So I was sitting on the plane this morning, some tens of thousands of feet in the air. That fact alone is a constant miracle that we really don't take enough time to appreciate. We fly across the world in the air, people. Imagine what Fred Flintstone, or the Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer, would have made of that.
But instead of marveling at this modern miracle, I was annoyed. That in itself is not remarkable, since being annoyed while on a plane is pretty much par for the course these days (just like being in a movie theater). What was remarkable was what I found myself annoyed about: the fact that the in-flight wifi was too slow to play Netflix . Can you say "first world problem?"
The very fact that I had Internet access on an airplane at all is still something I should be freaking out about--not taking for granted or being annoyed about. Shit, even if the planes were only equipped with 2400 baud modems, that would still be better than we had for, oh, let's see, how about: ALL OF HUMAN HISTORY UNTIL NOW. I can sit on a plane and IM with my friends, deal with work email, surf the web, goof off on Twitter, and, hey, even update this blog.
At this point, I definitely get annoyed when flights don't have wifi. Because now that we know that it's possible, it seems like there's no reason for any airline not to have it. (On the other hand, flights without wifi suddenly become the perfect excuse to NOT work and just tune out, like in the good old days.)
But to be on a plane with wifi, and then be annoyed because it's not fast enough so I can stream my movie that I shouldn't be watching anyway because I should be working if I have Internet access, feels like the height of absurd entitlement. So I'm posting this just to publicly berate myself, as an act of repentance.
But hopefully it'll work on my next flight. It fucking better!
7 comments:
It really is amazing how quickly we can become frustrated by things that are practically modern miracles. Reminds me of one of Louis CK's most famous bits: Everything is amazing, but nobody is happy.
I find it next to impossible to focus on work (writing) unless I am sitting at my home office desk. So when I travel, I just load up the ipad with a bunch of movies, and veg out for a few hours. Last trip I watched Kill Bill (one volume each direction) for about the 12th time :)
Dude.. what's with the sudden blogsplosion?? I had forgotten I had even subscribed to this...
Good to have you back.
Well, Fred Flintstone did fly at some point:
http://sharetv.org/shows/the_flintstones/episodes/201867
Or he could have taken the crude way:
http://www.vegalleries.com/hbltd/Flint05.jpg
Regardless, I definitely see your point. I haven't been abroad in ages and therefore haven't been on a plane, and I remember the last time I did go there was no WiFi, no phones, pretty much nothing useful at all! In-flight TV was pretty poor back then too, often having some rubbish quality that made it unwatchable!
Don't get all self-conscious about this kind of thing. What you're experiencing is the beauty of mankind's ability to innovate: the conceptualization of a better, more productive world which your annoyance works towards realizing.
If no one felt such annoyance, there would be no reason for the airline to bother upgrading their in-flight wifi to accomodate you. They would in fact never have had a reason to put wifi in planes at all.
Your annoyance contributes to the most beautiful thing about capitalism: a constant uncoordinated effort towards a better world. You should be proud of yourself!
As a side note, the captcha it's making me put in to post this is totally "sperm." Just thought I'd share that with you.
I was just about to remove you from my browsers start folder to! Good to see you back Mr Green, You have been missed. Does this mean another Out The Game as well? Stalking GFW-afiles want to know!
So when are you going to visit PopCap Ireland Jeff? Maybe you could give our economy a kick up in the rear!
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