By Lakshmi Balasubramani

So we’ve come to the end of another year, a quarter of the 21st century gone. The amount of progress we’ve achieved in technology is significant and it inspired a question in me. Have we become technologically too rich? Not uniformly in all aspects of life, but a definite spike in information technology. The inspiration was our push back in utilising this wealth. As you are aware, starting 10 Dec 2025, Australia has banned social media for kids under 16.

Isn’t this ban akin to sensible wealthy parents abstaining from spoiling their children with all their wealth? Im glad that our Government made this responsible decision because social media became too powerful for any parent to stop their kids from spending hours on it. I wish the ban was until the kids were 18.

Now, addressing the real life derivative consequences of the consequences of our new found riches. Yes, we are experiencing derivative effects. Initially, it was the interference of social media on our kids development. But we got used to it and now are comfortable with them watching media for a couple of hours, especially during holidays. Now that we have the ban during holidays, how are we going to wean off our children from the screen addiction? As parents, we’ll have to spend more time with our little kids, which is a blessing. Young parents, be prepared to shake up routine and make a new one. The issue could be less intense for those with kids that are a little grown up, they may go riding their bike with friends or play ball at the local park. Who knows, the kids could even get inspired to engage in art. So, this is an interesting challenge we parents have for this holiday season. For the astute entrepreneur, there are opportunities here. I wish you success!

One another aspect of technical wealth which has not fit in well with all of us is AI. I’d love to see widespread adoption of technology for the benefit of humanity and not just the benefit of the economy. While we are aggressively encouraged to adopt AI, we are not willing to talk as much about our struggle to keep up with AI’s voracious resource needs and environmental impact. But this is a topic for another day.

Have a good one, Take care 🙂