What stage of Internet Dependency are you in?
Okay, a lot of my posts these days have been about my own personal brand of heroine- my utter and absolute addiction to the web. The web is my Bella ;)
Lameness aside (and my brothers will all testify that I am lamest in the after hours), I found a cool article on Wired UK (which is even better than the regular Wired) that helps you gauge your levels of internet dependency.
According to them, here are the levels, measured by how you react when your internet suddenly dies:
Stage 1 Internet Dependency
Check the wires, see if you can steal a neighbor’s wi-fi, then get up and do something else.
Stage 2 Internet Dependency
Try to steal a neighbour’s wi-fi. Walk around the house with your laptop if necessary.
Stage 3 Internet Dependency
Try the neighbor’s wi-fi trick, making a few guesses at the passwords of their locked-down networks.
Try connecting again. And again. Try to watch a film, remember you only watch films that stream online, go back to your computer and try to connect again.
Stage 4 Internet Dependency
Shocked disbelief, followed by a thorough inspection of your network settings, DSL modem, router, wi-fi configuration and the state of local radio interference fields. Then try the neighbour’s wi-fi trick. Then stand and glare at your modem for a while.
Try connecting again. And again. Go down to watch a film, remember you only watch films that stream online, go back up and try to connect again.
Pack up your main computer and monitor and head to a hotel that offers reliable internet access.
Stage 5 Internet Dependency
Get up on the roof and point your homemade wi-fi antenna at the library 15 blocks over. If that doesn’t work, hook your phone up to your laptop. If that doesn’t work, pull out your old 56K modem and log into the dial-up service you pay for every month just in case something like this happens.
Write a long, involved blog post about how your ISP is costing you time, money and/or effort because of its incompetence.
<manual br>
:)
Sadly, I’m in stage 4. Last week our internet was gone for several days and it was torture. I tried every single trick in the book with the hardware, testing every item to extreme degrees. I’d wake up every few hours at night and check to see if it’s back through my phone’s wi-fi. I even went to sleep at EIGHT (okay, I was sick that week).
What level are you, according to this?
<manual br>
P.S. Speaking of Bella, I found another very funny article on Slate about why today’s vampires suck (I tend to disagree, I have never not loved a vampire book). An excerpt:
No, bloodsucking is so yesterday. It’s so 1994. It’s so Anne Rice. Today’s vampire is a good listener. He cares about our love lives and our problems, which is strange because we’re supposed to be his food. Humans just assume that we are the center of the universe and so, faced with a literary creation that should, by all rights, just conk us over the head and suck us down like Slurpees, we’ve decided that we’re too fascinating to be eaten. And so the modern vampire stalks, seduces, sleeps with, and cries over us. They don’t eat us.
Tweets that mention What stage of Internet Dependency are you in? | And Far Away -- Topsy.com
December 2, 2009 @ 2:42 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Mohammad Allouh, Qwaider Planet. Qwaider Planet said: What stage of Internet Dependency are you in? (@RobaAssi) And Far Away→ http://bit.ly/8AxPtu [...]
Chris
December 2, 2009 @ 5:50 am
Hard to pick just one, but definitely a web junkie. I got a stay at home 24 inch Mac, so I’m used to being out without the web, but when I get home that sucker better be in tip-top shape. Luckily I have a very reliable service, but when there’s just the slightest hiccup, I act like a child who just got his lollipop taken away. BTW Applehead, just got a Magic Mouse, love you sweet rodent.
Dave
December 2, 2009 @ 5:58 am
I’m at level 4 as well. I hate when my internet is down. I find it even harder to deal with it in the States than in Jordan because everything is internet-connected. Even with my iPhone, I’m connected 24-7. Yup, I’m a total iNerd.
Mesh
December 2, 2009 @ 8:28 am
I am at Stage 0 or -1 (Ajat menhom (ISP) ma ajat menni stage).
As a computer engineer, i do the usual or unusual troubleshooting steps (from constant pulsing the DSL Splitter, to -may end by- flushing the router with DD-WRT firmware image;just to, enhance self confidence as a trouble shooter maybe!? a problem solver not an internet addict.
(most of the times, an ISP problem)
Spending 10 hours at work in front of a Dell19″ wide screen1400×900 and rest of the time on my Samsung 26″ 1920×1080; leveling or raiding in World of Warcraft, checking your blog (tomshardware.com & anandtech.com too) on an iPod Touch screen of 320×480 before sleeping, but believe it or not..if am out of internet; it won’t make a damn difference, am just ready to a day(s) that might come soon.
Am breathing a cancer pixels,bits and digits, its the time for me to retire (am just 23)
ExpatInSaudi
December 2, 2009 @ 11:58 am
I’m at Stage 4. I don’t even remember the last time I turned off my lappy. I sleep at night with the laptop by my side. I’m more like THE HULK whenever my internet service gets disrupted.
Some of the support guys at STC know me by my name now – thanks to the frequent unsynching of my DSL modem.
You’ve got one hell of an addictive blog.
I just got my google wave invite and now I need to figure out how to add you :D
Rula A.
December 2, 2009 @ 12:00 pm
Cool article.. Though I know myself.. Can’t survive a day without internet :)
Y
December 2, 2009 @ 12:08 pm
you’re confuzzling me with your timing these days…. posting things at 3 a.m… insomnia? i found a cure. i’ll send it upon request. and, about to read this post btw.
