I’m back in New York after two fantastic weeks on holiday in Europe. If you’ve written, I hope to get through all my emails this week.
One observation I made moving through Ireland, France, and Germany was how little the Internet really assists in everyday life. Although hotels appear to be more likely to provide email access (even small hotels had a free computer in public areas) — and this proved useful to a significant percentage of those I saw — otherwise the media and tools we use are still mostly non-computer based. This isn’t necessarily a difference between the U.S. and Europe, just something I was able to see with fresh eyes as I myself abondoned the computer and mobile for two weeks.
Responses
I noticed the same through holland, denmark and finland last month – did you note the heavier use of mobile phones though? At least three members of hte group of ten I was traveling with had two phones on them, a work smart phone and a personal regular phone. That’s what struck me as the difference, especially after being in San Francisco with its high prevalence of laptops everywhere. Its all mobile centric.
I think New York has caught up in terms of usage. And in fact with bluetooth headsets seemingly acting as a fashion/status item among certain people, it’s more noticable here.
The Parisians are very civil in their use. Although the mobiles worked on the Metro, people rarely used them there. I shudder to think what NYC subway mobile use would be like.