How is the world today different from what it was like when you were a child?

The world today is so completely different to the one in which I grew up that it is almost unrecognisable, at least in terms of communication and travel.

Obviously, on sight, most things look much the same, but scratch just below the surface and things are completely different.

When I was growing up, life for children was very innocent. Maybe that was because of my circumstances – living an expatriate life and growing up with children only from my parents’ peer group and social strata probably created quite a protected and privileged childhood. We weren’t aware of bad things happening – life was just fun and we didn’t have to think about anything more important than the fact that it was difficult to get toys there. We didn’t even have television, so world news didn’t impinge upon our lovely, happy little world.

Now, I would say that almost everyone has a telephone, most people have mobile phones, and most people have the Internet and email, so contact is instantaneous. Everyone has a means of accessing the latest news, up to the last minute, be it on satellite TV, the internet or mobile phone access. The world has become a much smaller place than it used to be – when I was small one could write a letter, post it, it may take weeks to reach its destination, then the recipient had to reply, post and again it may take weeks to reach the recipient. Now, one writes and email, it is delivered instantly into the recipients inbox, whereupon he/she reads it and replies. It can now be done in less than five minutes.

Other areas of technology have improved as well. When I was small, the idea of a videophone was very futuristic and space age, but now with the advent of applications like Skype and MSN, it is in every day use.

My parents used to listen to music on vinyl records and on reel to reel tapes. In my life we have moved on to cassette tapes, cd’s and mp3’s, and then onto mp3 players and iPods that even show photos and videos. We didn’t even have a video player until I was about 8, and it was rare that people had them. Now, most people have dvd players, or watch films on their computers or online. We had a ZX Spectrum 16k – now we have computers with more power and space than was ever dreamt of back then. Even my mobile phone has more memory on it than our first proper pc.

Travel is also easier and cheaper than it was. When I was small it was a big thing to move overseas, or even to holiday abroad. I had friends at school in UK who had never left the country. Now, I would say that most people have been on holidays abroad, even if it’s only to France or Spain. It’s not even that big a deal to move overseas permanently, with people leaving Britain in droves.

Life for me now, is completely different to life for my parents. If there is something I want to buy for Isla that I do not have access to here, I can go online and order it. My parents couldn’t do that.

All in all, I think that technology has helped our lives in so many ways. Yes, it is a very different life, but it is better. In my opinion.
NB. Photographs Not My Own Work