Old times

I spent some time last night sorting through old boxes of stuff from my uni days, getting rid of some things that I no longer have any idea why I kept in the first place, but also taking some time to look back through old photos and old letters.

It struck me as amazing how much things have changed in just such a short space of time. I started at Exeter 15 years ago this autumn, and the prevalence of tech now compared to then... blimey!

In halls in the first year, I was the only person on a floor of 16 people that had a computer, and then only because I was studying computer science.

No-one had a mobile phone, so there were always queues for the phones - one in each stair well.

Everyone had phonecards stuck in their noticeboards.

Everyone wrote letters to communicate with friends around the country.

With no digital cameras, after any parties there would be lists stuck on the wall for anyone wanting to get copies of photos taken, and then re-prints would be bought from the camera shop in town.

After uni when people started working, they often still had email but it may well be one email address shared between an entire office - accessed on the one computer that was linked to the internet.


And if you tell that to the kids of today ...