Y
December 2, 2009 @ 12:09 pm
def a stage 4. thank god i live in hamra…. free wi-fi EVERYWHERE
Omar
December 2, 2009 @ 12:09 pm
“and my brothers will all testify that I am lamest in the after hours” more like all the hours 7abeebti :)
Y
December 2, 2009 @ 12:09 pm
actually. in 2009. and omar. she is… precisely why we love her. and also, i miss feeling short next to you.
Roba
December 2, 2009 @ 12:36 pm
Chris, thank god for wi-fi enabled phones :) I never take my laptop with me anywhere either, cause in most of the places I spent much time at (my parents house, my office, and my own) there are desktops for me to use. We got one magic mouse at the office too, I didn’t use it myself too much cause I didn’t upgrade to Snow, but I gave it a spin on Sabbagh’s computer and thought it was a little slow? What do you think?
Dave, you are an iNerd! :P I am so happy that the iPhone hasn’t sucked me in… yet :)
Mesh, hehe, inta stage 1? BA2OS EEDI :P Bakeer 3al retirement ya zalameh, you still have a long pixel-infested life ahead :P
ExpatinSaudi, my user name on wave is roba.assi @ googlewave.com add me there :)
Rula A. yup, thank god for stealing other people’s wi-fi :D
Y, please do go ahead and send me the link, though it’s not really insomnia, I just had so much shit to do last night.
Omar, why are you and Yasmeen ganging up on me? That’s not nice :(
Zeid (ou za3tar)
December 2, 2009 @ 12:52 pm
i dont like to read lengthy articles so i dont really know what this is about … but check this out :
http://www.yankodesign.com/2009/11/23/concerning-wooden-mice/
best thing i have ever seen… i love wood
Zeid (ou za3tar)
December 2, 2009 @ 12:57 pm
and btw wihtout reading the article and judging what it is about from the title … if it’s not work that is making me click the mouse and hit the keyboard buttons (or checking out andfaraway.net or my e mail) i dont like to spend time on the internet or even use the laptop but i have to … during weekends or vacations i just sit and relax no tv no computer … i just sleep i guess and then go out and drink coffee @ Costa (TM) (R)
zeid ou za3tar
December 2, 2009 @ 1:37 pm
where is my other post … anyway check this out :
http://www.yankodesign.com/2009/11/23/concerning-wooden-mice/
i love wood … this is the best thing i’ve ever seen that has to do with technology :)
Roba
December 2, 2009 @ 1:49 pm
Zeid, I’m the opposite :( I really don’t like wood. I’m a metal, concrete, and glass kinda gal :)
Yanko is an awesome site though, even if we don’t agree aesthetically. My ideal mouse (the way it looks at least, I wouldn’t use it cause I treasure my right click too much) is the original glass one-button apple mouse. That is gorgeousness.
zeid
December 2, 2009 @ 2:03 pm
now that i looked at the glass mouse (that i didnt know it existed before u told me) http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Apple-pro-mouse1.jpg
thats really great … competes with my wooden mouse
Mesh
December 2, 2009 @ 3:24 pm
No wallah Roba believe me, el zayed a5o el na2es!
Being Geek (not nerd there is a difference) solving people’s computer’s problems (an non computer problems that might extend to their FTA Receivers!) is fun within limits, but getting a call on 8 PM that:
-”my D:\ drive has a suspicious icon and i am so worried, is it a virus ?”,
i just sigh, dude does your C:\ drive has that suspicious icon too ?
-and he goes like hmm no !,
i sigh again.. ok then, dude does your D:\ Drive has the picture of USB Flash with Green Hair on it (Wireless Emitting just to make the picture clear to him) ?
-He goes like Yes ! Exactly ! What the Heck is That ?!
(Kan nefsi a2ollo had Abu Rejel Masloo5a jay yakol jihazak)
Man,you just pressed that Setup a wireless network for home or small office in my network places by mistake, or you didn’t know what is that for and tried to give it a shot, go to your D:\ Drive and delete Autorun.inf and that folder that begins with letter s with length of 5 or 8 characters that does not belong to you.
and yea, reboot your computer, windows always needs rebooting..
Sorry for this long crappy comment, thank you all for hearing my sufferings.
Roba
December 2, 2009 @ 3:27 pm
Zeid, it’s really gorgeous design :)
Mesh, complain away my friend, trust me when I tell you I’m constantly facing similar problems with people. Peope never bother to think or Google before they freak out… fa it’s really annyoing :)
Chris
December 2, 2009 @ 11:49 pm
Blasphemy! No seriously, can’t really tell the difference, but I could be wrong. If so, the speedy momentum and the finger swipe make up for it. (For me, I’m way faster with the swipe than with your treasured right click back/forward.)
AG
December 3, 2009 @ 1:52 am
I would have to say stage 3-4 when I’m in the States and 1 when I’m in Jordan.
It’s weird but I always have something better to do when I’m in Jordan.
Roba
December 3, 2009 @ 12:49 pm
Chris, well, you’ve used it more, so I’ll take your word for it :) I’m still in love with my Mighty Mouse, and my Macbook’s trackpad.
AG, maybe cause you’d be on vacation? :P I don’t even go online when Im’ on vacation (or at least try), and I’m the world’s biggest cyber junkie.
diana
December 20, 2009 @ 8:45 pm
Oh, dear. I might be a Stage 5. Although that one time I went to the roof, and then back to the apartment and used the dial-up, I REALLY needed to get online. Cough.