Take a look at the above picture (yes, that is my buddy Dan and I again). While it looks like a typical picture you might find in any redneck fisherman’s photo album, there is one unique difference…It was taken with a Blackberry Smartphone and uploaded to our profiles on Facebook almost instantaneously.
That’s right, even though we were camping in one of the most remote locations in Northern Maine, I had a strong enough cell phone signal to offer ”real time” social media updates with family and friends who were unable to make the trip with us.
The novelty of our online exploits were almost overwhelming. We found it hard to believe that technology had come to the point where we could literally run a global business (in the unlikely event we had one) from a tiny 14′ aluminum boat floating in the middle of an isolated lake in Northern Maine.
While it was reassuring to know that help was only a phone call away, I started to have second thoughts about the use of my phone and the precedent I was setting. I remembered spending time in the great outdoors with my great-grandfather as a child and what he would of thought of our “magical” phones. I can only imagine what he may have said to us…
“I didn’t come on this camping trip to stay connect to the “real world”, I came here for adventure, relaxation, and a reconnection with nature… you’re not going to get that from your damn cell phone no matter how good your signal is”.
He would have been right!
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