Inevitably, whenever I need a cable, it's managed to twist itself around the other cables in the bottom of the drawer, regardless of how neatly packed away it may have been.
The problem is, generally I only need the cable when I have to plug some or other technological device into a wall socket.
And then there's the need to transfer information, quickly and securely. That, one would think, is what e-mail is for. Not so, a colleague laments. "Everybody wants stuff faxed and cannot accommodate e-mail. When are they going to enter the 21st century?"
Yes, well, there is fax-to-e-mail, and in more dire situations, e-mail-to-fax. Which is great until you have to physically sign something and don't have a scanner, and can't embed the object so no one steals it and you become a victim of identity theft.
Fast-moving
The problem with lagging behind with technological advances - more huge leaps-and-bounds currently than small steps - is that everything you own soon becomes redundant.
Take the VCR as an example: how many people do you know who still own one? I do own a VCR, but that's only because I have a few tapes that I cannot legitimately backup onto VDV because of some bizarre copy protection.
Relatives of mine, a few times removed, are techno-phobic, although admittedly through no fault of their own. The world has simply moved faster than they have been able to and, as immigrants to SA from way-back-when, much of our language is still alien to them.
Unfortunately, this means they battle to send e-mailed letters overseas to their children. It also means photographs are printed in Canada and posted here. Sometimes, the envelope bearing the photographs actually arrives.
No solution
The problem with lagging behind with technological advances ... is that everything you own soon becomes redundant.
Nicola Mawson, senior journalist, ITWeb
My relatives are also unable to watch DVDs of their grandchildren playing on jumping castles, and clambering around the jungle gym, as they did not - until recently - have a DVD player.
Foisting a player onto them so DVDs and digital photographs can be viewed is, I discovered, perhaps not the best solution. The player now gathers dust until my next visit.
At least when the kiddies fly in from Canada again, they can watch their favourite DVDs. Even though both are under 10, they will probably be able to hook the machine up too.
The sad thing is that letting technology move ahead of you, for whatever reason, means becoming more shut off from the world. How many of us will be able to watch anything on TV post-2010, when HDTV will require replacing aging - but otherwise perfectly acceptable - television sets?
Ironically, some of the now redundant technology still holds a certain amount of appeal. And that's why I enjoy chilling at home with an LP spinning in the background.
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