device Archives - My New Old Self

Who wants self-destructing messages? 1

Feb

23

2017

“This tape will self-destruct in 5 seconds.” Those words were immortalised by the Mission Impossible spy thriller TV series. This warning of the imminent self-destructing of the taped message to the Impossible Missions Force launched every episode and cued the theme music. Since Hollywood helps us share memories across the ages, younger people will also recognise ...

RIP VCR

Aug

4

2016

The world’s last new Video Cassette Recorder (VCR) rolled off the assembly line at Funai Electric in Japan last week. This marked the end of the original home video format, 60 years after Ampex pioneered the technology and 40 years after JVC introduced it to the mass market. The Video Home System (VHS) was once ...

Distracted Walking? No, pay attention!

Jan

14

2016

“Watch your step!” I have heard that warning a lot in my life, and have often been grateful for it. However, there are a lot of people out there who seem not to heed such counsel. As a result they are putting themselves at risk for the latest health hazard of the digital age: Distracted Walking. ...

My New Old New Year’s resolutions

Dec

31

2015

Yet another new year… Instead of sighing and wishing time wouldn’t keep marching on, consider this. Judging from advice on making the most effective new year’s resolutions, it seems that we of a certain age are doing a lot of things right. Which means that we can happily ignore all the exhortations to reinvent and ...

Baby Boomers vs their grown-up babies

Apr

23

2015

We are all foreigners somewhere. Here you are part of us, but over there you would be one of them. Somewhere, some day you may be a foreigner. Then you could be a victim of xenophobia. Ageism is unlike any other ism or phobia. You could avoid xenophobia by never leaving your homeland (although poverty ...

Device overload? LITO! 1

Mar

11

2015

Here’s an opportunity to use my new acronym for those aging in the digital age: LITO, for Lucky I’m Too Old. There is growing evidence linking overuse of digital devices to memory loss and depression in later life. My response? LITO! Lucky I’m Too Old to worry about things that may happen decades hence. Lucky ...

Old but not voiceless – I’d rather talk than text

Aug

13

2014

What kind of aptitude peaks when you’re a teenager, drops gradually throughout adulthood and declines rapidly in old age? Sexual prowess? Maths ability? Skateboarding? It’s your DQ. Digital Quotient is the newly coined measure of your digital learning capacity. I decided to take the online exam that the British national communications regulator Ofcom devised to determine ...