“Follow the white rabbit…”

Now, there are some cybernetic adaptations that I will have no truck with at all. Bluetooth headsets, please! - not really down with the “beam me up” look. Similarly I am not attracted to wrap around sunglasses with built in MP3 players. Strangely, although I am a total music lover, I do not carry an iPod. Nor do I feel the need for a camera on my mobile phone so that I can snap away at every living moment of my life.

I do however work heavily with my 12 inch PowerBook G4 Mac which I have a strange attachment to. (Apple seems to have that whole user-friendly-interface thing down to a tee). I have 4 Instant Messenger accounts: Skype, Yahoo, MSN and iChat. I have Skype open most of the day. I do videoconference with my web cam, but only internationally, not with people who are down the road from me.

I’m also a sucker for a PDA, ideally one that syncs with my Mac, has a calendar, memo pad, address book and a good accessible phone. (Incidentally, I had to let the Blackberry go because I am not overly keen on receiving international push email [spam] 24hours of my GMT day).

I resist texting when I can and often reply to a text message with a phone call. I also make a habit of using full English in my msgs just to b difrnt & wth 600 txt msgs a mnth incl. in my contrct I can afford 2 do that 2.

I met this guy on the weekend that my phone was stolen. I told him that I’d like to see if I could go without a phone for a week or so. I have a landline, email etc. He said, “but what about flirty texting?” I paused for thought. I still pause for thought and will come back to that later.

I have a MySpace account, which I rarely use; a business WebPage, a Facebook account; an eBay account; I do my banking online; will do my grocery shop online when I get organised enough; I have an Amazon account and have the BBC website as my homepage. I listen to pod casts and digital radio online and rate access to the plethora of global music amongst one of the best things that the internet revolution has provided. The words Google and Googling have become part of my everyday language and activity. And Wikipedia is just so important that I cannot imagine researching anything without it.

My boys use Club Penguin, this cute online social network and gaming world for children. They have been using a computer and online since they were 2 years old and can, occasionally, show me a trick or two. This evening before they went to bed we watched some very funny video skits online. We don’t have a TV aerial, just the monitors for watching DVDs and so we spend a lot of time on line as a family.

Much of this has been part of my virtual reality research for this paper and my general knowledge (seriously ☺) and some of it for professional use and personal enjoyment. Realistically these services change so much and are usurped by new ones so frequently that it is hard to keep up. Consequently you may notice that most of the above are ‘household names’, sites that I have used for some time. I have been online for 10 years now. I have always been a bit of a techy monster and so the gadget thing is second nature to me.

Someone asked me the other day, in a work-life-balance kind of way, how many times a day I check my email. A very puzzled look came over my face. “All day” is the answer.

Are you getting this yet?...