Technological overabundance

I take off for my two week trip to Japan on Thursday. I had previously been to Japan 7 years ago, but only to Tokyo and Sapporo. This time around, we’re headed to Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hakone. Now in my 30s and traveling with my wife, it’s going to be a much different trip than when I was 26 and single.

Sophia and I were already discussing which movies and shows we wanted to download and watch on the flight. I also started googling how good the WiFi is on this United flight to Japan just to test whether I would be able to stream my video game. And of course, this is already on top of the in-flight entertainment system.

When I was a kid, I used to love airplanes. I loved being on a long flight. I would take long flights to Indonesia either with family members or solo often. 14 hour flight to Hong Kong? No problem. I had the tiny television screen and Super Mario on the in-flight entertainment system. That one game along was enough to keep me entertained for nearly the entirety of the flight.

I sometimes wonder to myself whether we live in a period of overabundance. One in which we have nearly everything we want or need at our fingertips, but at the same time, we’re never satisfied. There’s no doubt that technology has contributed positively to our lives. We live longer. We can connect more easily with friends and family. The world is more open and global generally.

Nowadays, I’ve got a running Excel list of restaurant recommendations from Tik-Tok, Instagram, and Reddit posts alone of 70+ places. Back in the day, you had to read books or talk to friends to find out the best places to eat. There was a whole lot more serendipity about finding some great places to eat.

Maybe a world where you’re stuck with only Super Mario 2 and 3 movies for a 14 hour flight is one in which we’d prefer to not go back to. Of course, more options and entertainment the better. But I guess there is something great about the simplicity of things back in the day.