The Digital Life, Temporarily Lived

People the world over harp on the greatness of smart phones in their lives - they live a life augmented by the digital and love it.  Those who love it too much claim they are addicted.  These people read more web pages, see more maps, read more reviews, and are more connected to their digital friends.

I'm very much on the other end of the spectrum.  I like my world to be tangible.  I find the real world much more interesting than 140 character brain excretions, and I think subways are far more fun than the facebook updates that seem to engage other riders.  My phone makes phone calls and my present companion typically gets my attention.

I also like my world to be explorable and surprising.  I don't need to find the best restaurant, see the best movie, take the most direct route, or know that it is exactly 23°C somewhere close to where I am right now.

So, in a recent trip to Korea, I tried out how the other half live.  I brought an iPhone on my vacation, loaded with friend restaurant recommendations, friend attraction recommendations, maps, weather, email, facebook, games, and Korean language references.  I did not have 3G coverage so I only had internet connectivity at coffee shops and such, but I was ready to see life augmented by others.

Here was my routine.

1. Each day my wife and I planned on going somewhere from the list of restaurants and attractions.  My friend Ferdinand is quite picky about food so we could trust his recommendations.  Throughout the day I would look at this list to remember where we should go.  At the hotel, I would search for the restaurants (if named) so I could see them on a map.  When walking to the restaurant, I would consult the map to see if we were on track.
2. At restaurants and interesting places I would mark the GPS location in Life Map to create a map of our trip.  I would often also check for free wireless access and try to connect to refresh web pages or check email; this rarely worked.
3. When my wife was doing something that didn't involve me, I would try to check work email.  I didn't trust my personal email account since I don't know if the gmail app uses HTTPS.  I was unable to determine this via search.
4. On the subway I would look at Life Map to see where we've been.  I would also follow cached online lessons to learn to read Korean.
5. Since most of our destinations were marked on tourist maps, I used 3D Compass Max to find out how follow the map upon exiting the subway.  I did notice two subway map installations in downtown Seoul had mislabeled compass directions.
6. I added items to my books-to-read and bring-when-travelling lists whenever I came across something interesting.
7. When taking photos, I used either the phone or my real camera.
8. When time was important, I used the phone as a clock.  In the hotel I used it as an alarm clock, though there was probably one in the room.

I felt compelled to check for wifi signals often, like the phone was beckoning me to try, just one more time, just one more wireless access point.  I didn't feel compelled to read work email, but I did it anyway when I had a few minutes alone.  I did not play any games and did not access Facebook.  I checked the weather a few times, but it was far less accurate than just looking at the sky.

The restaurants from Ferdinand's list were generally good, often very much so.  When walking to the restaurants I was more concerned with following the map than noticing the city.  I was more concerned with finding the right restaurants than finding ones that looked interesting, though they usually were.  At the rice museum I had plum tea, just as Ferdinand did, even though the pumpkin latte sounded more appealing.  As it turns out, my wife ordered the pumping latte, which was not great, while the plum tea was wonderful.

The ultimate question then is whether the phone made my vacation more enjoyable.

Honestly, I didn't particularly like the end result.  I don't enjoy the feeling of an inanimate object controlling my actions - it had too much influence and I can see how people become addicted.  At no point did I have any love for the phone - people who do are crazy.  I, instead, felt a certain slave to my own devices.

I did appreciate having a compass at the ready.  The clock and alarm clock were helpful.  Carrying a small camera was a huge bonus.  Being able to add to my lists was good.  And learning to read Korean was both valuable and rewarding.   It looks like I appreciated many of the things I used the phone for but not the overall experience.  How can this be?

The distinction is dependency.  I prefer to decide when to use my tools rather than them deciding when they need my attention.  Accessing restaurant information required me to check for wifi at coffee shops.  Keeping a Life Map log required me to check-in at interesting places.  Since the phone is made of glass, both front and back(!), I had to give constant care to make sure it didn't get scratched, with no keys or coins in the same pocket and certainly no dropping it.  This also adequately explains my dislike of Twitter, Facebook, politics, and the news, where maintaining relevance requires constant attention - my artificial technological being (geographical log, digital friend connection, knowledge of future weather, current events or "issues") will shrivel if I don't stroke it every once in a while - there is an urgency that the technology tries to impart on my life.

Then the distinction between myself and others is in the belief in the value of these intangible things.  The iPhone is targeted at people who think that visiting the best restaurants, following politics, knowing the most recent opinion of friends, knowing the current temperature, and understanding the current media issues are valuable in and of themselves.  I say the time spent cultivating these things could be better spent daydreaming or calculating pi, perhaps while enjoying a plum tea.