I really take for granted the availability of technology available to me in Florida...now off to pack for my move to Tally ;-)
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Better Late than Never?
Well, this week was an interesting experience. I had to take my mother to visit a last remaining aunt who was not doing well in southern Ohio. The family urgency is just another part of life. The interesting part is the effects of the differences in availability of technology. The uncle we stayed with lives on a small farm not too very far from Chesapeake. They have only dial up service and at this point in my life, I suppose I am a bit spoiled. I haven't dealt with dial up in over ten years. It is not only inconvenient, it is almost painful to endure! On top of this, it ties up the phone line, which is a no-no when many in the family still rely on telephone communication to distribute news. But wait, you say - with a data cable, anyone's cell phone can become a modem (which I became aware of when staying with my mother for a few months earlier this year). AT&T will happily add 5 gigs of data transfer to my cell phone package for a "mere" sixty dollars a month, effective immediately. Great plan - internet access anywhere, even in the car! Except for the fact that there is about two places in the house where you have ONE bar of signal...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No - I am not making light of my Great Aunt's infirmity, it just is not relevant to the class. The lack of technology is.
ReplyDeleteKay,
ReplyDeleteI think I read somewhere recently that the U.S. ranks 20th on the list of broadband penetration for its citizens.
Sorry to hear your aunt wasn't/isn't doing well.
ReplyDeleteWe really do take for granted our connectivity, and sometimes it takes the shocker of visiting other people we know to see that the technology isn't as ubiquitous in everyday life as we might think.
I love your "addiction to technology" label on this blog post. I pay for an air card with AT&T so I can have access anywhere and I still choose meeting places and travel stops based on wi-fi access (Starbucks and AT&T now give free access and Holiday Inn Express parking lots are great for free wi-fi too).
ReplyDeleteI went to Port St. Joe last year, where I couldn't even get my XM radio to work right, and I almost went insane after three days. How can all the rental agents have websites when none of their rentals have web access? Hmmm...
Ah the digital divide . . . . regrettably many don't have any technology in this country. As we education, America should make it a priority to "wire" the landscape with high-speed web access and the like.
ReplyDeleteWell - I was in the Appalachians and the really funny thing was I could get signal in the valley, but nothing where I was located on the mountain top! It would seem more logical that the signal would be more accessible there!
ReplyDeleteI have also seen the stats regarding internet access - it is odd that we are so low on the totem pole, even more surprising were some of the countries that surpassed us in penetration!