Unwired

First things first: my life revolves around my wife and kids; they are everything to me. That said, pretty much everything else in my life depends on a computer.

Nine-to-five I work at my computer pumping out graphic design. Most of the freelance work I do to pay for those little extras is finished on computer, if not wholly created on one. My photos, videos, attempts at biographical narrative… these are all on computer.

I watch movie trailers on the computer. I correspond with friends. I find new music. I blog.

My life depends on computers; in a significant way, the computer defines how I spend my days. Not who I am, but what my life consists of. (Again, with the family disclaimer mentioned above.)

How does this happen? How can I so completely rely on hardware that costs a couple of thousand dollars and access to the Internet at an additional forty bucks a month? And how different must my life be from someone without a computer, without the wherewithal to have constant, unfettered, fast access to the entire world at their fingertips?

I am ignoring, of course, the actual needs of food and shelter – these outweigh any technology’s importance. But what kind of divide is in place between those who are willingly tied to computers and those who can not afford the same luxury? What does it mean that there are still the “have”s and “have-not”s in our society? What will this mean as technology takes an even firmer hold on our lives in days to come? What will happen to those who are not wired/unwired?