Piaras Kelly PR - Public Relations in Ireland

Tyler says the things you own, end up owning you. It’s only after you’ve lost everything that you’re free to do anything - Fight Club

I was on my way to a meeting today and was in the middle of a call when my mobile phone died on me. Suddenly I was lost. I couldn’t contact the person I was meant to meet to confirm where I was going. I was expecting a call from a journalist that I had to talk to at a specific time. And most importantly of all, I was going to have to call a taxi at some point to get back to the office.

Cue the brown paper bag for hyperventilation! Only kidding Seriously though, like the quote from Fight Club says, we are seriously reliant on things like mobile phones. Seven years ago I didn’t have one and it wasn’t on my consideration list, then I’m given a free one when I started college and it may as well be attached to my side now. Like my taxi driver at the time of my battery dying said, ‘When you leave your house, you used to always pad down your pockets for your keys. Now you check your mobile.’

I never been so embaressed though having to borrow phones. Normally my So0ny Ericcson T630 hangs on with a bit of extra juice, but today it punished me for tempting fate. I had a spare handset, my charger and a charger for my spare handset ll back in the office, but there I was in Drumcondra with a dead mobile and in a state of panic.

It’s a sign of the times and I’ve found myself thinking back to the ‘old days’. How did we manage to get around? Obviously we must have communicated a lot better and given people actual detail and turned up the majority of the time.

For all of the improvements made by modern technology it has robbed a lot from us in some respects. Communications has become largely impersonal - getting dumped by SMS is probably highlights that. Wait until 3G goes into full swing. What next!?

- ‘Fancy a pint!?’
- ‘Yeah’
- ‘Will i meet you in the pub?’
- ‘No, sure just open one up there and we can have a pint over our video call.’
*click……….*
- ‘Hello? Are you still there?…Cheek of him, he hung up on me! Whatever for?’