I am writing this on my blackberry at 3am from a dark hospital room where our poor daughter has been since Friday, sick with severe abdominal pain. Between taking care of her, a big catalog project, and a various other websites, blogs, flash pieces and identity projects, there has been little time for any diversions lately.

Fortunately, this hospital (like nearly all nowadays) offers its patients and guests free wifi so we can get some work done and stay in touch with the living.

But for some reason, they have blocked all the sites where those passing long, dull and painful hours are most likely to visit. You can’t get to Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, or myspace, among others. Our daughter had been looking forward to watching some videos on her iPod touch, only to discover they have blocked Youtube, Flickr and  Picasa. I added a bunch of fun puzzles and games widgets to her Google home page that she could access from the iPod, but most of them were blocked too.  David even had trouble getting to some ordinary news sites. We are starting to understand what they must feel like in Beijing.

It made me wonder exactly who they are trying to block, and why. Are they afraid the doctors and nurses will fritter away their time online when they should be tending to emergencies? Yikes! I would hate to think that quality medical care is in the hands of the IT department. Or do they just want to make our hospital stays that much more isolating?

It is also a bad move considering how social media sites are becoming mainstream business tools. In the past 2 weeks I have been on twitter, I have learned a lot from fellow designers and connected with my peers in a way that wouldn’t be possible otherwise for an independent designer.

The only noises I hear right now are the rhythmic pump of the IV motor, the whoosh of the air vents blowing out arctic air, and our daughter’s  uneven breath as she tries to sleep. We are all looking forward to getting home to our own beds and back into the world.

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