The world is a fast-breaking story

"Change is the process by which the future invades our lives," said Alvin Toffler in his book Future Shock, and, although I studied it in part at varsity, it is only since I began working in the industry that his words are becoming eerily relevant.

The rapid advancement and integration of IT is becoming apparent in aspects of our lives, both socially and psychologically.

Often when I go out and am amid different groups of people, I can see the impact technology has on the social sphere.

Conversation leans more and more towards gadgets, gizmos and technological developments, and there is an eager showing off of both the goods and supposed knowledge. In the same vein as George Orwell`s 1984 'newspeak`, we are even beginning to vary our vocabularies.

Except the aim here is not to combine words and eradicate others, but to continually verbalise misunderstood concepts for fear of otherwise sounding unintelligent. Language is becoming pregnant with acronyms. And we are becoming technology snobs.

There is a constantly enlarging divide occurring between those who have the latest gadgets and those that do not.

Language is becoming pregnant with acronyms. And we are becoming technology snobs.

Ilva Pieterse, ITWeb contributor

Old technology has become such an embarrassment, that we are unwillingly spending money on technologies we do not need. I have often seen how red-faced and hesitantly the owner of a Nokia 3210, for example, pulls the device out a handbag or jean pocket for public scrutiny. The braver among them might even mumble something to the effect of, "My other phone is in for repairs."

I bought a 512MB flash disc in August which cost me R450. These days, you can pick one up for half the price as larger amounts of memory available makes my feeble disc nothing to brag about. At least I can say my short-lived glory taught me something: that it wasn`t worth it. I should`ve forfeited the praise, waited nine months and saved myself 200 bucks.

If embarrassment was the only issue we had to contend with, things might be a bit easier. It is the addition of compatibility issues that exist in older computers, gadgets and software that truly make us poor.

It used to be that a car was the biggest liability a person could own. Petrol, repair costs, payments, insurance and replacements all take their toll on the car owner, yet it serves its function - a machine on four wheels that drives from A to B.

A car does not need to update its internal memory on a frequent basis just to run properly. Neither does its operating system need to be upgraded to interact with other machines. Our cars cannot pick up viruses, be controlled remotely or be affected by an influx of spam so severe it ceases to function at all.

My sister drives a 1971 Datsun Deluxe 1200 that has never failed to start a day in its life. She drives it around (albeit slowly) with pride due to its classic nature. This is something we simply cannot do with old computers and phones. We are better off throwing them on a junk pile than admitting to their existence.

"...Unless man quickly learns to control the rate of change in his personal affairs as well as in society at large, we are doomed to a massive adaptational breakdown," Toffler also says, and that truth is shocking today.

According to Toffler, people are naturally shaken up when their 'durational expectancies` change. Durational expectancies are timeframes we come to accept as the norm, such as how long a working day feels, or how long it typically takes to eat a meal, Toffler explains.

In technology we experience gross shifts in durational expectancies all the time, which can be overwhelmingly confusing to the psyche. It is not only the increasing speeds in communication, Internet, accessibility and functionalities we are experiencing, but the change in gadgetry and trends as well.

Toffler puts it brilliantly when he says: "Today the whole world is a fast-breaking story."

And if this were true at the book`s publication in 1970, then how true is it today?