Guess what, you’re obsolete

Quick! My arm hurts!

Back in the 90’s, the big thing that was happening was the advent of the personal computer. As a not-quite-precocious child, the computer was something alien, a box that displayed a myriad of colours and most importantly, I can play games on it! It helped office people become lazier still by punching in keys as opposed to writing them on paper then cursing your bad luck because you spelt Happy as “Hippy”. The first computer my dad bought was a speedy 100MHz PC from then technology giant, IBM. I remember installing games like Duke Nukem 3D (“Shake it baby!”) and the most influential game of all-time, Quake. It wasn’t a learning tool, no sirree, there was nothing educational in it. It was a mean, gaming machine.

Do you remember when mobile phones used to be of the military-like variant, with its antenna as long as your arm and the whole caboodle weighed more than your two-year-old brother? Now go back and try to remember the days of pay-phones. Ah, yes, I can you see trying to quash that memory out of your mind. I used to carry with me pocketfuls of coins whenever I went out which led many to believe I had elephantiasis. Half the time the bloody phones have their receivers missing and when you do find one it says, “Out of Order.”

Gosh, I so don’t miss those days.

As we march forwards into the indefinite future armed only with our wits and a clean pair of socks, the world that we used to know is slowly but surely getting a makeover. Everywhere you go you’ll see a giant screen that flashes radiant colours advocating the benefits of using Colgate’s teeth whitener. Before this all you got was a drab-looking lady with white teeth on a billboard. All you needed when you’re about to embark on a journey was just your keys and a sense of direction. Now you’ve got satellites guiding you all the way through with a voice that resembles a sultry old maid (if I had one, I’d go for the German man, he’s wunderbar). The humble camera, once the domain of serious professionals in jackets with a million compartments, can now be seen wielded by an able person with just a push of a button. Things that used to take ages in some red room with various viscous liquids labelled “Dangerous” can now be done in seconds. And let’s not forget the times when you had to hold your smile while your dad set the timer and by the time he gets in frame, the camera would have gone off. Another roll of film wasted. Ah, the wonders of the “Delete” button.

Now we have refrigerators that tell us if you’re about to run out of low-fat yoghurt, wristwatches that can tell you where you in the world, even now as we breathe and eat our food we have. Not long now there’ll be digital books. Now, this is something I’m not too keen on. I grew up reading books that have been dog-eared, turned a shade of brown much like mushrooms, and had the name of the owner in illegible handwriting. If the future of reading lies in the digital world then it’s not a future I’d very much like to be a part of. There’s nothing like reading a real book. A real book that has pages that you can flip to create wind on a hot day. A real book that you can read in the train on the way to work and have people craning to see the title.

I love technology, make no mistake about that. Progress is good. But there comes a time when a cold box is nothing compared to a warm voice.

This is Chris, signing off.

PS: There are some things I love about technology, like, for instance, the ability to write and publish my thoughts and on top of that actually have an audience, albeit a tiny one. Here's to World Domination!