The Importance of WiFi

As I write this, I have no WiFi. It’s horrific. Like a proverbial second rate diving South American striker, you know the ones with a stupid single name like Jonathan or Wesley, my WiFi went down dramatically, came back for ten minutes hinting at the slightest crumb of a goal scoring potential, and then, typically, proceeded to go straight back down again ‘till the end of play today.

I guess, then, this is a sort of blog, although, I’m not quite sure what a blog is, at least in relation to an article. Anyway, we’re not discussing the complexities of blogging and journalism. So, as I have no films downloaded (no homework to do) and only terrestrial channels to elicit any sort of interest – I took to my laptop and thought I’d write something.

Over the past day or so, my parents and I have been distraught. Completely and utterly distraught. First of all, English P1 on Teams was looming, and the notion of catch-up was not something I could bare. What’s more is the fact I couldn’t hop on FIFA for a quick game, nor could I turn on the TV and watch an ep of The Last Dance (which, by the way, you should watch instead of reading this) on Netflix. I can’t even whip up a thesaurus to make myself sound smarter! Yes, of course I could read a book or cook or go for a walk. But, funnily enough, I ended up doing nothing all day, quite literally nothing, as opposed to my marginally productive days when I do have WiFi. No, this isn’t one big whine about 1 st world problems.

I thought about the past day or two. Isn’t it embarrassing how heavily we rely on this one thing? This one thing none of us really understand, though we act like we do with a certain ardent arrogance. Before you say it, I did try turning it off and on again. It’s interesting. Granted, it took a nation-wide lockdown for it to become apparent, but the issue is not confined by the lockdown. We put all our trust in these little boxes that beam a little signal so that we can function, literally function. But I guess that’s the same with all technology, at least for the vast majority of people, we haven’t a clue how these things work. So next time you sit down for a thorough Netflix session, or even to tune into to a lesson (or teach one), think about it. Think about how you place such an onerous trust in your provider to come fix it before you lag irredeemably far behind. And, maybe try ween yourself off, after all, it becomes more and more like an addiction each day.

Sam Green, T, L6 th