7.10.2008

things i learned while in jamaica.

As I mentioned earlier, I have been in Jamaica for the last week. As a slow intro back into the blog-wilds, here is a short list of things I noticed during what was likely the most un-connected week of this digital native’s life.

  • I get all of my news from social media. If you had asked before I left, I would have said the majority. But I was in a hotel room with satellite TV, with a large enough segment of my family watching it that I should have picked up some news by osmosis. The only thing I knew about the outside world during that week was who won Wimbledon, mostly because there were TV’s over the resort’s main bar.
  • I have no idea how to live without a cell phone. More than a hundred times, I attempted to reach for my phone. This is apparently my first instinct when I can’t find someone instantly, when I need information about something and I am away from a computer, and when I’m trying to organize group dynamics. I cannot express how lost and frustrated I was when I could not contact people (not rooms or locations) at will.
  • The cell phone is the only platform that matters worldwide. In a country with widespread poverty, everyone had a cell phone, operating on a pre-paid basis. This was used socially and for business, but literally everyone I encountered. Resort staff were showing us pictures of their homes and families, then texting other resort staff when they needed to reach them instantly. This technology also enables the ‘side-businesses’ that most resort staff seem to use to supplement their income.
  • I sort through an absurd amount of data, even ignoring work communications and research, in a week. The amount of online magazines, PDF mags, articles, rss items, etc etc etc waiting for me will, I think, take at least three weeks to catch up on, when you take into account work, and the amount of further incoming information.

The next couple of weeks / month should result in some changes as to how I do things on brokengentleman.com, as well as online in general. I’m going to refrain from saying how, because it’s a large overall personal strategy change, and I don’t want to be held to a certain path or timetable.

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