The killer electronic leash, now also at 30,000ft

I wrote a message to my 16-year-old son: “In your generation, this will be commonplace. But for me this is the first message that I am sending while cruising at 30,000ft. It records a moment in my lifetime.” I pressed send and surprise: It showed a double tick and finally two blue ticks. I got a thumbs up in response.

Toying with the paltry bandwidth provided for free by an international airline brought forth a child-like excitement in me. For doing anything substantial with the WiFi on board the aircraft, of course, I would have to migrate to the paid plan.

I would consider myself a person of reasonable scientific disposition and am in no way averse to technology, but I am not celebrating any of these new feats of connectivity just yet.

I know for sure from my jet-setting friends and relatives how “getting on a plane or was on a flight” was the only excuse accepted professionally for being unapproachable. Now that the electronic leash has found its way into the airplanes, their lives would change and how.

Remember how long distance travel has always come as a detoxification opportunity where one ended up listening to music, reading, indulging in a movie marathon or just catching up on sleep. But that small luxury is fast eroding. Wait till WiFi on planes gets extended to all classes of travel, including “cattle class”. Poor workers!

The death of these connectivity black holes may not be the best thing that has happened to professionals, in a long time. Unlike the terrestrial call drop havoc, this was probably the only place where lack of connection was to be celebrated and appreciated.

I spoke to some “always on the move” professionals on board who told me that their company has an app that could be downloaded and in air use of WiFi could be billed directly to the company. But they also told me the dark secret. They were still pretending they had no inkling of that particular app. Obviously, that is the last thing they wanted facilitated for them.

This risk of losing the beautiful “me time” opportunity sunk in further when I caught a visual at the rear of the plane that did not quite sit well with what my mind was conditioned to see. I saw a man busy in conversation on his cellphone – a first for me. He was having an animated discussion and I felt he could have been spared the trouble of trying to keep it low while being angry with the person at the other end, only if technology wasn’t the spoiler. He would probably have enjoyed his drink in solitude and confronted what was to be, but only after landing, post a refreshing break from the world.

But that is not to be anymore! Long live the electronic leash that binds us all... unfortunately now at all times!