Smartphone and Smarting

The Scottish-born scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator, Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922), credited with patenting the first practical telephone and founding the American Telephone and Telegraph Company in 1885 might have not imagined in his wildest dream that the handy device would be in the hands of almost every human being. His gratification after witnessing its present-day wireless variants such as iPhone and smartphone being the lifeline of every kind of users of the tool of communication globally as well as locally would be boundless if Bell were to be amidst us today. Being a dedicated inventor, he might also have been disillusioned on witnessing its use beyond the convenience of distance communication, particularly its many misuses such as (a) Getting addicted, (b) Using while driving automobiles, in spite of the law prohibiting, (c) Craze of taking ‘selfies,’ particularly in perilous situations, often resulting in fatalities, not necessarily in that order. The point that any technology not put to use with discretion results in undoing its merits is well-taken. Telephone, er smartphone, is no exception.

Thanks to incorporating the feature of taking photographs, with added features of creating an album of pictures without the hassles of spending on photographic films and visiting photo studios, the smartphone has shown the exit door to the many world-famous companies that ruled the roost worldwide for more than 130 years. Of course, the device dominating the world of Information and Communication, including its role as a window to the internet, needs no elaboration.

In the context of the aforementioned cases of misusing or over-using smartphones resulting often in smarting (causing intense pain), a report in a widely-read Bengaluru edition of English-language daily last week under the headline ‘Before you kill that mosquito, record it,’ published on its front page, should make everybody sit up and rethink on the notorious image as it were that smartphone has ungrudgingly acquired in recent times. The backdrop to the report cannot be under-valued as its central point, or call it hero, is the vector known for long by its role in spreading diseases such as Malaria and Filaria world over, not to forget two other deadly infections which Mysureans too are aware of, namely Dengue and Chikungunya. We are talking of two types of mosquitoes, namely Aedes albopictus and Aedes aegypti.

To make a long story short, the advisory mentioned in the above report, based on research conducted by Dr. Manu Prakash and team at the Stanford University’s Department of Bioengineering is that next time you see a mosquito, on your arm, or buzzing above your head, exercise restraint and take its picture using your smartphone. Researchers have chalked out plans heading for abatement of the mosquito menace and thus save humans from smarting and death.