Over the past several decades, the US and many other countries around the world, even India in recent years, have been undergoing a transformation from family-oriented societies into individualistic ones. There are explanations in social sciences about this change: some theories attribute this to disintegration of families resulting from divorce, economic hardship requiring both spouses working and empowerment of women to rise beyond their role as housewives.

I worked in the consumer electronics industry during my professional life; unlike the social scientists, I see a strong correlation between this social change and advances in technology. Here is my explanation of this transition based on development of new technologies in electronics. The first sign of family breakdown was the end of nightly family dinners where family members discussed incidents in their daily lives as well as current events. This formed a strong bond. The main culprit behind the end of this practice was the microwave oven. With every person in the family having a busy individual schedule, microwave ovens provided a convenient alternative to synchronizing a time window for dinner. When a person was hungry, he/she could warm up the meal (either cooked earlier or frozen dinner) and eat alone at their convenience.

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Introduction of headphones along with devices like the Sony Walkman in listening to music made it convenient for a listener to enjoy music of his own taste without bothering anyone else or seeking a consensus. However, it also created isolation. One could spend hours on this device without interacting with anyone. Miniature TVs with 6” to 9″ screen sizes started to emerge around the same time, allowing individual viewing of TV programmes. Electronic video games captured everyone’s attention. ATARI introduced games like “Pac-Man” and “Donkey-Kong” which were extremely addictive. Soon other companies such as Nintendo followed suit.

Young people remained absorbed for hours playing these games by themselves with total concentration; parents did not have to worry about where their kids were but there was no more need for family-oriented games like Scrabble, Chess, various card games or board games like “Snakes and Ladders”. The most significant invention of this period was that of VCR. Apart from providing popular movies and prerecorded home videos for home viewing, VCRs brought pornography to our bedroom. There was no longer the need to sneak into an adult movie theatre in a seedy part of town without being seen by anyone. With VCRs, one could watch any adult movie any time in the privacy and comfort of one’s home. I have no doubt that they contributed significantly to unhappiness, infidelity if not break-up of marriages.

Wireless hand-held telephone receivers came along the way. There was no more need to talk loudly over the phone in the living room or kitchen where everyone could hear you. One could go to one’s room and share all kinds of private and intimate thoughts with friends and relatives. Apart from variety in home entertainment, new inventions also focused on convenience. The concept of integration became a trendy thing in the mid-eighties. “Universal remote controls” allowed control of a whole group of audio and video components by a single person using a single remote. Subsequent developments focused on physically merging separate components into one compact physical entity. The first such devices were TV/VCR combos (later replaced by TV/DVD player combos) and “boom boxes”. Sony later came up with a console integrating PlayStation and DVD player.

Invention of laptop computers with built-in DVD-players made it easy to access any video content in complete privacy anywhere inside or outside the house. The Internet provided the fuel to a full-blown explosion that ended family group activities, whether it was education or entertainment. The need to go to the library and study together was gone. Every imaginable information was available on the internet just by clicking a few buttons. A tutor or even inperson college classes seems like an unnecessary expense when all learning sessions are available on the internet. Movies and music, news, games could all be accessed on the same screen whenever and wherever. When I left the consumer electronics industry, all companies were preoccupied in their research to integrate TVs with computers.

Their goal was to come up with an all-encompassing large box in the middle of one’s family room which integrated TV, DVD-player, stereo, computer, video game console, radio, telephone, clock and probably a few other accessories. There was even talk about a 3D holographic TV display where viewers could walk around the screen and see the content from various angles. Perhaps such an invention could have unified the family again. Unfortunately, no such system was ever developed by any company; I didn’t even see a working prototype at Consumer Electronic shows. All devices eventually did converge, but not in a big box in the middle of our family room but in a tiny box which fits into our pockets called a “Smartphone”; it kept family members separated.

Just think about it; a smartphone is a combination of TV, phone with both audio and video communication, computer terminal, calculator, camera, video camera, video game console, timer and clock radio, road atlas, Global Positioning System, a universal remote and provides a host of other information with the help of “apps”. One can even use it in the ‘selfie mode” to take one’s own photo without seeking help from others. Furthermore, the price is exceedingly affordable. Everyone can have one. Evolution of social media resulted in further isolation, especially among young people.

Instead of playing with friends and neighbourhood kids or doing something outdoor now they prefer to communicate in private with their friends through texts and social media. Even for adults, a multitude of tasks, including banking, shopping, ordering food, making reservations etc. can be done online using smartphone apps, completely avoiding interactions with other human beings. Smartphones completed the transformation of society. We no longer see a large group of people of a family enjoying themselves in a park or restaurant or movie theatre. Instead, we see everyone – adults and children alike – deeply absorbed in their cell-phones, often connected by a headphone or ear-pod. What is next? The answer is written on the wall or should I say, “on the cloud”.

Artificial Intelligence will gradually eliminate the need to communicate with not just family members but all human beings we interact with and replace them with robots; our teachers, doctors, financial counsellors, spiritual guides, all agents in every service-oriented job, taxi drivers and possibly our friends as well. Instead of a society of human beings, we will be immersed among robots. Meta/Facebook company has already created Metaverse where one can experience a virtual world by wearing a specially designed headset with glasses and sensors.

Perhaps technology will finally show us what the Holy men have been saying for ages. Life on this earth is nothing but an illusion. Just like electronic signals from a controller allows us to “experience” the virtual world of Metaverse, our five senses allow our brain to experience the universe around us by sending signals to the brain; we assume it to be real. However, it is just an illusion. Family, friends, teachers, ChatGPT – none really means anything, and we really do not need any of them to find the ultimate answers we seek. God is the only truth.

(The writer, a physicist who worked in industry and academia, is a Bengali settled in America.)