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n this tech-savvy world, where the astronomical acceleration of technological advancement keeps up its unstoppable pace, what was unimaginable in the past has become possible.

Methods that we hoped would remain conventional can no longer resist the changes happening in the surrounding environment.

Even a conventional tool for babies, such as a pacifier, may have to surrender to modern technology. Its conventional role has apparently been replaced by a more advanced tool.

One Sunday afternoon, a toddler was sat on a baby-seat by her parents in a restaurant. While other family members enjoyed their meals and chatted, the little girl sat unmoving while watching music videos on the screen of a tablet her mother put in front of her. She seemed pacified.

Like two sides of a coin, such gadgets as smartphones or tablets, despite their benefits to society, can do harm by distracting people away from personal contact. It is so normal now to see people walking but with their heads down looking at the gadget in their hands.

Or in a gathering of friends, everyone is busy with his or her own phone instead of engaging in conversation. Or parents having lunch in a restaurant with their children, but each of them focused on their own smartphone.

Back to the little girl, what she saw on the tablet seemed to be more pacifying than her mother'€™s lap. Shall we call it an e-Pacifier?

Widhyawati Ambara
Jakarta