 at Internet Speed by Joel Tucker
Internet Speed. It's a new phrase, and it means "quick." If you spend any time on the World Wide Web, you probably wonder why. Obviously, the people who coined the phrase were producers, not consumers. The producer can post his newsletter in a fraction of the time it takes to print it. The consumer, on the other hand, could read two pages in the time it takes to log on, find the newsletter and download the table of contents. Producers have been at it long enough to know how slow it used to be. For consumers using a patchwork quilt of old and new technology, the system is about as slow as it ever was. Producers test their web pages on state-of-the-art systems; consumers view them through yesterday's technology. These things are not universally true. Some of you have 56,000 Baud modems, large monitors, zippy new Pentium chips and enough RAM to hold a small hard disk. Others don't have a clue what these terms mean. Einstein's theory of relativity includes the concept that the faster your speed, the slower your experience of time. According to the theory, a person traveling through space at a given speed will actually age more slowly than earthbound counterparts. I don't understand that theory, but I agree that I age faster waiting for a slow page than while zipping through a short line at a checkout counter. How spoiled we are. That 30-minute download would have taken two or three days by mail. That slow web page would have taken a trip 20-minute drive to the magazine stand. As things get faster, our expectation of speed gets faster as well. Five years ago, printing a page a minute was pretty good. Now, six pages a minute feels slow. Ten years ago, we could still appreciate the six o'clock news for giving us tomorrow's headlines. Now, we have the urge to fast-forward CNN Headline News so we can go around the world in less than 30 minutes. Time is money, but we'd all like to buy more time. What's wrong with this picture? Why do we want shorter lines, faster speed limits, faster computers? What's the hurry? The hurry, of course, is that we're eager to get past work and on with leisure. But we're becoming a society of adrenaline junkies, always looking for a quick fix. Computers are not the problem; they're a symptom. With intelligent use, they're a solution. We can accomplish more work in less time with a computer. But the computer isn't going to blow a whistle and send you home. And if you're hooked on the thrill of speed, you'll keep looking for more things to do faster, like a gambler dropping quarters in the slot machine. If we're doing more work in less time, why are we working longer hours? If you can do more, you're expected to do more. I had a friend who would refuse to learn certain skills because he didn't want the accompanying assignments. I became a valued, versatile employee with more work to do than hours in the day. He became a manager. Life is ticking away at Internet Speed. We must all become managers of our time, not by refusing to learn and grow, but by setting priorities and focusing on the important, rather than the expedient. Executive burn-out and heart disease illustrate how the fight to save time can cost more than it saves. Internet Speed is an illusion. Yes, information flows more quickly these days. Use it, enjoy it, but don't think you have to have everything, or have it quickly. Surf the net to your heart's content, and catch up on your reading while you wait for those pages to download. You'll never keep up if you march to the beat of the Internet drummer. If you want to make technology your slave, rather than your master, pace yourself -- and enjoy the scenery. Send your questions or comments by mail to this newspaper or by e-mail to jt@bootup.com. |
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