My nana has never really stayed up to date with technological advancements; this is especially the case when it comes to the multi-media world in which we live. The concept of on demand television and the 'plus one' channels that allow you to watch an hour later haven't really registered and she once commented on how hard Chris Tarrant works because Who Wants To Be A Millionaire is on every night of the week, she was of course watching repeats on Challenge TV. As for the Internet, I'm sure she understands what email is but besides that it is a whole different world that she plays no part in and doesn't really want to. I was reminded of Nana during a recent television awards show when The Great British Bake Off won a prize and in her acceptance speech Mary Berry said how nice it was when photographs from fans come through 'on the computer'. You can try and explain things but you get the impression she doesn't care and once brilliantly asked Mandi if Facebook was on at night. I think she thought it came to an end at a certain time of the night, presumably just after a final weather report, public safety film and editing with the National Anthem.
I hope it doesn't sound like I'm taking the piss out of my nana because I'm just trying to illustrate how the Internet hasn't made much impact on her life and she's no worse off for it. To most of us who were there at the beginning of the information superhighway, as we never called it, to live in an Internet free world seems like a reality show in which participants are sent to live in the olden days to see how they would manage with such gruelling tasks as writing a letter or using a television box. There are even bits of the Internet that sound dated today; Friends Reunited, MySpace, dial-up, CompuServe, and other such names are all dead and buried and if you ever come across an old television show on YouTube or a magazine advert that displays a website or email (in those days called web-sites and e-mail) you will remember that the simple nameofthing.com website address or a name@emailprovidernamehere.co.uk email address was preceded by a complicated selection of letters, numbers and symbols. For example, my first email address was something like StOliv76_9876wd@provider.co.uk. As the older generation would tell us, we don't know we're born these days.
On the tram today I overheard a conversation between two old ladies that almost made me laugh out loud (or LOL as I have never used - not since the old days when it used to stand for 'lots of love', I still think there should have been a nationwide advertising campaign to warn of the change of use). They were talking about a grandson in another part of the country (University I imagine) and one asked the other if he had been sent some photographs of a recent family gathering. Her friend informed her that someone in the family had put them on Facebook, to which her friend asked if he'd be able to see them if he isn't in Nottingham and wondered if the photos would appear in let's say for the sake of argument Manchester. The reason I laughed was the thought of Facebook operating in the same way that ITV used to, with a network of regional serving specific areas. The Manchester based grandson would be connected to Granada Facebook and might not be able to see photographs that were uploaded to Central Facebook. It would be especially confusing to people who live in London because at five o'clock on a Friday it would change from Thames Facebook to London Weekend Facebook.
You may have already realised this, but not a lot happened today.
This week's edition of The Sunday Alternative can be heard here.
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April housekeeping
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