Family Relations and Technologies - Essay Example

My cousin understands and supports my decision. I would be able to meet once a year during the Christmas break. So after some warm hugs and goodbyes, I leave my city and shift abroad. Initially, it is a bit difficult for me as it is a completely new surrounding, but gradually I start to get the taste of it. We are still in touch with each through phone calls and social media. Social media being so popular these days that it has almost created a virtual world for us where most of us like to live their lives.

It does not make you feel that you are away from your near and dear ones. (Sherry Turkle, Alone Together) So it really helps me to be in touch with my cousin and share my experience out here. Gradually my work pressure starts increasing and I get to spend lesser time online. As a result, I don’t get enough time to sit and chat with my cousin online. He does expect it from me but does not complain. It has been around 3 months now that I have been situated here. Gradually our bonding is becoming distant.

One Sunday I sit with my laptop and feel like having a chat with my cousin as it has been a long time. I check my inbox and find that my cousin has written to me after a long time. I am all excited and happy. I start reading the mail only to get the shock of my life. He says that he missed me so much that he got a robot with my name and programmed it like me. In sense, the robot likes what I like and has the same dissimilarities as mine. It is true that robotics is actually replacing humans in many ways as people use them to sweep the kitchen floor, take care of our aging parents, and provide us with reliable companionship.

(Jonah Lehrer, “We, Robots”) But it is still hard to replace a complete human being. My cousin now spends most of the time with a robot that he calls by my name. Not that I am offended with this whole reaction of his. I am kinda shocked and deeply hurt inside. I always used to feel that I was that once special brother for my cousin and he used to love me that way but today it has completely changed for him. Here I sit in shock and pain, back in my city he is happy spending time with my replacement.

What more can I say!