Fly with free Wi-Fi

When I look around in a heavily populated area, it’s hard to find somebody who isn’t on their phone. Social media, gaming and texting has become a very big part of the average human’s life. My six-year-old little sister, yes, SIX, always asks, “is there Wi-Fi?” whenever we’re going somewhere to ensure that her tablet will be operable. By the year 2022, airlines plan to have at least half of the world’s planes outfitted with superfast Wi-Fi to make sure that all customers are completely and totally happy. Because let’s face it; a four hour flight without internet connection could kill you, right?
Don’t get me wrong, I love my computer, my iPad, and my iPhone. In reality though, I don’t have all this free time to be spending on all of my devices, but even if I did, I wouldn’t want to be spending all of it staring at a screen. We’re truly in a digital age, and I’m not sure if it’s a good thing.
One of the main concerns for airlines is that after they finally finish equipping all of their planes with “new” technology, it’ll become obsolete a short time after that. Which I can see as an issue as well, because who knows what kind of gadgets we will have 2022. My main concern though, is that these airlines are going to have to pay millions, potentially billions, of dollars to outfit all of these plans with new satellites, to build new antennas on the ground, and whatever else they’ll need to go into this new project. That’s money that could all be going towards something else! Like, upgrading the seating, or complimentary meals on planes. There’s a lot of things that would be a whole lot better and more beneficial for passengers rather than upgrading the Internet speed.
November 2013 was when the ban on usage of Internet devices was lifted and it’s only spiraled from there. Now that the ban is lifted, everything has to be upgraded and customers base what airline they choose on whether or not Wi-Fi is offered. One of the reasons that airlines are using to justify the technology change is that if Malaysian flight 370 had Wi-Fi, it would have been able to stream their satellite and chances are, it would have been found. Personally, I think we as humans are starting to love our technology a little too much. We all need to take a break from our screens. Instead of reaping the benefits of 70 megabits per second while on a flight, why don’t you read a book? Harry Potter, for example. Believe me, it never gets old.