Thursday, August 04, 2005

This Nearly Wired World

I just got off the phone with my nearly 17 year old daughter who is traveling in Italy. She's there with the Columbus Youth Jazz Orchestra (and they sound nothing like my high school jazz band). She's been there for 2 weeks now and that was the first we had heard from her. It was a pleasure and a relief.

We weren't worried, but we get so used to being able to contact anyone, virtually any time. I live on the net and receive and answer email all day long. I've carried a cell phone now for over 11 years.

But just how unwired we are has been made clear. In addition to 2 weeks in Italy, Kathleen also spent 2 weeks in China. In both places she didn't have easy access to computers to send email (although she did manage 2 email messages from China). And this brief phone call was at a pay phone.

It's sad to point out that Europe and Asia have far superior wireless phones than we do in the US. I am completely disgusted that the artificial barrier of "country" means that I'm separated from friends and family when they travel (or I do). I want my cell phone to be able to call anyone on the planet without distinguishing between where they might be. And I don't want any added charges. Minutes is minutes.

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