A few months ago I was walking down the street in Barcelona and I heard this guy explain to his son:
“You see, Danny, in the old days before mobile phones…”
I didn’t pause to hear the rest. I was too struck that my past had already become someone else’s history. Danny had the same look on his face as I had when my parents had told me about the first days of television.
I walked on down the street and on either side there were phone shops entreating me to buy the latest camera/mp3 player/mobile phone with more minutes per month than I could possible use. Everywhere people were sitting in parks, cafes, walking down the street, all with phones pressed against their ears. Some of them had the invisible headsets that make it impossible to distinguish them from the insane who argue with themselves in public.
Had the world gone mad?
Sorry. Just a moment. Somebody are calling me.