Hello, my name is Ryan, and I'm a tech-aholic." "Hello Ryan."

There needs to be an AA for people addicted to technology. If I've learned anything in the mere 2 days I've been in France, it's that I'm so dependent on technology it's pathetic. What brought me to this realization is the fact that I no longer can use the 3G network on my iPhone or plug in my Macbook charger without a converter. It's frustrating as all hell. 

Ryan's Facepalm-Inducing Tech Fails:

- Wanted to listen to music while I took a shower. No plug converter. 

FAIL

- Wanted to text my friend whose in my same program. No text service.

FAIL

- Wanted to get to the GW advisors office in the 6th arrondissement. Google Maps doesn't work.

FAIL

The Google Maps fail brings me to my story of the day. It involves getting insanely lost in the middle of Paris. Without the ability to whip out my iPhone and use the God-given gift of that blue dot that tells me where I am, my life was hopeless. My roommate Devyn had to meet a GW advisor at her office to pick up some bedding and a hair straightener and other things that a friend of her's had left for her. As a good friend, I tagged along. Plus, leaving Devyn to fend for herself in Paris would have been like chucking an infant into the deep end of a swimming pool. She looked up the directions on her computer before we left our Wifi-equipped apartment, took a picture of them on her phone, and off we went.

We took the metro to Odéon in the middle of the 6th arrondissement of Paris, just about 2 miles from our apartment. We proceeded to follow the directions down a bunch of winding streets. Now the streets in Paris are a complete departure from the streets of Washington D.C. There’s no order to them. They’re all named at random, so it’s not like DC when you’re on L street and you need to get to I street and you know you’re going the wrong way if you hit M street. Here in Paris, we had to just walk down the road, praying that we would eventually see the right street. But alas, we never did.

Again I cannot emphasize enough how embarrassed I was of myself for not being able to find my way around without the help of my iPhone. I felt pathetic. Like so pathetic it was funny. I grew up relying on so many different technologies that made life so much easier. Yesterday, for the first time in my life, I used a compass. We knew we needed to go east, according to the directions we found. So I used a compass. You want to know something sad? Something that further proves how pathetically dependent I am on technology?

The compass was an app on my iPhone.

Pitiful.

People talk about culture shock when you first get to a new country. I’ve felt it yes, but I’ve felt a tech shock much more. As Devyn and I spun around in the middle of Place Saint Michel looking for a familiar route, my brain rolled down a philosophical roller coaster of what my dependence on technology means. Am I that incompetent without an iPhone? What would happen if some evil mastermind dismantled the Internet of the world? Would there be people like Devyn and me, bumping into each other as they try to make their way to their next destination? Has the human race lost the ability to function without technology? All these mind-bending questions were like bullets to my still somewhat jetlagged brain, so I was not a happy kid at that moment.

Then we turned a corner. What was in front of us?

Cathédrale Notre Dame. If we had used our iPhones, the surprise would have been ruined. That's when I realized that technology helps us in so many ways, but at the same time, ruins the little discoveries we have the chance to make on our own. It's going to be a big adjustment not having the tech capabilities I'm used to, but if the I continue to stumble upon these incredible sights on my own, it will be worth it.


Oh yeah, our wild goose chase. Turned out the directions Devyn got off the Internet before we left our apartment were wrong. We ended up going to a tourist stand, buying this weird thing called a map (the thing was made out of paper, not pixels shwat?!) and found our destination within a few minutes. Another kick in the head courtesy of our dependence on technology. As a result of our map use, we were approached by a kindly old business man who asked in rapid French if we needed help. After I fumbled back that we were on our way, he asked if we were American and said we spoke French "avec beaucoup d'habiletés." With great skill.


I'll take it Monsieur. I'll take it.