CAR DREAD & 8-BIT DREAMS

ust recently, a heavy cloud has hung over me, the weight of my responsibilities pressing down with a relentless force. As I mentioned before, the looming prospect of a significant car repair bill has felt like a constant threat. Well, this week that anxiety finally materialised.

1704.24 HAPPY ANNIVERSARY SPECCY

What was your first computer? If you're under 35 you probably wouldn't give much thought to when you were first introduced to a computer. If like me you're not a Millennial or a Baby Boomer then your first computer or even your first experience of a computer would have probably been a big event in your life. It certainly was for me.

1606.28 REMEMBER MSN

From time to time I get asked to fix / work out / play with technology for my friends and family. This week I was asked to give the 'kiss of life' to an aging laptop that belongs to a friend's mother. I got the old machine to boot up and noticed it still had old MSN Messenger on it. That got me reminiscing...

I've had computers since I was 13 years old but didn't connect to the internet until the early 2000s. Some of the first things I did when I got online was; start a blog, learn how to build a simple webpage, use MSN.

The wondrous world of text chatting to your mates (SMS texting was about but at 10p a message was restricted) and if you were lucky viewing them on a dark fuzzy image  if they had a webcam. This was the world of 56K dial up where you couldn't use your landline at the same time as being online. Also our PC was in the dining room so being online, whilst being digitally social was anti-social because you were away from the rest of the family.

I remember finishing a late shift and arriving home at 1am only to jump on the PC and chat away with everyone I'd just seen at work. These sessions could go on for hours with multiple conversations and group chatting.

Far cry from now with WhatsApp and the like in your hand on your mobile practically wherever you go. Always on internet and never being online. Is this a good or a bad thing though?