Which would you give up: TV, cell phone or Internet?

[Princess Royal]

By: Iman Kurdi

I have just completed ten days cut off from modern communications. It began on a Tuesday morning. I was writing an e-mail, a long one. When I finished writing, I reread it and pressed ‘send.’ My computer then desperately tried to comply with my wishes. It tried really hard; I could see it was giving all it could but very obviously, something was very wrong. Eventually, it told me that it had failed to send my e-mail. I tried again. No good. I tried connecting to other sites. Nothing. Then I tried my phone line. Dead. Attempted to switch on the television. White blurs and noise. I looked at my modem with dismay; rather than displaying the time it was displaying a slow-moving circle. It was searching for a connection but finding none.

So I turned to the helpline which was like all others in the genre. After a long wait, a woman talked me through every step of testing my line, namely switching everything off and then on again. “It seems your connection is out of order,” she told me. Now that was a surprise! The next available appointment for an engineer to come take a look was a week away. I pleaded and begged for an earlier visit. Nothing. She ended the call with what should have been irony but she was really sticking to her script: “Is there anything else I can help you with today?” That evening was frustrating and dull. No television. No Internet. No phone. I had to entertain myself! Before going to sleep I attempted to find a rogue Internet connection. There was no shortage of them in the building, but all of them required passwords. I found out I had no talent for hacking. I remained disconnected.

The second morning, as soon as I woke, my eyes still heavy with sleep, I faced my modem. It was still nothing but slow-moving circles. My home became a place of stillness. I felt it was like a large boat in the middle of the sea, cut off from civilization. Over ten days, I watched my entire DVD collection, I read, I listened to music. Entertaining myself was not hard. I had already tried living without a TV, that part was easy. But the Internet, that was a struggle. Of course I became familiar with every Internet café in town and got to test the WiFi connections of all the cafés in my neighborhood. For the first time in my life, I became a regular at McDonald’s: they have the fastest and most reliable free WiFi connection! Some of my friends could sympathize with my frustration. Others were baffled. It became clear to me that the Internet was my gateway to the world. Not only do I use it to communicate with others, be it via e-mail or instant messaging, but I am constantly checking it to find out information. From film times to breaking news to weather forecasts to hotel reservations, my instinct is to go online. I have no problem being without it when I go on holiday but for my day-to-day life, it has become essential.

Not long ago I saw a survey in Readers Digest. Respondents in 15 countries were asked which they would give up: TV, Internet or cell phone? 63 percent answered TV, 27 percent answered cell phone and only 10 percent said they would choose to give up the Internet. Just like me, the vast majority thought that an Internet connection had become an essential part of their daily lives. Ten years ago, it would have been TV. Five years ago, the cell phone. But now, it seems surfing the Internet has taken over. Which would you choose to be without?


Arab News