On My Mind

Technology is the story of our lives

We all alter, sometimes without knowing, just quietly evolving as we're nervously dragged into new centuries.

Television sets from the past at the National Museum's OFF / ON: Everyday Technology That Changed Our Lives exhibition. PHOTO: ST FILE
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My brother lives in the moors of Devon and can tell you about the mating habits of the red fox. The outdoors is his preferred planet. Chopping wood he is well-versed in, technology not so much. The other day when he had to change a Gmail password, his face had the intense flush of a man attempting to alter nuclear codes. 

Usually, at this point, older folks summon their eye-rolling children. We live in overlapping worlds of sometimes separate languages. They transport themselves via virtual reality, we communicated through a telex machine. Let it not be said that only we get confused, because so do they. The sweetest story I heard recently was about a young adult who bought her dad one of those retro turntables and a single vinyl record. The Beatles, of course.

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