When you move abroad technology becomes more important than ever. Our generation has been brought up with technology. Not only is it comforting to have our daily dose of technology at our fingertips whilst we’re in a foreign country (how many of us roll out of bed in the morning and instinctively check twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, emails etc.?), but it also offers so many opportunities, from staying in touch with people from home to storing life-long memories and meeting new people in our new surroundings. Evidently, technology becomes even more indispensable when we’re thrown out of our comfort zone.
Skype sessions with family and friends from home can help soothe any worries and bouts of homesickness, numerous Facebook updates and messages reassure us that we’ve not been forgotten about at home and endless invites to events and meet-ups ensure that we’re always busy and enjoying ourselves in our new home. Where would we be without technology?! Not to mention the crucial use of maps on our handheld devices to navigate round foreign cities, language translation apps for moments when our mind goes blank and we just can’t remember that one word and life-saving alarms to wake us up in the morning so we’re not late for our new jobs!
Technology becomes one of our most important vices whilst we’re abroad (if it wasn’t so already). It holds contact details of all our favourite people, pictures and videos which we’ll always look back on, thousands of songs to motivate us during essay writing, relax us after work and persuade us out of bed in the early morning.
Of course, technology’s not only for recreational use either, it’s becoming almost essential to have access to good technology in daily life for areas such as education and work due to submissions and tasks increasingly becoming more online based.
However, with all of this undeniable reliance on technology, it begs the question; would we be able to survive without it? Of course we would physically, but how comfortably? Would we possess enough initiative to organise our lives completely on our own? How would we plan trips and without any technology, would we ever really “keep in touch” with others? Or on the other hand, would it create a positive revelation, forcing us to interact more with people directly around us, rather than sitting at home, communicating from behind a computer screen? Would it make us more adventurous and have more initiative or just leave a massive hole in our lives?
Do you use technology a lot when you travel?
