WiFi: Can’t Live Without It!

I was driving through New Mexico and saw a road sign that said, “WiFi One Block.”  I guess that is what it has come to. We have to have WiFi. 

Admit it. It is true.  We make our decisions about what hotel to stay in, what restaurant to eat in, where to get our coffee, all based on if there is WiFi (hopefully free) .  I picked the condo for our family vacation because they had free WiFi.  I just heard about Southwest airlines adding in-flight WiFi and I think Cadillac is making it available in their cars. It is amazing all the places you can get WiFi.  It is a great solution for to the problem of being connected anywhere at any time.

Time for my soap box – I hate it when WiFi is not free.  When I am in the airport or I am in a restaurant I usually only need it for 5 or 10 minutes, not an hour- so I don’t want to pay for a day or an an hour.  Why does it seem that in the most expensive hotels you have to pay for WiFi and in the least expensive ones it is free? Fortunately for me, most of the places I go – home, work, my parents house, my favorite restaurants and church (yes, even church) – WiFi is free.  Maybe I have just come to expect it for free and that is why I don’t like it when it is not.  I am sure free WiFi must be one those unalienable Rights in the Declaration of Independence (like pursuit of happiness.) OK, enough of the rant.

We all want to be connected to the Internet with our laptops and phones.  We are addicted to Twitter, have to get the latest email , make a post to our blog or if you are my son-in-law check out the basketball game scores for March Madness.

Is all this instant connectivity a good thing?  For me is it a great thing. Widespread WiFi access  makes it possible for me do work from anywhere or get access to information anytime.  It frees me from the office or my desk. It makes things possible that have not been possible before.

On the other hand, when I look around the table at the restaurant and see all of my family on their iPhones instead of having a good dinner conversation, it could be a bad thing.  Just like any good thing, you can over use it.

Is access all the time is great or does it ever get you in trouble when you over-use it?

Related posts:

1. MiFi – Internet hotspot in the car