11.08.09
The Internet Addiction
I always knew more or less that I can no longer survive without my daily dose of Internet, but now I make it official. And I don’t necessarily think I should get a cure for it. On the contrary, as water and sewage supply have entered the daily routine of our civilisation, Internet access should follow this trend and no longer be such a precious and expensive commodity.
From this point of view (one of the very few), I actually love my country. There is no urge for securing a wifi (at least not yet, and I hope it stays this way). And although I do not particularly like any of my (or anyone else’s) neighbours, until now I do not know of any case of angry fellows knocking at one’s door because one is using their bandwidth. I know very well the arguments for which it would be recommendable that each of us keeps his own network for his own business (yes, I do not have a gender problem), but until the time when temporary Internet access becomes affordable and accessible on a large scale basis, I consider it a “civil” alternative.
So what exactly can you do, as a civilized person accustomed to daily Internet access (a.k.a an Internet addict by the barbarians), in more “civilized” countries?
The very-lucky-bastard and utopian option – you check-in someplace where there is a permanent Internet connection, or your hotel is decent enough (and by that I do not mean expensive, on the contrary) to allow a free access to its residents (you pay enough anyway for the accommodation). Of course, this may be outdone by also having access at work or in the places you spend the rest of your time.
The moderately fortunate solution – the society where you’ve just landed is relaxed enough so that public places such as cafes provide you with a wifi, as a token of their will to make you feel comfortable and welcome, and of course, spend money, but that’s besides the point. This, of course, does not happen anymore so often because of “the crisis”. Or alternately, if the public place in question is McDonald’s, you’d end up having some real stomach issues if you’d choose to go there daily…quite a difficult choice there.
The potentially fortunate solution – you find a neighbour at the door of which you knock, asking not for a spoon of sugar or flour, as in the old times, but for “the key to the world” (a.k.a. his wifi – and you’d better say it correctly so that he doesn’t understand that you would like to temporarily use his wife instead). This of course presents several disadvantages such as the frustration of going to knock at some stranger’s door – and if the stranger answering happens to look somehow weird, you’ll be rather dissuaded to try the next door.
The “friend with a subscription” solution – you have a friend or a relative (tough if you don’t want to visit or call them), or a friend-of-a-friend, that is blessed with all the advantages of a normal person having a permanent subscription, which means that he/she may lend you a 3G or only the codes for accessing the hotspots. The first case would still be a blessing, the second is more of a nightmare, because unless you find the right angle to get the signal (which may mean that you could also try yoga positions ultimately or get weird looks from people looking at you while you strall with your laptop in several directions trying to measure maybe the wind speed) you’re lost. And even if you do catch the signal, you’ll be disconnected every 10 minutes, and you’ll wait like in the dial-up times for a page to load….but it’s still something.
The very expensive and tick-tick-tock solution – you go to an internet cafe (oh, such rare species now) or you get a 3G stick and rechargeable cards, and your ruin begins. First, because what is advertised as “internet starting from 1€” (or even more) are usually just 15 minutes. Alternately, if you have a 3G, besides the initial fee, any new “dose” varies from something like 3€ for half-an-hour or 25€ for a third of a day. What is this, heroin? Let’s face it, if it would be illegal, it would probably be less expensive.
In the last week I’ve managed to survive by a strange combination of these options – fortunately I did not get to the yoga positions though, otherwise I’d probably be in the hospital at this point, nor got killed by any quiet-killer neighbour. Nevertheless, I cannot but wonder how long it will take until we manage to get rid of this kind of frustration, by becoming a place where Internet access is no longer such a luxury, simply because it is not justified by the actual state of the art. And of course, although there are still places on earth where water and sewage supply is a luxury, let’s hope we’re not moving also in the wrong direction.
P.S.: And many thanks to everyone that helped with my survival during this last week, I hope you enjoy this post. 
Ulfednar said,
November 8, 2009 at 2:16 am
Actually, Finland has recently deemed broadband as a legal right, you can read about it in various places on the webs. Hail the North, what?
Congrats on starting your blog, looking forward to more! Cheers!