A week ago I was driving down King Street, Charleston SC soaking up the 75 degree weather while glancing at the palm trees.
Unfortunately, Spring Break only lasts a week, and I was forced (literally pushed out of the car) to go to the airport to fly back to the good ol’ 585.
On my flight, I always read the ‘SkyMall’ magazine to see what innovative (and not so innovative) products are being sold.
Here are the two I found the most interesting:
The Portable Wifi Signal Booster
This is a fantastic idea! In a technological era, this product represents the easiness of access, anywhere, at any time.
In my house back home, the wifi is centrally located in our basement,
next to the household computer. My room is two floors above, making the wifi connection sometimes weak. Usually, I’m using the wifi on my television to stream Netflix, on my iPhone to
scroll through Tumblr, on my Macbook Air to watch cat YouTube videos, and on my iPad to play Candy Crush (yes, I have an Apple
addiction). This product is very innovative, and would really help in easily boosting the wifi signal to all of my devices. It is described as being a simple process: “The device simply plugs into an AC outlet, connects to a wireless network, and rebroadcasts the signal to provide a faster, more reliable WiFi connection.”
Biffy Butler Bidet Sprayer / Digital Accessory Caddy / Toilet Paper Stand
I had to do a double-take when I saw this product. I know that sometimes extra material is needed when in the bathroom; normally you picture newspapers and magazines. Well, I mean, you can stream newspapers and magazines from iBooks, yes?
It astonishes me that this was actually being sold; on the other hand, I am not surprised at all. For products to be created and put on the market, there is an obvious demand for said product. Are we living in an era where we cannot go without our technological devices for five minutes?
My train of thought brought me onto the topic of being lonely versus being alone. A lot of people are frightened and uncomfortable of the thought of being alone. Now, I don’t mean on a deserted island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, moreover, I mean simply going for a walk, or standing on line at Starbucks, or sitting in the Quad and listening to Michelle Branch (she’s currently playing on my iTunes). Humankind has become completely wrapped up in always being with others, literally and through technology. We do not feel the pleasure of being allowed time to ourselves, to think for ourselves. By always being bombarded with different social media and access to the thousands of opinions in the world, we do not take the time to form our own thoughts. We simply agree to the thought that sounds the most to our liking. Does anyone take a minute to form his own opinion?
Is technology taking away our sense of self and our ability to form our own true opinions?
And so my two hour flight from South Carolina to Rochester came to an end.