Are we too reliant on technology?

Saturday morning I got up, performed my typical ablutions, then came out to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. I fired-up my laptop and clicked on the TV (my apartment is somewhat small, and the Kitchen and Living Room are essentially one room).

Moments later, there was nothing on the TV but a silent blue screen, and my computer informed me it could not connect with SooToday.

I realized the cable was out – we have Shaw cable and internet, here – and that I would have to forego my morning dose of news and e-mail. I checked a few times throughout the morning but the service had not been restored.

Fortunately, I use Bell Mobility for my own phone, and my neighbour/landlord has a Bell landline. I was able to call Shaw and listen to the recorded message advising of a wide-spread outage in the Sault area. (I had been thinking it might just be a local outage in the neighbourhood.)

I got home from work around 10 pm, to find that service had still not been restored.

It was not until this morning that I was able to re-connect to the grid, so to speak, and find out what had happened.

This got me wondering what this was like for those who have switched their home phone from Bell. At least I could make a phone call and get some information.

If I had wanted, I could have called a friend who uses Sympatico to see if she could connect to the internet, and check SooToday to find out what the problem might be.

It also got me thinking about previous telecommunication outages we have experienced.

Perhaps the most serious outage was the blackout that hit the north-east region of the US, Quebec, and most of Ontario in August 2003. With no electricity there is no communications – even battery-powered devices like two-way radios and cell phones need an externally-powered infrastructure (relay/repeaters and cell towers) to be of any use.

A few years prior to the 2003 incident, there was a local power outage that also brought a halt to telecommunications services. At that time land-line services were disrupted, and while cellular services had initially remained on-line, they were quickly overloaded by the sheer volume of calls being made from people trying to contact family, friends, and officials.
There have also been a number of smaller service disruptions involving Bell or Shaw cables being accidentally cut.

The proliferation and expansion of cell service has resulted in a more robust network that should (underscore should) be able to handle greater call volumes in the event of a wide-spread power outage.

Of course, “everyone” has a cell phone, right? No?

No.

Judging by the young people one sees glued to their cell phones, texting their friends and surfing the internet, and by the number of drivers who are chatting on their cell phones while driving, one would think that there are few, if any, people who do not own a cell phone.

However, recent information shows cellular penetration in Canada at only 60%, compared to 84% in the USA and nearly 100% in much of Europe.

The bigger question, though, is how reliant we have become on telecommunication technology.

What would you do if you could not watch TV, connect to the internet, or make phone calls for: a day, a few days, a week, or longer?

Watching the horrific events unfold in Japan, arguably one of the most technologically-dependent societies in the world, makes one realize that our dependence on technology leaves us tremendously vulnerable in the event of a catastrophic failure.

Few would deny the convenience of today’s telecommunication technology, but do we have any back-up plans in place?

The City installed a low-powered radio transmitter (91.1 FM) at the City Police Services building following the telecom failure in the 1990s. When it was needed in 2003, it didn’t work – the battery had died.

The local Rogers Radio station (100.5 E-Z Rock/104.3 Today’s Country) also installed a diesel generator to power the stations computers and two low-powered transmitters in the event of a power outage.

The question is: who would be able to receive these signals? How many people have battery-powered FM radios at home?

The local Amateur (Ham) Radio operators club runs annual exercises to test their ability to provide communications services in the event of an emergency. When required, operators would be stationed at various locations throughout the city, and residents would be advised to report to these locations to have their requests for emergency assistance relayed to the appropriate authorities.

That takes care of communications, but how would one deal with more routine matters such as purchasing supplies?

How many of us still carry enough cash to buy groceries, or a tank of gasoline?

I carry a small amount of cash – paying for a coffee with a debit or credit card just seems silly – but not enough for larger purchases.

Even if we do have cash, how do grocery stores and gas stations run without electricity. Debit/Credit terminals and ATMs, Cash registers, gas pumps, all require electricity.

How do we get money from our bank accounts if the ATMs don’t work, or even if the bank’s own computers lose their connection with the network?

Another problem area would be road traffic.

A few weeks ago, while out with a driving student, a power outage affected the traffic lights at several intersections: Trunk and Lake, Trunk and Wellington, and Wellington and Pine.

At the first two intersections, drivers were treating the un-controlled intersection as a four-way stop, as is required by the Highway Traffic Act and (no, it’s not “common,” but) common sense.

At Pine Street, however, drivers on Wellington were simply sailing through the intersection as if nothing was wrong. It was scary to watch.

There are some posters who figuratively – and perhaps literally – shake their heads at all the gadgets and technology that people have adopted, and without which they claim they would be lost.

There was a study reported in the media last week in which people described how technology was affecting their sleep; other studies have suggested that people are claiming to be “addicted” to technology.

Whether these are true addictions, or simply a choice people have made, there is no denying that technology has become an intrinsic part of many people’s daily lives.

There have been several stories in the media regarding people who have been misled by their GPS units, and ended up on dead-end roads or heading the wrong way along a back country road.

Some people have all their contact information – addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses – stored on their cell phones, iPads and other electronic devices. if they lose their device, they lose all their data.

Don’t get me wrong – I love what technology has done for us. But I also wonder if, in the pursuit of better, faster, and more inter-connected technology, have we perhaps forgotten how to get along without it?

Have we prepared back-ups for our data?

What if we can’t access our e-mail, or our bank accounts?

What if we can’t make phone calls – cellular or landline?

We could be too reliant on technology.

Or, maybe we just need to give some thought to the “What If” scenarios.


But… that’s just my opinion.