In the past couple of decades, we have gone from searching dusty encyclopaedias for information to trawling the Internet, from clunky manual dialler phones to sleek cellphones with polyphonic ringtones and built-in cameras, and from space invaders to 3D multiplayer online games.
Is it any surprise then, that the latest worry among the medical fraternity is that of people suffering from 'technology addictions`?
It may sound ridiculous, but in South Korea - one of the best connected and most tech-savvy countries in the world - authorities are beginning to draft regulations to cope with the nation`s appetite for online games.
Reports say that committed online players can spend between 17 and 26 hours a week playing these games.
Rodney Weidemann, journalist, ITWeb
Incredibly, some 60% of South Korean youths surveyed recently by the Commission on Youth Protection stated they believed they were addicted to online gaming and the Internet.
This, perhaps, is unsurprising in a country where the top online gamers have fan clubs and corporate sponsorship, and where 24-hour cable TV channels broadcast gaming events live.
Reports say that committed online players can spend between 17 and 26 hours a week playing these games, and that since late 2002, six deaths have been attributed to this.
These are players who have collapsed after playing for days with little food or drink, or in one case, a gamer who killed his sister after failing to distinguish the difference between the online world and real life.
It certainly marks a far cry from my youth, when the only danger to be found in games like Space Invaders or Asteroids lay in being caught by mum while illicitly playing a game or two at the corner caf'e.
More tech addictions
Online gaming is, apparently, not the only form of technology addiction that exists. Britain`s Priory Clinic, an institute renowned for treating addictions as diverse as gambling, drugs and eating disorders, now also offers addiction therapy for Internet surfing and SMS texting.
According to the Priory`s addiction supremo, Dr Mark Collins, some patients are literally addicted to surfing the Net, or hanging out in Internet chat rooms.
"We have a situation where some people look down on alcoholics and cocaine addicts, but then go and spend five hours in an Internet chat room," he says.
I can`t speak for the English, but I`ve been to Internet chat rooms before, and I`m of the belief that if you enjoy being in them for that long, you probably should worry more about the mind-altering chemicals that you simply must be taking in order to make such a trite and pathetic concept enjoyable!
It seems too, that many Britons have become addicted to the concept of the SMS, with the Priory reporting that some patients claim they are sending text messages repeatedly for up to seven hours a day.
Personally, I do not see how they are capable of this. While I am a fan of the ease of use that SMS brings to communication, just the thought of typing on a cellphone`s tiny keypad for that many hours is enough to send my thumb into spasms.
Even without that worry, I struggle enough with SMSing.
Using predictive text can see a simple message like 'I`ll be home soon` be received at the other end as 'I`ll be good room`. On the other hand, typing letter by letter is enough to drive anyone insane - especially if you`re doing it for seven hours at a stretch.
According to the Priory, SMS addiction is just one of a number of so-called 'behavioural` addictions - others being shopping and sex - which are on the rise.
The doctors believe that such addictions "arise from a desire to escape emotional difficulties such as depression, stress or anxiety".
So, as UK Web site The Register so eloquently puts it: if you deal with anxiety by having sex in a department store change room while sending SMSs to your best friend, seek professional assistance.
Immediately.
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