Tech & Biz

Technology 'priority for Britons'

by The_Cynic | August 5, 2009 at 09:21 pm

130 views | 14 Recommendations | 5 comments

Well, I have always known I was an addict...

Britons are more willing to cut back on holidays and meals out than on spending on communication technology during the recession, an Ofcom review suggests.

The watchdog's annual report says spending on mobiles, the internet and TV is regarded as a higher priority than almost anything except food.

...but I didn't know that SO many people were!

As this is the case - that we are all such internet addicts, some more than others, will this usher in a more pronounced new world order or will it mean that we have, in effect, become total individualists?

If you think about it we can talk to each other, for free if you have an instant messaging service, and the phone companies are getting more and more irked at that.

You can keep up on the news from Papua to Beijing, all in the click of a mouse.

Is this the time, a beginning because, even now, the internet is still a baby - when we can all begin to look at ourselves as global beings rather than the tribal beings that we have been for thousands of years?

Is the need to communicate the greater motivating factor - in that people will forgo vacations rather than stop using the internet - or any other technology?

Or is it that we have gone through an evolutionary process and we didn't notice?

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Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 02:53 on August 6th, 2009

The advent of the internet has brought us all closer together. The fact that we can talk and exchange ideas with people all over this planet can only be for the betterment of humanity. The recent Iran elections are a good example. A lot of what happened there would have gone unnoticed to the world. Thanks for this article.

Beaulieu

at 03:19 on August 6th, 2009

I have stopped having holidays overseas for a while, as I prefer to spend them writing or doing other things, and that means I have easy access to the internet, funnily enough.

I don't watch TV, although if I really wanted to, I would have the computer to watch it, but generally I find it full of mainstream rubbish. I am pleased I have stopped my Eastenders addiction. Cutting that out is surprisingly easy.

The internet helps me keep up with the news, as I don't like not knowing what's happening.

I am tempted to have a No Technology Day, and be a Luddite. I think that can be a good thing from time to time. It's quite horrible,sometimes, being 'controlled by a mobile phone' although I do deliberate turn it off from time to time. I am going to work on it.

Karl Gotthardt - albertacowpoke

at 04:23 on August 6th, 2009

My mobile phone is only on when I see a need for it. In this country it is a lifeline for me when I.m on the road. Even then it is for me to make a call not the other way around. Mobile phones have caused a lot of problems on Canadian roads. They are now considered more dangerous then impaired driving.

Beaulieu

at 03:21 on August 6th, 2009

The worst bit is that it in can be incredibly time consuming. I had to stop playing chess and scrabble online for that reason. I won't go anywhere near Second Life, although my friend spends hours on it.

Beaulieu

at 09:16 on August 6th, 2009

Mobile phones are handy for me if I cycle alone on my bike. I have used it when there has been an accident on the road. However, once I had an bike accident and I couldn't even get up to pick my mobile for help as it fell out my pocket out of arm's reach. None of the motorists stopped to help and there were no pedestrians around to help pick it up. It took me ages to reach for my phone. When you don't have one, it is horrible.

I have also used my phone to call out the Fox Ambulance when a fox has been run over by a motorist, and they just leave them there bloody and half alive.

I think in an emergency they are great. Not many people know my mobile phone number so I don't get pestered too much, that's how I like it!