When a geek goes off the grid

A couple of days ago, our beloved Jeff/Spidey took off for a family vacation. He's... somewhere... Canada or Montana or southern Uzbekistan... it doesn't really matter where he is, but I can tell you where he isn't.

He isn't anywhere!

When we talk about persistent presence-- which we do a lot, I apologize-- we talk about how technologies can make you feel close to someone, like they're in the same room or more in your life than perhaps they actually are. And we get an awful lot of backlash about technologies like Twitter, including a great deal of, "Who cares what you had for breakfast?!"

If Jeff had taken a vacation to somewhere with cell phone service, I'd be reading quick posts and seeing pictures by now. If he were somewhere with wifi, he'd be the one WonderBlogging. (Yeah right.)

But as it were, Jeff is completely off my map. No ambient intimacy. And thank heaven this is only temporary, because as expectations shift and technology becomes more accessible, the people off the grid are missing out on more and more.

The high school friends who never adopted Facebook? The old coworkers who never joined LinkedIn? The family members who still don't email? There's a special kind of limbo for them, and I think it's getting harder to crawl back out.