Right now I am high above, let’s say, Pennsylvania. I’m using the GoGo wireless service on a creaky old AA flight from LGA to ORD. It works well.

This is not the first time someone has written similar words. Not by a long shot. Back in the day I even used the old AirFone service to call women I was dating to “impress” them. We all knew this was coming.

But this is new. We have 9 months to prepare for a baby’s arrival, but there’s nothing like the day when it becomes real.

As a near-constant air traveler, I use my seat time to do the focus-intensive parts of my work. Now Twitter beckons. I knew whatever was happening in my emails needed to wait until I landed. No more.

The problem is not the technology, the problem is me; starting now, my need to know truly has no limits. In-flight wi-fi will not mean a productivity increase for me unless I will it to be so.

(FYI that’s not my beer creeping into the frame…)

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Comments (1)

  • Bruce Eric Anderson
    by Bruce Eric Anderson / July 9, 2009

    Tony: thanks for your post and I’ll be interested to see how the airlines use this as a profit engine as they move forward. I’m like you: I previously used my flight time to focus, be it on personal reading, planning, writing or just mapping out my thoughts in my moleskine.

    To me the addition of wifi to flights just means that we no longer can consider a six hour flight as an opportunity to unwind and focus. We now have the same distractions in-flight as we have when we are in our traditional office.

    I’d be interested in anyone else’s experience in using in-flight wifi and how it impacts your productivity.

    @bruceericatdell

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