Sprawl for DATA

By John Woodward' 18

If you were to look around on the street one day, you would see a blend of different people all probably glued to their phones, taking advantage of today’s virtual amenities that make our lives much easier, from no longer having to use a physical map to only needing to speak a command in order to get the information you need. It is truly a virtual world where jobs are handed out to those privy to the technology that makes it all possible, that has been slowly facilitating and revolutionizing all things from writing tedious work reports and research papers to using a remote to control the TV. However, as the world changes into this haven void of work or foraging for information and full of hours of free time, hours with which people can do what they please--in most cases watch hours of addicting series on Netflix--more and more data is required: the lifeblood of the new generation, the only thing that makes watching Stranger Things, a new Netflix series I highly recommend, on your phone while coming home from work possible. It is easy to forget what it is that allows for such conveniences, just as many people tend to forget that the lights over their heads and the heat radiating from their vents actually has to come from some sort of energy, energy that requires money and resources, energy that on a daily basis ravages our ecosystem and melts our polar ice caps.

Data is the amount of broadband internet connection divied out to people wishing to use the apps and other services their phone offers without wifi. There is a limited amount of bandwidth or storage that is available, and therefore, people have to pay absurd amounts to have access to these data repositories. When “data” first came around, the major service providers such as Verizon and AT&T had unlimited data plans that cost substantially less than many limited plans we have today. A Verizon unlimited plan used to cost $59.99 a month, which is notably lower than the $110 a month it costs to get 26 GB today. Those who were lucky enough to get the old unlimited plan when it was still available cling to it as if they were the only ones meant to have such a privilege.

To address this issue, Verizon and AT&T have declared that everyone who has such plans will be forced to pay a hike in fees. It’s a tragedy really. The only people emblematic of the olden days where people asked each other for directions on the street instead of robotically following the directions emotionlessly blurted out by the girl on Google Maps are gone. Just recently, however, Verizon announced that it would once again start providing unlimited data prepaid plans now that they presumably have the infrastructure necessary to support the hike in data usage over the last five years. That prepaid plan will cost a modest $80 a month, surprisingly less than what 26 GB used to cost, and will compete with the other unlimited data plans of innovative companies such as T-Mobile. Irrespective of this new initiative, the true golden age of data oases has undoubtedly ended. Soon people will be unperturbed by the annoyances of the physical world--alone and worriless.