iWant it, iNeed it, iBought it

The thought of being constantly connected to the rest of the world used to send shivers down my spine. Up until now, thanks mainly to the Apple marketing division, I’ve been well and truly suckered in. I’m even writing this using an aluminium Macbook that I’ve just bought. It’s put a hole in my bank account the size of Belgium, and as yet I haven’t found a single use for it outside of the capabilities of Facebook. So why have I bought it?

Partly because it looks utterly fantastic. Gone are the days when Apple was a byword for big and bulky machinery that barely functioned. Now it’s design heaven. The subtle curves and sexiness of it all means I could go on about it for days, as my flatmates will delight in telling you. They’ll recall how I can be found most evenings now whispering sweet nothings to the Macbook, promising it that what happens between myself and my iPhone is purely professional.

Come to think of it, I’ve got three iProducts. I have an iPod like every person my age. And also the iPhone because, let’s face it, why not? And now an Apple laptop as well. Yep, my iLife is really starting to take shape.

But my pleasure in the wondrous powers of the Apple marketing division lead me to ask why we can’t do without technology?

Technology and staying connected are now vital aspects in all of our lives. We’ve come to rely heavily on the capabilities of the Internet. So, with that in mind, could we do without it?

I was on a train the other day and was already pretty annoyed that I couldn’t get a full mobile signal, so you can imagine the sort of language I came out with when the stewards announced that there was no Wi-Fi either. What? No Wi-Fi at all? Even the dingiest of Lincoln’s coffee shops has Wi-Fi if some sort, so how come East Midlands Trains doesn’t?

Their answer shocked me. I phoned them to see why they didn’t offer Wi-Fi, pointing out that most train companies, especially those operating services in and out of London, offer Wi-Fi free on their trains. Apparently there are plans to introduce such a service on their London routes, but this won’t be in place for a while. And whilst they admit that Wi-Fi connectivity has come to be expected by customers nowadays, they don’t seem to grasp how late to the Wi-Fi party they really are.

Back on my journey, we’d now cleared the station and the last remnants of the university Internet were ebbing away as we pulled clear from Lincoln. The prospect of no Internet at all was starting to set in. What if someone wanted to send me a particularly funny email? What if some long-lost relative tried to get in touch with me on Facebook? I’d spent a whole twenty minutes creating a Spotify playlist to keep me company on the long journey, and what use was it now?

So there I was, absolutely stuck. For the next hour and a half I could feel myself ageing, things were that boring. The tedium of the journey wasn’t even lightened by pulling into Nottingham, where we were joined by a group of lads, who spent the whole journey telling each other where they’d last “done it”. Had any sort of Internet been available here, I could’ve spent my time productively. I was instead forced to listen to just how far Andy had gotten with Sharon the previous weekend.

Why can’t we do without technology? Sure, computers are wonderful things, but where it all will end? Will we increasingly let computers take over our lives? To the point where we can’t do anything for ourselves any more? It’s scary if you consider just how far the computer and the Internet have come since their respective inventions.

Just a few decades have passed and look at the rate of progression. If the same were to happen to humans, we’d have all been born, moved out of the caves, and gone to the stars in a matter of hours. Things are moving at a phenomenal rate, and that’s a truly terrifying thought.

I could easily go on. But if you don’t mind, there’s an iPad going on ebay that I quite like the look of…