Day 24: Wifi-less

Wi-fi? Wi-fi? It’s like the call of the modern age. Tiny slips of paper are handed over, or names spelled with letters are shared. When I book an Airbnb place it’s the first thing I check (then washing machine), and as soon as I am going to be anywhere for very long I always have a look.

So it’s pretty funny that today I find myself pretty Wi-fi-less. I am house-sitting for a friend who has just moved to London and hasn’t got her wi-fi set up yet, usually not a problem, but I am on the last few days of my phone contract, have used up all of my data (plus an extra 3GB I bought) and am now having to buy it 100MB at a time (and at £2.99 a pop).

So today has consisted of a few trips to the pub and me contemplating just how plugged in I am. Here is just some my daily internet usage:

• Check email, social media etc in the morning (yep know I shouldn’t but always do)
• Check weather.
• Check timezones for Australian / US skype call (yep can’t remember them because I have an app)
• Have a skype call with someone in Australia
• Citymapper trip into city
• Check bank balance
• Google maps when I eventually get lost
• Think of a good idea, put it in Google docs
• Take a photo to share on instagram
• Stream music on spoitfy or listen to lecture on soundcloud
• Go to supermarket and check brands against Shop Ethical
• Upload posts to wix
• Shorten to use on twitter

And then there is sharing economy stuff

• Check Freelancer to see if there are any suitable jobs
• Have Fiverr finally paid me the money
• Check Olio and see if there is anything I can collect in my area
• Did my Airbnb review get published yet?
• Do I have a spare 45 minutes is there a Geocache near me?
• Tripadvisor good cheap café to use internet in
• Check Shopify orders
• Are there any new house-sitting assignments?

Without the internet the Sharing Economy as we know it wouldn’t exist. It is through the ability to harness the data of many that the sharing economy can work connecting people with demand with people with supply. But this also has it’s disadvantages as many people who could really benefit from the sharing economy might not be as hyper-connected as me. Some people only read their emails once every few days, and this cripples the system for people who are looking for last minute accommodation. Or there is the fact that some people who could really benefit from resources like Olio that allow you to share excess food, might not have enough resources to get connected in the first place.

We have in the past regarded being connected as a luxury. As something negative that people do when they can’t handle the ‘real world’ but it seems to me that being connected is my real world, and in a way it is through my connection to sharing economy platforms that I am meeting more and more strangers and being able to navigate the real world more efficiently and more effectively.

It seems like we have gone a full circle. Technology at first divided us letting us work and play online taking us away from dance halls and coffee shops. But maybe now it’s bringing us back together as we swap food, and stay in each other’s apartments.

Connection through technology is allowing us to connect in the real world, and I have to say, I like it.