Technology.

I saw on Sky news yesterday, a long queue of electric cars waiting to be charged up! It was a scarry thought, what would happen if they ran out of electric before they could get to the electric point? For me personally I would for now only like a car that was petrol or diesel, each to his or her own. I do know that some of these modern cars run on petrol and electric, so I suppose that is why they didn’t run out of juice before they got to the electric point.

My daughter Meghan this week asked me, “Can you post my parcel for me, save me going out just for that?” I replied, “Sure,” She then said, “It is downstairs at Tesco,” I said, “OK,” She went on to explain, “It is a small parcel, so you will need to press the screen, it will show to post, small, medium or large parcel, you press small then it will ask you to scan the barcode that I have put on the parcel when you scan it then a random small door will pop open, put the parcel inside and shut the door,” I asked, “Will I need to get a receipt?” Meghan said, “No scanning it will be the proof and the door opening, will be proof enough that everything is alright.” I said, “OK.”

Meghan then added, “If you are still unsure, when you get there, just ring me and I will help you.” I said, “OK,” As it all sounded complicated.

I went to Tesco, where all the boxes were, other superstores, have them, but to me they meant nothing at all, I did know that people could collect their post from there? I had never used them, I had no need to, I just went to the post office and joined the very long queue.

I went up to the screen and I could see send parcel? I pressed it and I could see, the picture small, medium, large, with the pictures of parcels, I pressed small, I scanned it like it told me to, then a little door popped open to my left I put the little parcel in and shut the door, the screen showed me, “The door is closed.” I knew then that was it, no receipt needed, the whole thing took six seconds. I was very impressed!

We are all at different levels, when it comes to using technology, some try to keep on top of it, it’s easy for it to pass us by.

I remember in the first lockdown, and a work colleague, was told to, “Stay home.” I remember telling her from her home, about WhatsApp and group chats, that we had all joined from work, she didn’t know what I was on about, as she doesn’t have a smartphone, her very old phone only had text, no pictures, no emojis, no camera, nothing, just text! I had to spend one hour explaining to her about WhatsApp, and what a group chat was, it was an awful experience, I felt like I had just invented the wheel and I was trying to explain to her by text what a wheel was like. She asked me loads of questions; she is older than I am. Technology had past her by and it suddenly made a big difference in lockdown, for she missed out on jokes that we all sent to each other, in the various group chats that we were all in. I asked, her, “When your family go to visit you, ask them to explain to you about WhatsApp and group chats.” Thankfully after the first lockdown she was allowed to come back to work, and by then her lovely family had shown her on their smartphones, WhatsApp and group chats, and pictures etc.  Without a smartphone, she was quite isolated, all she had was her telly.