I sit here in my room, otherwise known as my office staring at my computer monitors. That cat 5 network cable which extends from the back of my desktop machine travels along the wall and eventually finds itself connected to a device known as a router. Just inches away from the router is the modem. From there, I gain access to just about the entire world. All I need to do is type in a few words into a search engine or into the address bar in the browser of my choice and browse the enormous amount of information that is just waiting to be consumed. In mere seconds I can share photos, videos, and audio from my neck of the woods that others may never experience. I am somebody on this big blue ball known as Earth.

However, if I unplug that gray cable from the back of my computer, I lose access to the entire world. I become a nobody. Sure, I have a cell phone in which I can call people, but the feeling of being disconnected is simply too much. The feeling of living life at the pace of a snail sinks in and becomes unbearable. I read a book to make my mind feel at ease but it’s useless. As I read the book, I wonder what tweets I have missed, what’s in my inbox, the struggles of what it will be like to regain my momentum and catch up. I go for a walk to enjoy life but it’s not enjoyable because I am not connected. I grab the latest issue of Wired Magazine which has been sitting on my dresser ever since it arrived and begin to read it. After reading the first few pages, I realize that all of this information is old and has probably been published to the Wired website a month before I received the magazine.

I once again take a seat in my chair and stare at the computer monitors and think about what having that cable connected to my computer has enabled me to achieve in life. That cable has provided career opportunities, lasting friendships, endless hours of entertainment, and the ability to live life in more than one place in near real-time. The data traveling through this gray cable has provided a means of life for me. It’s become a huge part of who I am, what I do, and what I will be. After relishing the top down perspective of the cable and what its meant to me, I plug it back in and get back to work.