The world at your fingertips and a song in your throat

The world at your fingertips and a song in your throat

What is the one thing technophiles and technophobes have in common? Technology, of course. Love it or hate it, embrace it or cringe from it, technology has entered all of our lives, changing the way we interact with the world.

One branch of technology which is particularly invasive is telecommunications. The whole world is being connected by telephones, both fixed-lines and mobiles, and the Internet.

In Indonesia, state telecommunications company PT Telkom assigned five joint-operation partners to install new telephone lines across Indonesia. More than one million phone lines have been installed, bringing millions more Indonesians into the world of high-technology telecommunications services.

Imagine, people living in a not-even-a-dot-on-the-map village in the eastern wilds of the country are now in touch with the world. They may still be using ox to plow their fields, but now they can log-on and check out how their stocks are doing, or pick up the phone and ring their city cousins to say hello.

Truly, we are living in a wondrous age. The world is wired and all we have to do is plug-in and get a little of the juice.

There are always people who cast a wary eye on even the greatest developments. I have a friend, for example, who swears that when you install Windows on your computer, all the data from your hard drive is transferred immediately to Microsoft headquarters, where Bill Gates ... Well, I haven't got a clue what he would do with all that, let's face it, useless data. But my friend tells me it is all part of Gates' plan to take over the world. This sort of paranoid fantasy is most probably just the result of too many years living in his parents' basement smoking things he shouldn't be smoking.

But it does raise an interesting question: Who's the tool, the technology or us? Is being online, on the phone, dashing off faxes, sending e-mails, being constantly connected, too much? Are we, as a race, facing the prospect of losing that which makes us human in the face of all this technology. Will evolution, in a couple of generations, just eliminate from us all that technology has made unnecessary.

Of course not. This is the crazy type of belief held by unwashed men on the street corner screaming "The end is nigh".

However, Gates' Microsoft recently invested US$5 billion in U.S. telecommunications company AT&T and $600 million in Nextel Communications. AT&T is planning on introducing to the world cable TV wires for Internet access, telephone calls and entertainment, while Nextel plans to develop a version of Microsoft's Web portal to supply e-mail, calendar and address book functions for an Internet-ready phone which will be introduced by Motorola.

Microsoft, already the master of our personal computers, is now positioning itself to get inside our phones and televisions. Their presence in our lives will be complete and total, making one wonder, was my friend so far wrong?

Remember, you're not paranoid if they're really out to get you.

Advantages of telecommunications

Yet, there are so many positive aspects of the universal access to telecommunications services that it is easy to dismiss the brain cancer your mobile phone will give you as a small discomfort compared to the immense benefits of having the world at your fingertips.

The main advantage of having the world at your fingertips is, well, having the world at your fingertips. Take for example that young woman in California who has been living in a tree for some time now to protest the deforestation of that state's magnificent and endangered old-growth forests. Let's face it, we've all been there. Physically out of touch with the world. Yet, while this woman lives in a tree, thanks to the magic of telecommunications she is able to dash off faxes to media outlets, give live interviews to all the news programs interested in the views of a woman who lives in a tree and order a pizza from Round Table. So even when you're up a tree, your life does not have to come to a halt.

More relevant to most of us, the Internet and e-mail allow all the expatriates in Indonesia to stay that much closer to home. The Internet lets expats keep up to date with the goings on in whatever part of the world they call home, while e-mail is an invaluable communications tool. For one thing, the post office can't lose your e-mail messages or deliver them two months after you sent them.

And mobile telephones, how could we live without them? Come on, our lives and our work are so important that if we were to lose contact for the briefest of moments chaos would probably ensue. I like to keep my mobile next to my bed at night in case I get an urgent 2 a.m. call, as is wont to happen I'm sure not just to me but to all of us living the lives. I cannot count the number of times having the constant communication afforded by a mobile phone has averted disaster. I have even noticed that some people have more than one mobile phone, just to make extra sure they don't lose touch I guess.

While all this communication may lead to a system overload for some, forward-looking people realize that less is never more. Today's world requires the numerous forms of communications which have been introduced by the telecommunications industry and all the information which comes with constantly being plugged-in. The days of quiet and relaxation are gone and globalization has reduced the size of the world. The distance from country to country and continent to continent is now no further than the distance from your fax machine to your computer. Isolation is a thing of the past, business is a global endeavor and the world is now our home.

If you begin to feel overwhelmed by it all, please get away. Take a nice vacation on a deserted tropical island. Swim naked in the warm waters, frolic through the jungle and forage for your food. Just don't forget your mobile and your laptop. (David Eyerly)