A most peculiar thing happened to me yesterday. After many years, I got myself locked out of my home by forgetting to take the house keys! I had everything else that I normally take with me, but no keys. I am sure that this has happened to most of my readers and that is not the point of this story any way.
What was peculiar was that I had remembered to take my mobile phone with me but forgot the keys!
Taking the keys with me whenever I leave home has been a habit of nearly fifty years, but I forgot that and took the mobile phone which is a habit of just eight years! Incidentally, I forget to take it quite often and depend on the missed calls to call back people who had called me in my absence.
When I first acquired the mobile phone, it was a mysterious gadget and it took my son and then daughter in law about a fortnight to teach me everything that I needed to know. Today, I am fairly proficient in the use of it. I now find just about everybody everywhere using mobile phones with ease. Similarly, I had to learn to use the computer, also eight years ago as, for the first time, in my working life, I was not given a secretary and was asked to use a computer instead. It took about a month before I could comfortably manage the use of it and today, I am considered to be quite good at it. My son, who is an IT professional guarantees me that!
This post is about how life has changed in the last couple of decades or so for most of us. We are unable to be without so many things that did not exist before that. Making phone calls were so expensive that except in emergencies one preferred to write letters. I have not written a hand written letter in almost two decades! Today, I have blog friends all over the world.
I suppose that this had to happen. In India where I live, some major changes are taking place due to technology. A whole generation is leap frogging into telecommunications via the wireless mobile telephony and that is changing lives like nothing ever before has done. Similarly, wireless technology with locally generated power, either solar or generators driven by bio-gas is enabling farmers to access the internet and improve their operations and profitability. Schools in rural India are able to provide better education due to the availability of computers.
All indications are that whether deliberated policy interventions take place or not, such progress thanks to modern technology is improving living standards.
I wonder what kind of a world will we be living in after say another twenty years. Any thoughts?