Published on 12, July, 2020
I have an iPhone 14 pro max, Apple Watch SE, and an iPad. All three are useful tools for instance setting reminders to take my meds, doctor appointments, zoom meetings, etc. how has technology help you?
My reply could be vast because of my age.
For now I will just talking about 3 aspects of technology that made vast improvements both to my working life and my personal life:
The personal computer.
I worked as a legal assistant for over a decade and when I 1st started I had to type documents on a manual typewriter and manually correct them. There was no way to 'save' this document.
Then with regard to Wills I sewed them up by hand with ribbon and used a match to seal it with candle wax.
No health and safety in the 1980s!
The ability to type anything and save it for printing, to correct as you go along, to go back to and continue another day, to copy as a 'precedent' + then update for another document, was fantastic for me. The examples would be endless.
Then the PC at home made organisation much simpler.
The internet - where to start.
No more walking to libraries, looking up information, taking + paying for photocopies of documents, asking to see copies of old newspapers for research, using a microfiche system.
I could go on forever.
The mobile phone
No more standing at phone boxes in a queue, often in the dark to call people.
No more obligation to always call and having to have a conversation on the phone I find painfully difficult (ie texting instead).
Information and connection at your fingertips.
I can actually look up my own symptoms and not rely on unreliable GPs.
This forum exists!
etc etc etc
As an addendum, I only got my 1st personal calculator in the 1970s.
Before that all sums were done on paper.
A wonderful invention.
God, I feel ancient.
I believe I am about the same age as you, so remember a lot of the things you said. Perhaps rather than ancient we could think of the wealth of life experience we have. Although my son has a very different outlook on life as he doesn't remember life without technology.
I didn't know all that detail about wills, but do often think of the things we did in the past that would not be allowed now for safety reasons.
In my first office job I remember the nuisance of mistakes and the use of tipex where possible, otherwise the long process of typing all over again.
Libraries too were interesting, but if I had homework my parents had to take me there on an evening they were open. Then as I got older I remember having to get there when I wasn't at work to find things out. So different now if I wonder about something and can look it up instantly.
And phone boxes queuing up to use them. There was one place where I could see two from a distance so we would decide which had less or no queue and hope no one got there before us. Then when you got there they often stunk. The odd missing pane of glass had it's benefits. Now I mostly text people.
In many ways it feels a lot more safe to have mobile phones especially when our alone. However I don't understand going out and looking at the phone whilst walking. I like to look at the world around and would be concerned about dropping it.
and I'm sure Ancient is fine with it! :-)