The midden

This Special Report in the Economist highlights the impact of an increasingly connected world on the way we live, work, communicate and generally spend our days. All those gadgets (mobile phones, laptops, PDAs) that we have been carrying around for years, and which tantalised us with promises of quick and easy access to an online world ( but only if you had a techy friend who knew the 40 steps needed to achieve this) are now finally delivering the goods. Thanks to the arrival of faster and reliable cellular networks, getting connected through our mobile phones is now straightforward. Through an ever increasing number of wi-fi hotspots, connectivity from anywhere is finally happening.

The digital nomad is defined not by the gadgets and devices that they carry, but by what they leave behind. The analogy with the Bedouins is an interesting one. The nomadic Bedouins do not carry water because they know that they will be able to get some at the next oasis. The digital nomad doesn’t carry his documents because he knows that he can access them online when he gets to his destination.

This is a useful report describing the likely consequences of this long-awaited connectivity on the way we lead out lives.