By: Bhavna Bhatia

As soon as I stepped off the plane in Liberia, Costa Rica, my cell phone lost signal. I felt like I had disconnected from the world. I sat on a truck with no walls, with the breeze from the wind being the closest thing to air conditioning, and headed 50 kilometers to the Paradisis Resort. With no cell phone, and sweat beads piling up on my nose, I was nervous to see the conditions I would have to live in for the next week. To my surprise, my room came fully equipped with wireless Internet capabilities, a 42- inch flat screen television (where I watched Michael Phelps excel in the men’s 200 meter butterfly) and a local cell phone service available for a fee.

It occurred to me that having these luxuries made me feel less estranged and isolated while away from home. Had I stayed in a resort devoid of these luxuries, my holiday would have been unpleasant and uncomfortable. The progression of the consumer electronics industry has raised the standard for the quality of living; therefore other countries are upgrading their technologies to meet the standards of a sophisticated traveler, such as myself.

According to Electronics Opportunities in Brazil, Brazil has seen a 410 percent increase in TV imports over the last year, along with a robust growth rate of cell phone subscribers, climbing to over 102 million.

Similarly, India: Electronics Opportunities in an Evolving Enigma describes a recent financial report in India estimating a 26 percent sales revenue increase in the last year. The major contributing factors included LCD TV sets, digital cameras, camcorders, and notebook computers.

These numbers shows how technology is becoming a mainstay in living standard especially in the BRIC countries. The fact that humans have become attached to their electronics, to the point where they are a necessity more than a luxury, was proven by the simple fact that I felt instant comfort when I knew I had access to my email and could share my holiday adventures with my friends via Facebook. It is good to know that the world around me feels the same need for connecting with the world, that the diffusion of technology is not limited to the U.S., and that I will soon be able to feel at home no matter where my wanderlust may take me.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 16th, 2008 at 2:00 pm and is filed under Connectivity, Wireless Communications. Reply to this post, or trackback from your own site. Follow responses to this entry through the comments RSS feed.