So it’s 2009. Who doesn’t have a mobile phone nowadays? If you’re one of them that doesn’t, don’t feel like you’re an alien. It is normal to NOT have a mobile phone. There is such an invention called the house telephone. But every couple of months a new model mobile phone is launched, and we can’t help but to know the memory size, the features, and the way it looks. In a way, technology is slowly taking over our lives.

Blackberry’s harbour a side effect: Crackberry syndrome. This consists of having constant urges to check your phone, share your blackberry pin, or to just play with the happy, shiny piece of equipment. But has the main use of having a portable phone been lost? Is the reason why you constantly upgrade your phone every 12 or 18 months because you don’t want to be out of the loop? On my daily commute into the outside world, I see people flashing out brick phones and phones that are way out of the ‘times’. It’s not that they don’t have the money, or the time to upgrade; they choose not to because having a phone is traditionally to make calls and if you want to be a little savvy, texts.

But in this time, the noughties, if you get on a bus or tube, you see everyone’s face glued to their blackberry’s, Nokia E71’s (The blackberry wannabe) or any phone that looks like a mini computer. What happened to old school sending letters? You know, with a paper and pen? If the reaction you just had was ‘What?’ That’s how much times have changed.

When something happens to our phone, it’s like it’s the end of the world! I’ll use myself as an example: I own a Nokia E71. I’ve had to replace it once so far due to technical faults, (go figure) A little while ago, my phone got drenched in tropical juice. I went to a shop to get it repaired—despite it being liquid damage; I was still hoping my phone would go back to how it was. That week it was in repair, I felt so lost! I couldn’t go on the internet on my phone, I felt like I was missing out on so much. But I seem to have forgotten I own a laptop at home, and when I had a phone with no internet, I was able to survive. When I got the phone back, I was so happy, like a child at Christmas. But I even had some withdrawal symptoms when my phone was getting repaired! Is that how much effect technology has on us?

I suppose we can’t help it, we’re surrounded by it. Computers. Phones. Television. Ipods. USB sticks. MP3 players. The list can go on. But then we also have the choice to how much we expose ourselves to it. Have you heard yourself tell a friend ‘Facebook me!’ instead of call me? or ‘Ping me!’ and dare I say it, have you actually said ‘lol’ to someone?

Have a look at what’s around you. Try and not use your computer for a week. Try and revert back to old school communication; because that’s how we were about 10 years ago, right? We have to always remember where we came from. It’s good to reminisce. I mean, in another 10 years, we’ll be flying around on the roads instead of using cars…