Does IT make me (more) happy?

Posted August 23, 2010 at 2:16 pm by Arjan de Jong in General.

As a keen surfer – you know, with a board with no sail bobbing in the waves, waiting for a nice big one – you can often find me abroad searching for the perfect wave. In the Netherlands there is a lot of water but good waves are rare, so you soon depend on trips to southern Europa, the west or east coast of the Americas, or subtropical islands with often unpronounceable names.

In September I have a surf holiday planned to the beautiful island of Bali, Indonesia. It’ll be the fourth time since 2000 that I will departure to this part of the globe. For some reason or other, I keep on being drawn to Asia. Maybe it’s the combination of it’s friendly people, good food and excellent surfing conditions.

During the 15 hr flight to Hong Kong – this year I have, again, a transfer at the new airport of Hong Kong – I enjoy myself with an in-flight entertainment system that includes films on demand, a load of available games in case you’ve already watched all the films a couple of times, music you did not download on your iPod beforehand as chances are it is not your most favourite kind, and a map/GPS to conclude you will have to remain seated at least another 14 hours until arrival at your destination. Last time we could even watch the landing live through a camera fixed on the nose of the plane.

Once arrived on Bali, you are overwhelmed by the heat, traffic and people talking in an undecipherable language. After having found the driver of our hotel, all luggage is put in the car and we fight our way through heavy traffic towards our final destination: our hotel. Once settled (luggage unpacked, boards checked for possible damage, and a really nice shower), we head to the beach looking for the locals we have become good friends with over the years. ‘Our’ locals consist of Balinese sellers of watches, jewellery and clothing, a clothing shop, and Wayan, who has his own beach bar, made from a couple of crates topped with some driftwood, and a wooden sign that says ‘Wayan’s Beach Bar’, dangling from a palm tree. Yes, Wayan now practises personal branding!

Speaking to local people, you soon notice how dependent we westerners have become on technology and how normal we think that is. If I want to know if the weather is good for surfing, I have a quick look on the live web cam pointed at Scheveningen’s beach, or I check surfer forecasts at sites like Wind Guru or Magic Seaweed. For the latest news, I surf to Nu.nl, and when I don’t feel like cooking at night I just order on-line at Thuisbezorgd.nl.

For me, a life without technology is hard to imagine. If sometimes there is no internet connection, it almost seems like we can’t function and feel completely cut off from the rest of the world. We phone every five minutes to our internet service provider help desk to ask when the problem will be fixed. We leave the office early as we can’t receive or read any emails.

Watching the waves roll in with a Bintang in hand in Wayan’s Beach Bar, – for a moment completely disconnected from Ethernet cables, wireless network, internet, mobile telephony – I can feel the virus slip away from my body. Bali is the spa treatment for technology addicts. At least for me. Until I get back to my hotel room and quickly use the hotel’s wireless network to inform the home front on my safe journey and to use Dropbox to send the first impressions of Kuta Beach across the world. Oh, and update my Facebook page, and tweet to my colleagues the weather is a lot nicer on Bali than it is in dreary Holland, and I mustn’t forget to become mayor of the hotel through Foursquare.

Things our locals are not bothered with. They get up in the morning, have breakfast, pick up their jewellery, watches, clothing and other paraphernalia from their “boss” and set out on their daily stroll across the beach, hoping to lure a tourist into some purchases. They don’t worry about the 20 Mbit/s ADSL line still being ‘up’, or when Froyo (firmware 2.2) for the Android finally becomes available, or that someone beat them as mayor of Kuta Beach. No, they’re not ‘contaminated’ with the technology virus as we westerners are. Making a sale to buy food is a lot higher on their wish list than an iPad 3G. They don’t have their lives lived for by a (non) sense of technology and they don’t have the need to be constantly in touch with friends and relatives on-line. Personal contact with potential buyers of their goods is a lot more essential to them.

At the end of the day, who is happier? Me, with all my technology stuff, or our local, who provides for the bare necessities of life. Secretly, I sometimes wonder.