Find me by the fish

Remember - way back when - getting lost in the supermarket and asking the nice young woman, or man, to call for your parents over the PA system? That method of communication, I'm sure you have noticed, is a relic of the past.

Not only would young boys and girls never - in this day and age - dream of approaching a stranger for help, but they would also be more likely to send a text message to mom or pop. "Dad, I'm by the frozen fish, where are you?"

E-mail is also an instant communication tool. When I send out an e-mail, I expect a pretty instantaneous response, regardless of where I've sent it. Not getting a response within five minutes will result in my picking up the handset and frantically demanding whether the e-mail has arrived at its destination.

Enter the Blackberry - and its ilk - ensuring e-mail arrives everywhere you are in real-time. Unless, of course, you have taken yourself off to some remote corner of the world, where there is no signal, in a bid to hide from such intrusive communications.

Sometimes it's necessary to hide from e-mails and SMSes; especially those offering discount Viagra, hot penny shares or urgent security warnings. Sometimes, it would be nice to get a letter in the post from a far-flung relative, and not just an e-mail.

Dad, I'm by the frozen fish, where are you?

Nicola Mawson, senior journalist, ITWeb

Strangely, there are still folk who do not make full use of all that ICT offers in communication. As hard as this may be to believe, I know of executives who have their PA print out their e-mails and put them on their desk. I also know of companies, admittedly in the engineering field, whose highest form of technological communication is the fax machine.

This is the sort of scenario I mentally paint when I wonder how our president handles the wonders of the information age. Do e-mails sent to tmbeki@gov.za get printed out and put on his polished mahogany desk?

Does Mbeki have a Blackberry for catching up while on the go and out of SA, which is more often than when he's in the country?

In my wildest ponderings about how government works, I have never imagined our leader sending text messages to his beloved on landing. "Landed, safe, be home soon."

Which is why it was nice to see technology being embraced - even to a small degree - in his recent State of the Nation address. ICT, he said, was important as a part of SA's growth and crime reduction strategy.

Fantastic, and maybe it will work too.