The Internet – again

I know, I know, I keep harping on about not having access to the internet. 

I think my generation is in a very specific place in history: my parents’ generation really did spend their whole lives without being hugely impacted by the internet.  Sure, my Dad used technology to take e-books and audiobooks out of the library, and my friend Shirshee uses FB and Facetime to stay in touch with her grandkids, but really, for them modern technology has been an minor add-on in later life. And my nieces and nephews don’t remember a time when the internet wasn’t integral to everything they do – they simply could not exist without their cell phones or social media.

But for my generation, the first half of our careers was completely without significant modern technology: carbon-paper documents, overhead projectors, and electric typewriters were the only technology for the first 15 or so years of my time at the Bank.  But by the time I retired, I couldn’t have made it through a day without a Blackberry to stay in touch, an iPad to complete documentation, and Word, Excel & Google on my desktop to do everything else.  We really did straddle the techno-boom like no other cohort.

Which is why I am yammering on, yet again, about a lack of internet access.  The issue is not because I am in a remote location (well, not really).  The two big stumbling blocks to being live and in touch with the rest of the world are: I didn’t know what my permanent address would be until I had been in Scotland for 10 days and therefore struggled to convince companies to deal with me and, even though I opened my UK bank account back in the summer, my bank card didn’t get mailed to me until after I had left Canada and had to be cancelled and re-issued (still waiting).  And in the UK no one, absolutely no one, will do anything for you without a bank card.  So, here I sit, waiting for my broadband (wi-fi) to be installed, and waiting to be able to get a UK mobile phone.  (And it seems I have over-used the Roam package I bought through Bell for my first month here, mainly by spending a lot of time on the phone to UK call centres, and by uploading all the photos I’ve been taking.  Hunh.)   I can’t believe how much this matters to my day to day experience!  And I really don’t consider myself a tech-addict – I’m not a huge user of social media, I try to limit my time on Netflix or Britbox (well, I try), and yet somehow, I feel like I am stumbling through each day accomplishing very little. 

Okay, done venting for now – off to the library to use their broadband and upload this whining to my blog.