Steve Jobs visit to the Digital World

It was 3 am in the morning when a phone call wakes me up. The number was private. Still, I picked up the call.

Me: “Hello. Who is there?”

Caller: “Hi. Are you Mr. Ali?”

Me: “Yes I am. But who are you?”

Caller: “I am Steve. I need your help.”

Me: “But I don’t know you.”

Caller: “I think you are familiar with Apple Company.”

Me: “Yes I am. In fact, I am talking on iPhone 11 right now. It is the product of Apple company.”

Caller: “Then you should also be familiar with the owner of the company.”

Me: “Yes I am. It was Steve Jobs.”

Caller: “I am Steve Jobs.”

I was sure that a friend of mine was playing a prank on me.

Me: “That’s wonderful.  How do you manage to bring a phone to heaven? Or you have a telephone in hell, I guess.”

Caller: “I didn’t bring it from your world. I invented it here in heaven.”

Me: “Oh man. Stop playing with me. Either tell me your name or I am disconnecting the call.”

Caller: “I am telling the truth.”

Me: “Ok then, goodbye.”

Caller: “Wait a minute.”

Me: “Now what?”

Caller: “I need your help. I want to visit you next week.”

Me: “Ok, I am waiting for you.”

I replied annoyingly, disconnected the call, and slept.

When I wake up, I thought about last night's dream for a while. It would be amazing if that was real. But I forget about it soon. One day, after a week of the incident, I was enjoying a cup of tea, sitting on the pouch when the doorbell rang. A burst of emotions went through my body. I was amazed, excited, confused, and frightened at the same time. It was Steve Jobs. The real Steve Jobs. The owner of The Apple company.

Steve: “Hello Ali. How are you?”

I was shocked. I couldn’t manage to say anything. I was just looking at him with my mouth open. He repeated for the third time. Only then I was aware of the situation.

Me: “Hi” I only managed to say.

Steve: “How are you, Ali?”

Me: “I am fine. How are you?”

Steve: “I am doing good. Can I come in?”

Me: “Yes, of course. Come in please.”

He came in and we sit on the pouch. I was still not sure what was happening. It was either a dream or he was not the real Steve Jobs. I offered him tea. After a long period of weird silence, I finally managed to say.

Me: “Are you real Steve Jobs?”

Steve: “Yes, I am.”

Me: “How do you manage to come to the world?”

Steve: “Dead people have powers to do a lot. It is complicated. You will not understand. I will explain you later.”

I didn’t have an answer. So, I remained silent.

Steve: “I came here to visit the world. I want to see the impacts of my invention.”

Me: “I think you will not like it.”

Steve: “What do you mean?”

Me: “Your devices have transformed the world but with a cost.”

Steve: “At what cost?”

Me: “It would be better if you observe it by yourself.”

Steve: “Then take me somewhere I can see the changes.”

Me: “Where do you want to go first?”

Steve: “I think a school will be best.”

Me: “But they don’t allow us to enter their premises.”

Steve: “Don’t worry. I will arrange it. We can easily enter the school and the classrooms.”

Me: “So, let’s get ready”

Steve: “I am ready”

I selected a small school near my home and went there. At the gate, nobody asked us any questions. We easily entered the classroom and no one noticed. Only when he said that we are invisible, I understood.

Steve got joyed when he saw that almost all the students either have Apple laptops or iPhones. Some of them have both. Few of them have equipped with Apple watches, Apple iPads, Apple air pods and Apple iPods.

The teacher hasn’t come to the class yet. All the students were busy looking at their screens. He thought that they must be learning something on their devices. He checked the cell phone of a student who has ear pods in his ears and eyes fixed on the screen. He was scrolling down his Facebook newsfeed. He has 25 hundred friends and joined in 8 groups. He was following pages of a number of celebrities. His newsfeed was full of selfies and funny videos. Steve thought that he is a social person. These social networks helped him to develop his social skills. The number of likes on his posts, comments, and shares proves that socially the student is active.

After every few seconds, the student receives notifications from other apps like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, and Twitter. He was switching between apps 4 to 5 times every minute.

Steve: “I think, I am successful in helping people to live a happy and satisfying life.”

Me: “Are you sure about it? Do you think your invention is worthy?”

Steve: “Obviously, don’t you just see it?”

Me: “Well! You have observed this new world for only a few hours. I am sure your perception will change in the next few hours.”

Steve: “What you want to say?”

Me: “I will not say anything. I will prefer that you observed it of your own.”

As we were discussing whether the new technology is worthy or damaging, a teacher came to the class and nobody noticed. The teacher even greets them with a good morning. But that didn’t work. The teacher has to say loudly again. The students respond back, most of them still glued with their screens. During the attendance, she has to repeat the names of a few students multiple times because the students were fully focused on their phones.

