Irene – Reminder of Technology Dependence
The “Summer” is over and as always it went way too fast. Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene caused a lot of havoc in the country, including CT. For a hurricane it moved way slower than the summer, I would say. Until Sunday morning 7 AM, we were able to watch the incessant coverage of Irene on TV as well as multitude of websites. Then the power went out and in our CT home, it is yet to come. The predictions are that our small town may not get it back until Thursday. A couple of hours later, cell signals from AT&T also vanished. Sunday night was an interesting night, no electricity and absolutely no communication and truly, we all felt lost and did not sleep well, hoping for the lights to come back on.
Wellesley, like many other Colleges and Universities, had emergency planning in effect and we helped wherever we can, by posting messages in the appropriate channels encouraging everyone to update their Emergency contact information. Overall, NY, CT and MA were spared by the wrath of Irene with the exception of a few areas such as Western MA. Events like these expose our dependence/addiction to technology. Granted that my dependence is on one extreme, but as I discuss below, the dependence is far more than some are willing to admit.