WiFi Envy

Thinking about a new technological assemblage where we’re encouraged to keep in touch all day, every day, with always on connections to our friends and the internet, has made me review my own information access habits, especially email. Though I receive a fair amount of email a day, it is far from overwhelming and rarely is there an item that mandates an immediate response. When I have access to a computer at home or in the office, I check email frequently. Partly this is because email is on a random reward schedule (which means that we hit the feedbar more often since we can’t predict when the reward will come) and email (just like regular mail) is pure potential—you never know what’s coming and it may be wonderful. But mainly checking email is way to pass time. It’s a distraction from what I need to do. Now, I can very easily distract myself, thank you very much (“you know, that one quote would be perfect here. I must dash to the library to dig up that volume right now in the middle of this sentence” or “Coffee? Sure!” or “Gee those shelves look dusty” or “I wonder if the mail is in?”), and I don’t need more.

However, I do admit to a certain WiFi envy, mainly when I’m in meetings and I glance over and note someone scrolling through their messages. WiFi is a lot like cigarettes. Cigarettes give people an excuse to leave, Blackberries and WiFi devices give one something else to do while seeming to attend (my students do this to me all the time). There have been two times in my life when I’ve been tempted to start smoking. The first was when I was working the late shift at a neighborhood submarine sandwich shop in Wisconsin, bored out of my mind and looking for something, anything, to do. The second was sitting in an all day retreat and watching with envy as the smokers in the group would excuse themselves and step outside for periods of time.

So while I can see where a WiFi enabled device could make me more productive (as if that’s the key criterion I want to base my life on), I have my doubts.