Our expectations shift with each new wonder that we see

I was recently in a cafe doing some work when a couple in their twenties came and sat at the table next to me.

They both retrieved a laptop from funky bags and open them onto the table.

A conversation about the voluminous size of the portions in the branded refreshment establishment followed.

I was trying to get some work done and not listen, but it was difficult.

One sentence caught my attention though – “I can’t work on 4G, but I get 5G so rarely.”

My immediate reaction was “What? You can’t work on 4G? What work are you doing?” followed by a feeling of “I’m old.”

I remember the day when a bump in speed from 14.4Kbits to 28.8Kbits or even the dizzying heights of 56Kbits required a new modem and a way to justify the significant expenditure. Each one of those jumps was a wonder to behold, enabling us to download 1024×768 pictures so much quicker. Universal high speed mobile communications were reserved for the characters in sci-fi films.

Now, here I was sitting in a cafe, surrounded by mobile communications devices and the 30Mbits that we typically get from 4G in the UK isn’t good enough?

We’ve moved to a position where bits fly through the air at a rate 535 times higher than the highest speeds I could get down my phone line at home are no longer good enough for some people’s work needs? The marvel from 2014 that is 4G is on the road to redundancy.

How our expectations shift from wonder to expectation, from expectation to obsolescence.

This isn’t one of those “they’ve never had it so good” posts.

This is me marvelling at our ability to adopt and adapt, to see something new and to build employment and commerce around it.

This is me looking at the huge changes that are coming our way and cheering on the future shapers and modelers.

This is me choosing to look away from the gloomy side and towards a hopeful view of the future.

This is me wondering at the work that could require more than 4G and what that could be.

It won’t be a future that looks anything like the ones people are currently envisioning, that’s almost certain, but I do hope that it’s a good one.

I’ll finish with another story of wonder.

We were recently on holiday in another country and were making use of a hire car. We weren’t planning on doing many miles and had chosen the most basic car that we could, which turned out to be a Dacia Sandero with a few years on the clock.

As I got into the driver’s seat, I noticed a USB socket. “Great” I thought “I wonder if I can plug my iPhone in.” Which, of course, I did having reached into the small bag of cables that I carry with me on holiday and retrieved the appropriate combination of ends.

Instantaneously my iPhone asked me if I wanted to allow the device to be connected, I clicked “yes” and there on the car screen popped AirPlay from my iPhone. Another 10 seconds later and I’ve searched for a nearby cafe on a beach using Google maps and we are on our way with satellite imagery directing us to a joyous table of tapas in the sun.

So many wonders to list if you look. The marvel that is USB becoming truly universal for so many different connectivity requirements. The phenomenon that is free global satellite navigation which knows about the tiniest of roads on a small island. The sensation that is a mobile network that allows me to connect instantaneously and at local speeds (for a small roaming fee, but we can overlook that, it was less than the cost of one of the tapas plates.) The geneous that is a touch screen. The wonder that is the GPS network which always knew where I was. I could go on, but I won’t, hopefully you get the point.

I posted about the cafe conversation at the star this post on Threads and it got a few comments. If you would like to reminisce the days of the 14.4Kbits modem, or the negotiation required to use the phone line, that’s the place for you.

Header Image: This is St Ouen’s Bay, Jersey where you’ll find a very nice cafe serving wonderful tapas right next to the beach.