I can't live without an Internet connection, and technology
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Creative Commons: https://j.mp/1dYwXV5
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I just check-in at my hotel in San Francisco, and I have a couple of hours to do whatever I want: tomorrow it will be full day of interviews at Mozilla. I have no local sim card, and the data from my Canadian provider while roaming is not cheap at all. I want to go to a local T Mobile store, but I don't know where it is. I use the wifi connection with the hotel, get the map, and take a screenshot of it: it's not a complex walk, but I have no orientation sense at all. I'm finally able to reach the store, but it's not my day; it's close. I take my phone, and... oh no, I have no internet connection... I can't check where is another store. I'm now back at the hotel, after business hours: It's OK, I'll buy a sim card next time!
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One of the pictures I took to have a map of the walk I had to do.
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This simple scenario, going to a local store in a city you don't know, is no trouble when you have an internet connection. It's so convenient, that I can't live without it now. I want to go somewhere specific: it's ok, I have a gps, and a map application on my phone. I want to be able to walk in the streets of a city I don't know to discover new places: it's ok, I can find my way back to the hotel no matter where I am now. I'm doing the lineup at the store or waiting for public transit: it's ok, I can read my rss feeds on my phone while I'm waiting. I'm in an event for work, and don't have time to call honey: it's ok, I can send her an email to tell her I won't be back at the hotel at time. I see something I don't know, or I can't remember that restaurant: it's ok, I can search on the web. All these situations are everyday ones, but require an Internet connection!
I'm addicted to the technology, but even more to the Internet. I feel the need to disconnect sometimes, but it's less about the Internet itself, and more about no communications or no continuous flow of data. For me, having an Internet connection now is as important as having electricity, and I can say without a doubt that it's part of my own MASLOW pyramid. It's why I'm buying a sim card in every new country I go: I just can't live without an Internet connection...