A Gadgeted Lifestyle

Off late, I am sometimes required to carry some office work load home or login from home to resolve a critical situation. Yesterday was one such situation. Just after I completed what was required of me and shut my laptop, the craziness of what I did just occurred to me. This may be a bit heavy for computer illiterate people, but I am sure even they will be able to appreciate the "geekiness" of the process that follows. I had to change some configuration and so I firstly connected to the internet via my 802.11b/g wireless card and then connected to my company's network via a secure VPN. Next, I needed to remotely log into one of the servers which would gave me access to its virtual desktop. Having done that, I then opened the GUI of the controller on this virtual desktop, made changes, saved settings, closed the nested connections that I had established and could have gone to sleep. However, at that point, as I have mentioned a few lines above, it occurred to me how technology was affecting me.

While I am pleasantly awed by the above convoluted process , at the same time, I am also greatly thankful for its existence as well. Without it, I would have to get out of the comfort of my home in the middle of the night, burn some valuable fuel driving to office just to select/unselect some options on a GUI in the middle of the commotion created by the janitors' vacuum cleaners. Just like the remote access process above, other technologies/gadgets are impacting my lifestyle too.


I now carry around a touch screen 3G phone which apart from providing basic cell phone services, provides internet, live news service, TV shows, IMs, an array of applications and even live TV in certain regions. With that in my pocket, I am truly connected 24x7 via phone, email , TV and IM (as long as I don't end up in the middle of the Sundarbans or the Amazon rain forest). Not to mention the bluetooth hands-free thanks to which I don't even need to hold it. The other day while sitting in a cafe, someone discussed an interesting video on youtube which we hadn't seen. The video was immediately seen in the mood of the moment rather than exchanging links later on.

Then there's this HDTV sitting in my living room, which can, after some extra payment use my household wireless network to stream videos live from the internet. A GPS, which I once thought was a technological luxury rather than a necessity sits in my car thanks to the generosity of some good friends. Just 2 years ago I remember driving with friends through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada with the help of simply a road atlas and maps. However, in my latest trip to Florida, the GPS was consulted at every junction and turn which allowed our gray cells and our human directional sense to take a nap (I hope not forever). The treadmills at the fitness center at my office, whose primary aim is to simulate jogging too have some advanced inbuilt AI of their own. As if that's not enough, they also have their own LCD TV screens and cable TV connections. Believe it or not, the treadmill is getting more TV channels that my HDTV!!! I might as well go to the fitness center to watch my favorite shows. Currently I am hunting for a new car and looking at the features in cars too, I feel I might end up owning an automobile maybe not very inferior from James Bond's or Knight Rider's.

While the few gadgets I have mentioned form really a drop in the ocean of gadgets available in the market today, I am both awed and scared by the impact these are having. While all technologies definitely ease our way of life, many of them are also preventing us from using our brains and dumbing us. Nevertheless, I don't think my craving for gadgets will die because of that. I guess, the best way is to own them and use them judiciously when and where required and not become totally dependent on them!!