“How do you get the inspiration to write every week?” smiled the friendly T-Com technician as he fixed my internet. “Maybe this week I’ll write about T-Com,” I replied.
Oh, how reliant we all are on Wi-Fi these days. It seems to be as vital to our daily lives as electricity, water and gas. And when I saw the T-Com van parked outside our main neighbourhood internet box I had the feeling that we would be in an internet black hole. And so it was that we spent a long weekend without internet and TV.
On the flip side my wife was completely unperturbed by the lack of a signal. To say that she is an analogue person would be an understatement. I am pretty sure that she has never opened a laptop or even typed more than 100 words in her life on a computer. In some ways I envy her. However, in today’s world you are certainly a second-class citizen without at least a basic grasp of computer skills. She has managed to successfully avoid it and even calls her mobile her “little computer.”
A friend recently said something that really hit home. “I feel that I am now totally present,” he said. “What do you mean?” I asked. “Well, before when I had time off or was travelling I still had this gnawing feeling that I should check my email,” he answered. “Although I was there 100 percent physically I wasn’t mentally,” he added. However, since he has recently retired, he now feels completely present.
“So you’ll never miss another important call again,” or “Life needs less clutter. Life needs internet,” were just two of the early 2000’s slogans from internet providers. We were promised a new dawn “What happens is in your hands,” without really contemplating the downsides.
Don’t get me wrong, I am (in general) a huge fan of modern technology. Although having said that I am also eternally grateful that I had a childhood free of the world wide web and mobile phones. Instead of an early life controlled by social media algorithms mine was a much more creative one that motivated me to use my brain.
I think it is all about control, or more precisely who controls who. It seems it is a battle that our mobiles are winning. I am certainly not a troglodyte, more a control freak.
And quite frankly there is no turning back, you can’t put the genie back in the bottle, so we’ve all got to learn how to use it to our advantage.
Although it also seems that other people are making the full advantage from it, in the recent Forbes Rich List for 2023 seven of the top ten richest people in the world worked either directly in or closely connected to technology. I checked the same list in 1986 and saw a different story, it was then dominated by retail owner, property developers and oil magnets. Weirdly the richest person in the US in 1986 had a fortune of $4.5 billion whereas in 2023 that number had significantly grown to $248 billion and Elon Musk. Just over 4 billion doesn’t even make the top 100 richest people anymore. But I guess I am opening a whole new can of worms bringing money into the conversation.
“So your internet and TV should be up and working in around ten minutes,” smiled the technician. “I am back in the world of the living,” I joked. Three days of internet silence wasn’t a bad thing, time to refresh my batteries. And a time to take back control.
Maybe I could do with this break every month, a weekend hiatus from my virtual life. And thank you to the technician for giving me some inspiration for this week. Maybe their slogan of “Connecting you to what matters,” really is correct.
Read more Englishman in Dubrovnik…well, if you really want to
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About the author
Mark Thomas (aka Englez u Dubrovniku) is the editor of The Dubrovnik Times. He was born and educated in the UK and moved to live in Dubrovnik in 1998. He works across a whole range of media, from a daily radio show to TV and in print. Thomas is fluent in Croatian and this column is available in Croatia on the website – Dubrovnik Vjesnik
Tyler Fields is your internet guru, delving into the latest trends, developments, and issues shaping the online world. With a focus on internet culture, cybersecurity, and emerging technologies, Tyler keeps readers informed about the dynamic landscape of the internet and its impact on our digital lives.
