Have you ever found that electricity in your house was turned off? Or your internet connection went down? Or your computer didn’t work due to a serious problem? Or you lost your mobile phone? Or you had no car, nor motor bike, to ride?
What did you feel when you found yourself in such situations? Perhaps you said: “Oh no, I can’t live without all this.” Or you said: “Oh no, I can do nothing in such condition.” If that was what happened to you, I’m afraid that you are addicted to the modern convenience.
However, I can understand that many people – or even most of them – are now addicted to the modern convenience. The reason is quite simple: because they are not accustomed to live without the convenience. They always use the convenience in their daily life, as if the convenience were a part of them. They work, study, have leisure, have fun, take a bath, and even sleep using the convenience. Therefore, when they lose one of the convenience, they feel that everything becomes in trouble.
I’d like to tell you some of my own experiences. The worst thing I have experienced is that the electricity in my house or my office was turned off. You know, guys, that electricity seems to be the most important thing in our life today. Computer and many other devices need electricity. They won’t work without electricity. The electricity in my office has been turned off daylight many times, and I just could say: “Oh no, I can do nothing now.” And I felt much worse when it was deadline for my work. It might be better when the electricity was turned off at night and there was no work I had to do. In such condition, I always decided to go to bed and have a sound sleep in complete darkness. But it was also a problem when I had some overtime work I had to do at such without-electricity-night.
It was also my bad day of mine when my computer had a serious problem. I can not work on my computer. And it was worse when data I needed was stored in the computer. The only way to access the data was replacing the hard disk from the computer, and then putting it in any other computer. This always made me crazy.
The last thing I wanna tell you is my bad day when my internet connection went down. I could not read my emails, nor update my blogs and websites, nor update my facebook status, or nor even browse some good news and stories on the internet. That was really terrible. I don’t know why it is so hard to live without internet. I need to stay in touch with people on the net. I need to know what is new around the world. And at least, I need to have a look at the attractive design of web pages on the net.
These are some of my experiences showing that I may be addicted enough to the modern convenience. But it doesn’t mean that I will end my life because of that. Even when I lose all the convenience, I still can breathe. If I can’t find a car or a motor cycle, I still can go to a place by bicycle if any, or on foot. If the electricity is turned off, I can light a candle. Yes, life must go on. Look, our parents and grand-parents are able to have their life well without the convenience. They can and we can, too. Agree?
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Why did I write this story?
My internet connection was in trouble. I looked at Network Connections on Control Panel. It said that it’s well connected. So, I guessed the problem might be Firewall issue, and then I disabled the Firewall. But the problem still remained. I really didn’t know what the problem. I felt so angry, and half crazy. That day was deadline for one of my what-to-do. I should have finished the work on that disgusting day. And I needed my internet connection to do that. I got desperate because I did think that it was impossible for me to finish the work. And it was. Who’s wrong? The ISP (Internet Service Provider)? I did think yes, they were.
I dialed the ISP’s phone number. “Hello. I have a problem with my internet connection,” I said trying not to show my anger. “Who is speaking?” asked the ISP’s officer. He’s a man. Then I told him who I am. I told him my name, my phone number, and some other data needed.
“Are the modem and the cables okay,”he asked. “Yes, of course. I have checked them all. Everything is okay, but the connection. My computer says that it’s connected. However, when I try to open a webpage on my browser, it doesn’t work at all. The page doesn’t appear,” I tried to explain what the problem.
“Wait a minute,” he said. And then it was a quite long silence.
“Okay, okay. We’ve just reported this problem to Service Unit. They will call you to deal with the problem,” he made a promise.
“When will they call me?” I asked coriously. “As soon as possible,” he answered diplomatically. I really didn’t like this cliché answer. It would be far better if he told me a specific time. But, I didn’t want to quarrel against him on the phone.
“Okay. I’m looking forward to their coming here,” I answered desperately.
Oh, what the hell was the ISP doing? Why did this happen? Didn’t they have a more stable system preventing such funny problem? I didn’t know. I began thinking: Yes, this is Indonesia.
