It’s a little off topic, but while in London a couple of weeks back I had an interesting chat with Matt Webb about trying to work on planes.
We developed a theory, which basically says that the longer the journey, the more likely you are to end up watching Die Hard 3. I have called this – wait for it – The Theory of an Airline Passengers Diminishing Intelligence.
I know – it’s catchy.
No matter what my intentions are – whether it’s to write the next book chapter, read that interesting paper or write that very cleverly worded email reply – I always end up watching bad movies after a couple of hours.
My dimishing hierarchy goes something like this :
– read article that requires serious thought
– write emails that need some consideration
– reply to emails that don’t need consideration
– try to read the book that I’ve packed
– listen to a podcast
By this time I surrender to inflight banality and plug into the movie channel. And what’s more, it’s usually not a good movie I select. Last week I found myself watching Eragon (feel free to add a melodramatic gasp at this point).
If that’s not proof of my theory, nothing is.
That totally resonates with me. I can never work for much longer than 2-3 hours (even if I do have laptop power).
The one trip I did have that was incredibly productive was a Lufthansa flight from Singapore to Frankfurt when they had the onboard WiFi. It was powered by Boeings Connexions service which I think has since shut down, but that was an eye opener. For $30 I got access for the duration of the flight and I got a alot done…pretty much the only time I wasn’t online and working was for dinner and a short sleep. I even did an install of WordPress at 30k feet!
It’s a shame that on board connectivity isn’t common place yet.
Towards the end of last year when they were winding down Connexions, some airlines were offering it free for the last few weeks of service.
Now THAT’S a deal!
There were tales of people going nuts on Skype and doing the classic “you’ll never guess where I’m calling from gag.”
I’m surprised there weren’t more news stories along the lines of :
“Passenger dies in air rage when fellow passenger inserts laptop in (use appropriate word)”