The last fifteen years have seen such an enormous change in the way we communicate that it will probably be some time before the effects are known.
Two of my friends, both grandmothers and in their early seventies, and I, were discussing this. One of them has a husband, a very active social life, lots of outings, friends, regular holidays and lots of hobbies, an extrovert personality. The other is a widow,relying on her family for her social life and a shy and retiring nature.
The contrast between their attitudes to modern technology was quite striking.
The more extrovert and socially engaged of the two, was adamant, that she had no time for all the new technology. She only had a cheap mobile phone and wasn't interested in anything else. She didn't want to talk on Skype because she looked older and paler!
Whereas the other one, positively glowed when describing how she uses her iPad, iPhone, WhatsApp.
She showed us videos of her grandchildren playing the piano, at parties, family gatherings. She teaches her youngest grand-daughter English using her iPad for interactive lessons. It has all made a huge difference to her life. No longer is she cut off and rather lonely, but actively involved in her children and grandchildren's lives, thanks to all the technology and her use of it.
Karl Popper, the Austrian born philosopher, among many other works, wrote a book about how watching too much television was bad, especially for children.
Now, it's the computer that seems to be potentially harmful for children.
The vulnerable need to be protected from potential harm, and that is probably the next step. Now we have all these wonderful ways to communicate, they must be used wisely.
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