Pushed to my Pocket

As soon as I got my shiny new iPhone about six months ago, I set up instant Push email. This remarkably useful feature has really changed the way I use my email accounts and respond to email. It’s also made me reflect on exactly how dynamic and instant the web has become.

A lot of people wouldn’t expect that posting a YouTube comment like this:

…would cause the device in my pocket (or on my nightstand) to vibrate and alert me instantly. This wasn’t even something I had to go out of my way to set up - YouTube’s default email notification settings accomplished this.

Responding to a tweet, commenting on Facebook, or any other number of nearly-instinctive online actions people do nowadays all cause unexpected side-effects: vibrating phones. It’s not a bad thing, nor is it even that annoying. (yet) Just somewhat mind-blowing that the click of a mouse on one side of the world will (near-)instantly cause a device in my pocket to vibrate and alert me.

And I still think the world could (and should) be more connected.