A Lost Generation

It is undeniable that we are living in a technological society. It might be a wild and inaccurate statistic but I would be inclined to say that
we are never more than a couple of meters from some form of technology. Even right now you will be reading this from a computer, phone, ipad or some other technological device.

The majority of the population relies on technology. We rely on our mobile phones for far more than just telephone calls. I use far less functions on my mobile than most Blackberry owners and still I rely on it to keep in contact with all of my friends and most of family. The majority of my conversations happen via text message, I use it for emailing and I use it for permanently googling any small snippet of information that I'm not sure about. I can't imagine a world without google, I can't even watch a film without googling the background information of the actors and actresses.

A pic from trip

In 2010 I spent an extended period of time in Uganda. I visited small communities and saw families who lived in the tiniest of houses, slept on the floor in one room using clothes for cover, had to walk a considerable distance to fetch barely sanitary water...families who genuinely struggled to make ends meet. YET, they still had at least one mobile phone. This astounded me...the villages didn't even have an electric supply! I am in no way suggesting that the standard of living in Uganda and other third world countries isn't below what I would consider to be acceptable standards or that the media portrayals of third world countries aren't accurate because anybody who has visited a third world country will know how humbling and sometimes heart breaking it is. BUT this example demonstrates how widespread the need for technology is and how deeply it is ingrained into all forms of society.

I obviously would struggle if I attempted to cut technology from my life and, as frustrating as it can be, I am by no means trying to suggest that technology is an unnecessary evil that we would all benefit from removing from our lives. However, I am a massive history geek and a couple of weeks ago it dawned on me that this technology boom is creating generations that will die and leave no history behind. This freaked me out a little bit and I spent a considerable amount of time explaining to Gareth that I needed to start keeping a diary and writing letters to my friends so that when I die I will have a history to continue passing through my family until one day it is worthy of research and a museum......!?!

We have mainly learnt about the past from letters, diarys, photos and other written sources. Until relatively recently, letters were written in abundance: during wars to loved ones, sent by messenger from royalty/politicians/leaders etc to give important orders; they were especially important in forming relationships and beautifully crafted letters were sent between lovers young and old alike.More recently people were more inclined to leave notes at home for their family, even if it was a simple post it note to act as a reminder...a collection of these will tell a story. (as demonstrated by the book Life on a Refrigerator Door). Unfortunately, people rarely do this any more but would prefer to send a text.

Diary's and journals have also played a fundamental role in providing us with information about historical events, have helped in teaching us about the day to day lives of people in different eras and have demonstrated the effects of major historical events on one individual. There are thousands of famous diaries and journals from the past but people simply don't write any more.

The old adage that photos say a thousand words couldn't be truer and whilst people are taking more photos than ever before they aren't being printed and stored in albums like they were even when I was younger but being uploaded on to facebook and other social networking sites where, once the user has died, they will be lost and forgotten forever.

A whole history of conversations, relationships and important life changing decisions have been lost to technology, lost in the invisible world of text messaging, emails and the internet. A place where memories don't become history but become lost in the big wide web, inaccessible to somebody who hasn't been 'tagged' or who isn't friends with the person who posted it. By the time my grandchildren are my age, there will be hardly any memories of my life, any evidence of my existence. In hundreds of years school children will struggle to learn about life in the twentieth and twenty first centuries.We will be a lost generation.