Articles and letters may be edited for the purposes of clarity and space. They are published in good faith with a view to enlightening all the stakeholders. However, the contents of these writings may not necessarily match the views of the newspaper.
Mobile phone addiction
Smart phones are affecting health of youth, both physically and psychologically. Children with ages ranging from 6-10 years also use these phones that can develop into an addiction, as they grow older. It’s strenuous to live without a smart phone in the 21st century where everything is automated. The dependency of people on their smart phone has reached alarming level. Possible results of an addict losing their phone can be anxiety, depression, mismanagement in life and lack of discipline.
People have become deprived of their consciousness and concentration due to their smart phones. Nowadays, lots of people can be found on different social media apps. People have become de-attached from their families and have stopped devoting their time to their hobbies. The younger generation is not interested in old-school games anymore, exercise and games like hide and seek have lost their value completely.
If parents do not allow them to have access to the phone, they might turn out rebellious and become miserable, because all they have known is a smart phone, social media and suddenly changing that can be problematic. Smart phones have been proven to increase cyber crime rates, with many students or children committing suicide over online bullying while few girls have been reported to run away due to contact with people through their smart phones.
Use of smart phone must be limited and children under the age of 18 should be restricted from certain sites and social media apps. Parents should keep a check on their children and encourage them to go outside and play, and help them engage in activities that require stamina and make them more active. Dependency on smart phones for news must be discouraged for it spreads misinformation and negative propaganda. Proper campaigns should be carried out in order to educate youth about gravity of the situation and how use of smart phones could potentially ruin their life.
HABIBA ZAKIR
Mardan, KP
Bad language
Language shows personality of a person. Nowadays language used by most of our politicians is extremely offensive. They commit personal attacks just for the sake of politics and to get into power. Questioning other politician’s personal life has become a routine now. Majority of politicians are well educated so they should not drag other’s personal life into politics. It should be kept separate.
M ZAFAR GHOUS
Rahim Yar Khan
Societal biases
I remember discussing with my grandmother role of girls in our society. She would always end up saying that how difficult it is for girls to live in this society. And I would always disagree with her in this regard by telling her that in no way girls are inferior to boys. I used to tell her that girls could equally compete boys in almost all spheres no matter, whether it is school, college, university, sports and so forth. I frequently argued with her concerning role of women in our society. However, with each passing day, I am realising that she was right.
With each passing day, I have been observing that how arduous it is for women to live in this patriarchal society. Where they have to pay heavy cost to live their own life. Women are bound to follow up so-called rules of the society where their own security has always been at stake. They have to face ordeal of harassment at work places, schools, colleges and universities. And sadly, they are blamed if any dreadful incident pertaining to their dignity happens. More desperately, they could not even take their own life decisions and if there emerges any independent woman asking her rights, then people start badmouthing her.
Even though, the bitter reality is that most of the people do not see women as human. Women have to endure all the calamities themselves. Such as getting dowry has become a necessity for a happy married life that must be fulfilled at every cost. If this condition is not met then women have to face multiple problems and amongst them domestic violence is the most horrible. Husbands keep on beating and torturing their wives even for tiny mistakes. And in most of the cases, men feel proud for this insanity while women have to hide all these miseries in order to keep up their appearance in the society.
NEHA ALI DHAREJO
Larkana, Sindh
Electronic voting
In Pakistan the election system has constantly remained questionable with allegations and counter-allegations of cheating, electoral rigging or manipulations. When elections come to an end, losing political parties shout nasty over conclusions and start blaming successful party for stealing votes. Various governments have made an effort to bring electoral reforms to handle this problem yet mostly remained unsuccessful. The idea of electronic voting machines (EVMs) is also advocated to bring improvement in the system. Unquestionably this longstanding issue should be sorted out cautiously. Nonetheless, to think that electronic voting is the only antidote is a missing perception. Even if implemented, EVM is not the panacea to all the ills of elections, yet it can alleviate the situation to a more refined and better point. Rather than experimenting with a novel intention and giving rise to the entire procedure more questionable, it will be prudent to bring about reforms in the paper-based elections and bring it more transparent and acceptable to all.
DEEDAR ALI BANGWAR
Kandhkot, Sindh
