My faithful router died today. It had been making some faint, high-pitched sounds for the last couple of days and I’d begun to wonder if it was becoming a potential fire hazard. So, before leaving for work this morning I unplugged it, just to be on the safe side.
I hadn’t actually considered that it might not turn back on again when I got home, or I possibly may have thought twice about pulling the plug. But alas, upon reconnecting it this evening, instead of the usual sequence of startup lights I’d become so accustomed to, it half started, flashed all its LAN port lights at me, dropped out, and then repeated the process ad infinitum. Sniff.
It’s made me realise just how much I actually use the internet, as it was an ADSL modem all-in-one. So no internet tonight. I’ve found myself wondering lately, having been reminded of how crummy some folk’s ‘net access is, whether I’d cope if I moved somewhere that I was unable to get any decent access.
I don’t think I would. I use my net connection on my computer, on my phone, for playing games; even for watching tv (no, I don’t actually use bittorrent, but I watch a lot of podcast programs). And I have become more than a little addicted to the immediacy of ‘always on’.
I’ve become so addicted I’ve tethered to my phone to write this. More than a little sad here, people.
It’s probably not a good thing to be so tech-dependent, as this hopefully single night has shown me. I think I’ll go read a book.
