Technology

As much as I hate to admit it, I am old enough to have talked on a party-line, had my photo taken with a box brownie camera and learned to type on a manual typewriter. I can remember the thrill of changing typefaces on an IBM ‘golfball’ typewriter, the relief when correcting ribbons were invented and my mother’s delight when automatic telephone exchanges meant phone calls would be private. I can remember the wonder of being able to store and retrieve documents on a word-processor (when floppy discs were floppy!) and the excitement with which I unpacked and assembled my first PC. But none of that compares with the awe I feel when I think of what can be achieved using today’s technology. Digital cameras, cellphones, computers, the internet and the world wide web I can handle (just!) but I dare not even try to image what changes will occur in the next twenty or thirty years.