Always On, Always Connected

There was a time when there was no Internet. When I was in school, having a computer was a big deal. Luckily, my grandfather found his retirement past time in computers and I was very close to him. So I got access to Commodore 64 when I was probably in Grade 2. Getting to it so early in my life pretty much defines who I am today. I think I would have been a different person altogether if it weren't for that early exposure to computers.

As we as a society graduated from larger and slower computers to smaller and faster computers, continuing with the Internet revolution of the 90's and as we now stand in 2013, I think its pretty unimaginable now to think of life without a computer and let me generalize it a bit and say technology. We can't live without technology anymore, we are simply too dependent.

Imagine time away from everything and not having your smart phone or tablet with you or not being connected via Internet. While the world and the distances between people still remain, physically and emotionally, we as a society have been now wired to being connected all the time via the Internet.

I mean, I remember the first few years on the Internet for me when connecting was a conscious task. Dialing in using a modem, putting in a password for dial-up networking, the noisy modem sound, indicating that I am now connecting to the world wide web. The mind would change state slowly with the sounds of the modem connecting from being in a much more solitary, secluded version of the world with physical connections only to almost a "wow" state of mind, in awe, virtually connected to everybody else, in the whole world. WOW!

Not anymore. Now with Wi-fi, 3G and what not that follows as technology develops, there is no conscious state of connecting anymore. It is assumed that we are always connected, always wired in. Always on.

I am not sure if it is good or bad but the natural reaction and flavor of this blog post is negative. All this should be unhealthy. We shouldn't be always connected, always on. It doesn't sound natural. But then, what is natural? We do something for too long, the next generation inherits it and the one after calls it "natural". For example, working on a computer is natural now and not having a computer in the house is unnatural for today's generation. I can assure you this wasn't the case when I was growing up and if we ask our fathers and grandfathers, they will tell you a completely different picture of the world.

So maybe I observe this because I can see the change happening and being Always On, Always Connected as a threat to the quality of life that we want to live. Tomorrow, as our children grow up and the next generation comes in, this would be the way of life and not being online, connected or "on" all the time would be a threat to the quality of life.

How society develops. We are an amazing race, look where we have come to now and just keep watching how and where we will go to next as a civilization. I observe and I share as I notice something. Only possible because I am too, Always On, Always Connected.