WordPress offers ‘instant findability’. It means ” The instant you publish, searchers will see it at the top of the ‘most recent results’ when they search for any terms in your post”. That’s a wonderful thing of course, but definitely not what I had in mind when I read the term for the first time:

I started working at a school 4 weeks ago and got a key that fits in every door of the building. These keys are very important and you need them every time you teach. So I put it on a colourful keychain and decided that I would always keep it in the front pocket of my bag. And as a very responsable teacher, I would never, NEVER leave this very expensive key out of sight. Well, the key turned out to have an ‘instant looseability’. The last thing I remember is that after my very first day of work I put it next to the stove in the kitchen and after that it has completely disappeared.

I know that I will find the key back. In some miraculous ways the lost always show up. But in the meantime I feel really dumb every time I have to borrow a colleague’s. Why is there not some device that you can stick on your key, wallet or phone that goes off when you whistle or press a big red button somewhere at home? Or even better, when the distance between you and the item is more than let’s say, 2 meters? Although then it won’t work if you are looking for something that’s in your pocket or that you are actually holding! There must be some valid reason for this question. Or perhaps I should invent something myself.

I am hopeful that someday we will be able to increase the intrinsic value of findability in things from the real world. Make it instant and then have a 3-year warranty on it! You know, if it’s possible on the internet…