Do you remember when....?

It finally happened, quick get out the grey cardigan, the slippers, get me a pipe and dentures. I started a sentence the other day with “I remember when.....” It doesn’t matter what I remembered, it’s how I said it. “I remember when...” Oh no. Its official, I am old.

 The thing is I have been an adult for 25/27 years, well physically I have, mentally I am still 22. The thing is, during in that time so much has changed and it is a sort of BI and AI. (Before Internet & After Internet) Before internet and mobile phones I feel it was a much simpler life. You could purchase everything you needed in life from the end of your road. It might not have been open at 3am or a Sunday but it was all there. Loads and loads of local shops, all of which you would have known if you grew up in the local area. You would walk into a store and say “Good Morning, how are you.” Do you remember those days? You would interact face to face. You would smile, talk about the weather, talk about holidays etc.

 You would not text to make arrangements, you actually interact with that person, albeit by phone, one you actually dialled or went to their house. Again you would have a conversation. You would not Facebook someone to ask how they were, you would pop round or dare I say it again, ring them and have a nice uplifting conversation.

 Now everything is texted, ordered on line, or we go to a huge supermarket and they have self service tills. We cannot even talk to someone when we are buying big weekly shop.  Thank God the Chinese delivery guy actually rings my bell when delivering, I am sure if he could he would post it through the letter box. 

 Soon we will have those pipes we used to see in department stores that send tubes of money from the tills up to the office. Each house we would have food stuff, money, drinks, presents etc all ordered over the internet. We will all work from home, everything else would be automated and soon we will live in hives, our area of living space getting smaller and smaller. Virtual reality will replace walking out doors or driving your car.  That may sound extreme but look at all those people addicted to computer games or sites like Second Life. They control those lives, they can be incredibly sexy, strong and invincible. It’s frightening, how our own worlds are shrinking into a VDU, (that’s a Computer screen for you youngsters)and yet we can talk to anyone from the other side of the world in an instant.

 We need people contact. It’s no wonder that as we become more and more equipped with technology, the amount of depression in the Western World rises. It will only be a matter of time before the new emerging countries will have the same problem.  In my opinion three things keep depression at bay, healthy food, socialising and exercise.  Our lives have become sedentary, our friendships have been whittled down to a text here and there. Then there is fast food, cheap, quick and everywhere.  

 Oh for a boring rainy Sunday afternoon, nowhere open, nowhere to go but spend time with friends and family. “Oh I remember when....”