I am writing this episode of Listen on one side of the screen while watching an episode of Queer As Folk (US version) on the other side of the screen. I’m playing it from my computer’s built-in DVD player. I am doing this as I am sitting in a hotel room in Oslo. The relentless march of technology lets me multitask in ways I never imagined a few years ago.
You could almost say I am stunned. But I am not. I am just bored in a hotel room.
Having said that, it would be great if all that technology stomping around the world managed to get a coffee machine or kettle in this hotel room. As it is, I had to take the lift and fetch a cup of over-strong coffee from the reception area. Really, Scandinavia is supposed to be so much more advanced. All this wood, heated bathroom flooring and sweet herring is all well and good, but I want a good old-fashioned cup of Costa Coffee, and there isn’t one to be had.
Sorry, back to that relentless technology marching. I am seeing sleek back and silver gadgets marching in perfect unison through Red Square; USB cables tightly rolled and ready to attack at the first sight of an invasion. General Mac and Air Marshall Windows quietly surveying their battalions with stern pride and swelling chests full of medals. But this is modern tech. It would fail. It would let you down. The connector would be the wrong size, or the driver would be missing. The intruders would conquer, and a few bits of bare wire and broken hard drives would litter the streets.
See, I am well aware that technology is not foolproof. How many times have you sent that email to someone who shouldn’t have been on the cc list? How many times have you wasted half the paper in the printer because you forgot to check how that document would print? How many times did your Sat Nav take you the wrong way down a one-way street? How many times have you called somebody on your mobile that you didn’t mean to call? How many times have you had to reboot your train?
Yes, honestly, my train was rebooted this morning. I was heading to the airport and sat in my train seat waiting to leave the station. I had a nice cup of morning coffee in my hands (I was still in England; it’s civilised like that). I was thinking, ‘Which terminal?’ and wondering whether those people on the platform would be charged excess baggage for the small van-load of cases they were taking. Then the train driver announced a small problem they were working on. A few minutes passed. We were late. The driver came on the tannoy again: now the power would be turned off and back on again. We weren’t to panic as we were plunged into darkness and the doors locked themselves. So we sat there in darkness with all the power gone. And then somebody switched us on again and – as with all turn it off and on agains – we were good to go. So we did. Go, that is.
Seriously, they turned my train off and then on again to fix it.
And it was at that moment I knew that technology had gotten the better of us. Machines now rule, and we are relegated to the bit parts (every pun intended).
On this day…
2006: Schumacher to quit at end of year2005: Staying For Breakfast
2004: Where’s Matt’s Tongue?
2003: A Video Moment
2002: Around The World
