the world moved from the Stone Age, Agrarian Age, Industrial Age, Information Age, to what has come to be known as the New Economy. This new age puts the Information and Communications Technology, as suggested by Bill Gates, enables people to do business even at the speed of thought!
You probably have many friends in your online community. Many of them you may not have met, or may never meet, yet you deal on very chummy basis. You communicate regularly via telephone calls, SMS, email, and the other online platforms like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, etc. Some follow you on Twitter.
Reuben Abati, former Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to former President Goodluck Jonathan observes: “With any electronic device, anyone at all, can set up a communications unit, using a phone, a tablet, a laptop, a desktop, and simply occupy the social space and broadcast information, which, in a matter of minutes, may go viral, and condition public opinion.”
Abati worries: “It grants the involved person absolute freedom, even anonymity, dangerous anonymity of self, space, location…” But he need not worry; there is technology that can trace the physical location of an “online personality” through what is called an electronic trail.
The online mailing device is certainly more thorough than surface mails, like letters, greeting cards, and bulk mails that need your address zip code to trace you. Your mails meet you wherever you are. Maybe, you remember the credo of the American postman, “Ain’t no mountain high enough, valley low enough; snow, no wind, no gale, can prevent us from getting to you.”
Young African men who sought the Golden Fleece in Europe in the mid- 20th Century may recall receiving black-and-white photographs of prospective wives that their folk back home intended to send to them. Those photos were the only way to assess the comeliness of the brides. Today, the selfie and the YouTube on your android telephone does the job more assuredly, and faster.
In many corporate offices, like banks, law firms, advertising agencies, and media houses, the world over, it has become standard fare to have the TV tuned permanently to CNN or any of the other international networks during work hours. This development is a metaphor of the fact that the Orwellian Big Brother is not merely watching you; he is in your face.
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