I arrived in Shanghai and accommodated myself in a god forsaken hotel located in an obscure industrial park approximately 30 minutes away from the city. Although I am staying in a sequestered area, I do not have much to yammer as the hotel comforts are satisfactory (clean and comfortable).
BUT, I was overly perturbed when I realised my internet connection could not work at 1am in the morning. You see, I was supposed to receive a document from my boss late in the night/ early in the morning so that I could present "stuff" to my client during the meeting in the next day. Not a techy person, I thought my laptop had configuration problems. I tried all means to get it fixed, playing around with icons I normally did not touch. (Crap, obviously). Finally, my grouchy, restless and tired self resorted to calling the front desk and seeked help. 15 mins later, a scrawny young man sauntered into my door, fiddled with my laptop for half an hour and told me that it still could not be fixed. What he said triggered a cranny in me. I was quite frustrated but then I realised how dependent I was to the internet. This was a trivial matter but the effect, detrimentally significant!
Think about it, how many times a day do you check your mobile phone?; how many hours are you on the internet?; how many times do you conduct a google search? I would estimate approximately 1/3 of my waking hours currently is spent doing the above following. Then you begin to wonder how people conduct research in the past. Writing articles on a typewriter and churning statistical tables using calculators seem to be a chore. But nobody complained, or rather, it was a norm where things were moving slower. However, with current technology, we are expected to produce services and complete chores in a shorter period of time in an efficient and effective manner. With PDAs and Blackberrys, we are expected to reply emails on a timely basis. With tele-conference calls, we can hold meetings with colleagues from countries simultaneously. And with information databases, computer and statistical programs, there is a set of expectations that we must fulfill. Gone were the days where you can escape fingerpointing when you can't reply an email on time (quiet exaggerating here, but you know what I mean) or complete an article with good amount of research. I am not bad-mouthing technology, but there is only 24 hours in a day and we are expected a lot much more.
BUT, I was overly perturbed when I realised my internet connection could not work at 1am in the morning. You see, I was supposed to receive a document from my boss late in the night/ early in the morning so that I could present "stuff" to my client during the meeting in the next day. Not a techy person, I thought my laptop had configuration problems. I tried all means to get it fixed, playing around with icons I normally did not touch. (Crap, obviously). Finally, my grouchy, restless and tired self resorted to calling the front desk and seeked help. 15 mins later, a scrawny young man sauntered into my door, fiddled with my laptop for half an hour and told me that it still could not be fixed. What he said triggered a cranny in me. I was quite frustrated but then I realised how dependent I was to the internet. This was a trivial matter but the effect, detrimentally significant!
Think about it, how many times a day do you check your mobile phone?; how many hours are you on the internet?; how many times do you conduct a google search? I would estimate approximately 1/3 of my waking hours currently is spent doing the above following. Then you begin to wonder how people conduct research in the past. Writing articles on a typewriter and churning statistical tables using calculators seem to be a chore. But nobody complained, or rather, it was a norm where things were moving slower. However, with current technology, we are expected to produce services and complete chores in a shorter period of time in an efficient and effective manner. With PDAs and Blackberrys, we are expected to reply emails on a timely basis. With tele-conference calls, we can hold meetings with colleagues from countries simultaneously. And with information databases, computer and statistical programs, there is a set of expectations that we must fulfill. Gone were the days where you can escape fingerpointing when you can't reply an email on time (quiet exaggerating here, but you know what I mean) or complete an article with good amount of research. I am not bad-mouthing technology, but there is only 24 hours in a day and we are expected a lot much more.
Technology: Aid or liability? You decide...
I do sound like a grouchy bitch. Hah.
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