The first period passed without any interesting event. In the second period, the teacher asked the students to submit their assignments. One student protested that he was not aware of the last date of submission. On which the teacher replied, “I have repeatedly told in 3 previous classes about the last date of submission. I even wrote it on the board yesterday. I also emailed every student. How can you forget that?”

The student replied, “But you didn’t send a message on WhatsApp. You should at least send me a text.” The teacher reluctantly gave him one more day.

Another student also didn’t complete his assignment. On asking the reason he said, “You have emphasized using primary sources for assignment. I searched it on the internet, but I can’t find it.” “What was your topic” enquired the teacher.

The answer shocked the teacher. Steve also got surprised and said that how on earth that he can’t find it. The student replied with full confidence, “The Bible”. The teacher didn’t believe his ears and asked for confirmation, “Are you sure? You didn’t find a single primary source of The Bible?” The student replied, “I searched it for almost two hours on the internet. There wasn’t a single primary source of The Bible.”

The teacher then said, “But, you can use a printed form.” The student got surprised and asked, “Is there any printed form?” The teacher said, “This is, infect, the most printed book in the world. You can find it almost everywhere. Our school library has 5 prints.”

For the first time, I saw a sign of worry on Steve Jobs’ face. But still, he was not convinced that all this was due to his invention. In his opinion, there must be some other reasons which were making these kids dumb. He needs some more shreds of evidence.

So, I thought of giving him some explanations.

Me: “The modern kids spent 80% of their time on screened technologies. They depend on the internet for simple information. Their basic skills of problem-solving and critical thinking reduce to an alarming stage. They are becoming addicted to devices.”

Steve: “It is good if the students spend most of their time on screens. They are learning and learning becomes easy. They can find almost any information within seconds. What is wrong with it?”

Me: “Most of the time students spend on screens is not productive. They spend it playing games, listening to music, texting, sending photos, scrolling down social media feeds, or watching funny videos and movies. Only two percent of their time on the internet is productive. How can you say it is useful to have gadgets if 98% of the time is wasted?”

I continued my argument.

Me: “Although they can find any information from the internet easily, this makes them lazy. They are not trying to find the information on their own. They are just remembering the thoughts and ideas of another person. They are not learning anything. They don’t use their brain to think to solve problems, because every problem has a solution on the internet. They don’t utilize their memorizing ability to remember facts because every piece of information is available on their phones. How is it good for students?”

To convince him we visited as many classes as possible. The situations were all same. Every class has the same type of problems; difficulty in solving simple problems and difficulty in memorizing information.

To show him more pieces of evidence we went to a news company where a young employee has joined a few days ago. He has a degree in media arts and design. He was freshly graduated. On that day he was given the task of covering a press conference of a minister. He came back with the recording after two hours. But when the boss saw the recordings, it was just 15 minutes. The boss got confused.

Boss: “You were supposed to record the press conference for two hours. It is only 15 minutes. What happened to the other one hour and 45 minutes?”

Employee: “The battery died.”

Dumfounded the boss asked: “Why didn’t you plug it in?”

Employee: “Was I supposed to plug it in? You never told me that. How was I supposed to know?”

Boss: “Why do you think I gave you the power cord, an extension cord, and set your camera up next to the power outlet?”

Employee: “I don’t know?”

Boss: “At least, why didn’t you come to find me when the battery died and ask me what should do about it?”

Employee: “You didn’t tell me to do that.”

Steve was shocked. He can’t believe his ears. The employee was a young man with a master’s degree in video production. Even a man without a degree can figure out what to do in those types of situations. He definitely has charged his cell phone or laptop when its battery went down. Yet he could not figure out the similar type of electronic device, which has almost an identical power cord, would operate under the same principle, but with a slight change. The only cause of the dumbness of the employee is too much dependency on gadgets and the internet.

This was not the digital native Steve Jobs has dreamt of. Neither was this a better world the technology companies promised.

This is the new generation in the new digital world where kids spend most of their time on screens at home. The more shocking news is that the schools are introducing more and more screens in their classrooms. The school management was convinced by the technology companies that screens are good for students. Even they would say that the students in schools without screens will not compete with the students in schools with more screens and technology.

Cell phones, laptops, the internet, and social media is making our kids dumb. They are forgetting how to use their brains in daily life because their phones are doing the tasks. The most important qualities, the modern generation needs are critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, and innovation. The future generation has to deal with bigger and dangerous problems like global warming, climate change, pollution, energy shortage, population increase, etc.

With the current situation, it is difficult for the new generation to deal with future problems. The screen times should be reduced especially among teens and kids. Parents should restrict their kids' screen time. Schools should minimize screens as far as possible.

Steve Jobs wished that the world will change soon. I told him that in the future the situations will be changed for good. I have hope in some younger people who will help to repair the damages done by the screens on the younger generation. Things will get better soon.

Feeling disappointed, Steve went back to where he came from. But he still has hopes that good will come soon. I said goodbye to him and he leaves my home closing the door behind him.