Are we really living in a connected world?

Sometimes it’s silly to think that we are living in a world where the National Security Agency (NAS) of the United States could listen to the personal mobile phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel while search and rescue teams of over twenty-five countries cannot find a jumbo jet that vanished over the South China Sea carrying 239 passengers.

So many theories have since then surfaced about what happened to the jetliner. Earlier the Chinese and the Malaysian authorities searched the South China Sea where the last radar signal from Malaysian Airlines’ MH 370 was spotted.

However now the search has moved into the Indian Ocean with evidence surfacing that pings from the plane’s Rolls Royce engine were picked up by a satellite after five hours from the last contact, which suggest that the jetliner was airborne for five hours after it vanishedfrom the radar.

Evidence has also surfaced that the course of the airline had been deliberately altered which fueled all sorts of hijacking theories.

With smart phones being carried by all and sundry these days and all kinds of other connecting tools and the Internet, we think that we are always connected.

But the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH 370, this notion has deteriorated to the level of a myth.

Though we think that we are always connected to the world with new technology we have invented, in reality we are not. At least when flying in an airplane it does not appear to be so.

Some carriers provide Wi-Fi facilities to their business class passengers on air sourced from satellites. But most carriers don’t, and this option is not available for economy class passengers, sometimes even at a charge. Reception for mobile phones is also not available when a plane is flying at high altitude. Besides there’s no mobile operator who could install towers in the middle of the ocean for the use of those flying in airplanes.

Why have airlines not invested in providing free onboard Wi-Fi facilities. The reasons could be the higher costs as airlines all over the world are now operating at very thin profit margins.

The other reason could have been the safety record modern airlines have as a trans- portation method. Air travel is currently considered the safest mode of travel compared with other transportation means. So the idea would hav e been— there’s no issue if one loses connectivity for a few hours as he or she is in safe hands. But the MH 370 incident shows us the need for 24/7 real time connectivity.