IT is no surprise that in a survey of cellphone use in the Arab world, Saudi Arabia emerges as the most dedicated user, with the most competitive market. There are 53.7 million mobile users in the Kingdom, which means that many of us have more than one cellphone to our name. Indeed, it is very likely that in terms of general information technology use, people in Saudi Arabia are the most technologically adept in the Arab world. … Cellphones, the Internet … have transformed the way the Kingdom functions. At one end of the IT spectrum, oilfield reservoirs and the equipment installed on them are managed remotely and often have their own “artificial intelligence”. …

There is, however, a downside to the dominant role that IT now plays in our lives. For a start, anyone with a cellphone — and that means virtually all of us — is always contactable. Moments of peace and quiet are increasingly hard to find. …And then there are the desktops and laptops and tablet computers. But virtually all IT requires two essentials; power and an Internet connection. If some awful disaster struck and there were a major power failure, it might also knock out the local cellphone infrastructure and take down servers on which the Internet relies. Where would we be then, without something that has become an integral part of our lives, which we take so much for granted? This is a question that bothers analysts in many advanced countries, not simply Saudi Arabia. …Risk managers around the world are still trying to work out how their businesses can survive and recover from catastrophic IT failures. …No one would ever want to ‘un-invent’ modern IT…. However it surely pays everyone to think about the commercial and personal impacts of a breakdown in any or indeed every part of the system. Have businesses with ‘mission-critical’ systems got back-up servers in different locations? And if the Internet is gone, and e-mail and texting with it, how many of us remember how to write a legible and decent letter? — (Aug 17)