We live in a new age of technology, advanced beyond telephones and fax machines to a digital society and internet friends. But i'm not going to attempt tackling the bigger challenge. What I wonder about, is the effective availability of a person in the end.
I recently requested a contact number from a friend, to call him, should need be. Five phones numbers and six e-mail addresses later I still wasn't quite sure how to reach him. In case of any eventuality, I was told, I should have all the options. Fax numbers, phone numbers - at work, business mobile, private mobile, at home, all-purpose mobile etc.. All this for one of me to reach one of him?
Are the numbers of ways and means to access a person (lets call this 'n') directly proportional to their availability? A wise friend pointed out, the number of communication gadgets one owns, is in fact inversely proportional to ones availability. Logically, the amount of time spent on gadget management is that much lost in every other activity, socializing included. So 'n' can't be either infinite, in which case you're one lonely, tech savvy soul, nor can 'n' be 0, in which case you're inaccessible and end up lonely as well. So what is the optimal n? Any answers anyone?
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