Life before the internet

Maybe you have grown up downloading music and TV at the touch of a button rather than like the old 'uns who had to go to shops and buy records and CDs. Your mobile phones have always been small and efficient rather than the house bricks that some of us used to lug around, and in my youth, Facebook would have been a description of a paperback that someone threw at my nose.

How things have changed! Digital technology
has arguably been the biggest revolution to impact everyday life. It provides us with a means of communication, social networking, endless entertainment, learning, careers... it's unstoppable.

I have become increasingly aware how it is affecting instinctive behaviour and our very patterns of existence. We are experiencing evolution on a daily basis and it's both exciting and scary in equal measure.

It's so important to take a second to think on it. The wonderful interwebulator for example. Take YouTube. If someone had pitched it to you seven years ago and tried to explain what it is, I challenge anyone to admit that they would have realised its potential. Think about it... A web service where anyone can post their videos of absolutely anything which could ultimately host everything that exists.

I for one would have seen no value in being able to see other people's video fumblings and I wouldn't have believed that at the touch of a button I could review any clip of any movie, advert, trailer, video clip, interview, sporting event … the list goes on and it's endless! There is always a cost with any advancement however, and I am going to share my personal observations.

I for one have realised that since the introduction of the computer into every aspect of my life, both personal and professional, I very rarely ever find myself actually writing with a pen and paper. On top of that, I have become aware that my brain only works to generate thoughts and ideas if I am hitting a keyboard.

Not sure if this is an evolution or degradation of my abilities but I just find that the stream of banality from my head to the page is quick like a Ferrari if I am typing, but it slows to a crawl if
I actually have to write it down. Maybe I just struggle to handle too many things at once these days. The thinking and creativity flows if I can hit the keys to express it as I hear it in my head, but the challenge of pushing a pencil around just clogs it all up.

The condition and quality of my handwriting is something else altogether – and has become so embarrassing that if anyone ever spots my scrawl and asks who was responsible, I try to pass it off as the work of a 3-year- old! I am sure this just can't be my problem... I still marvel at the handwriting of the older generation whose lives continue largely without computers, and their writing is so beautiful.

The other major observation is the realisation that I used to appear much more knowledgeable before the internet. I used to be able to drop my pearls of wisdom on all kinds of useless subjects and come across as the font of all worthless knowledge to all.

Now however, I can share a piece of enlightening rubbish to a crowd causing mirth and amusement, sometimes shock and occasionally awe, only to be disproved within a second by the touch of a button, with the real facts courtesy the internet. I don't have the time to amend Wikipedia with a version of the truth that fits all of my tall tales so it's a sad fact that I will just have to live with, I guess.

But you know my motto by now: never let the truth get in the way of a good story.