So much technology, I don't even have to leave the house!

I like to take time over my appearance. Even if I'm tired, or just going out for a pint of milk, I can't bring my self to just "throw something on". This doesn't mean I'll preen myself for six hours just to pop something in the wheelie bin, but I will make sure that if I venture into a place where others will clasp eyes on me, that I have at least done my hair. Who knows who you will meet. I can't stand seeing some people who are in town looking like they have just woken up. In a hedge. After a night of vodka and heroin. There's a style to the stubbly look, but the hobo look doesn't fall into the category of "win".



However, I would rather walk to the shop without any trousers on, than go anywhere without my phone. Seriously, I have a mini panic attack if I give my pockets a frisking and cannot feel that rectangular block in there. I could be getting a call as we speak from someone telling me that, yes, he will give me a million pounds. Or, more probably, getting a text from someone asking if I want do something that night. I hate getting home to find six new messages and two missed calls. however, 10 years ago I was in my last year of school, and I had no phone. Quite how I survived, I have no idea. I don't know how I arranged to meet up with friends, how I ordered a pizza, or indeed how I did anything. I didn't really have the interweb at that point, mostly because Internet access was woefully slow and started with the noises "piiiiiiing badingding brrrrrrrrarrrrrrrrrrrrr arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" as your computer rang someone or something, so you could download pictures at the amazing rate of one every 700 years. Nowadays, I feel like a social pariah if I don't check Facebook ever other day at least. I use Twitter a lot, both for Ultimedia and myself.

If I had an assignment to do today, then I need look no further than typing in "www", then "google", followed by ".com" and it will bring the research to me. How unbelievably amazing is that? 10 years ago, I would trudge down to the library (when/if it was open) and look it up in a book; an idea that nowadays fills me with an overwhelming sense of indifference.

I also hate going to the bank, which I still have to do today, so how impressed do you think I was when a friend of mine was showing me an App on his iPhone that lets him take a photo of a cheque, and it pays it into his bank account? Mind. Blown. Totally! All of this is mightily impressive, and I can only imagine how, in another 10 years, I'll be saying things like "I remember how I had to walk to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Now, this small army of robots simply invades my mouth while I sleep". However, this total dependence on technology does worry me a tad. I mean, if the Internet suddenly died then it would not only mean the end of my blog, but pretty much the end of the world as we know it. Most Governments are reliant on it for communication, as are telephone systems. A massive share of global businesses are totally reliant on it, which is quite scary considering that 20 years ago, the Internet consisted of a few computers tied together saying "hi" to one another.

But, until that happens, I will enjoy the fact that I can order a pizza from my desk, browse my mail, speak with a friend and watch a clip of Germans falling over. Life, as they say, is good.

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