Relativity

Einstein was right, time is relative.  It all depends upon what is going on and where you are.  We all know that time flies when you are enjoying yourself and can drag on and on when you are in a meeting or doing the ironing (yeah right!).

I notice this differential in the speed of time most when something goes wrong with our ICT, especially if it is widespread and affects a significant number of users.  When this happens the clock still ticks at the same rate but it drags or flies depending upon where you are.

If you are on the fixing side of the problem you’ll have your head in amongst the boxes and the wires.  Lights will be flashing (or not) and the gentle whirring of the air-conditioning will add to the sense of rushing.  Fifteen minutes will pass by in what seems like one.

If, on the other hand, you are on the user side you will be staring at a blank screen, muttering under your breath and cursing the fact that you can’t get on with all the things that you were planning to do.

If you are in the fixing side, your head will be spinning, filled with the myriad of options in front of you.  You’ll be pouring over the data, analysing the facts and trying to make sense of what is going on.  What will happen if I take this box off-line, who will it affect, will it come back up and indeed, will it solve the problem?  All other thoughts will be blocked out and you won’t feel the seconds and minutes slipping by.

But if you are in the user side it will quickly dawn on you how much you’ve come to rely on your computer.  Everything you need to do is on there, all your files and folders, all your access and even your entertainment.  Without it you are stuck, impotent, dead in the water.  Damn it!  You can reach for your phone but that is limited in what it can do.  Time will feel like the drip of a tap.  Drip, drip, drip, when is it going to be fixed?

On the fixing side thoughts about time will lead to panic and anxiety but on the user side they will lead to anger and frustration but the clock will continue to tick at the same rate wherever you are.

You don’t need to travel into the far reaches of outer space to shift the perception of time, you just need to work in ICT on one of those days when things go pear shaped.