Lost in the post

摘要

Modern technology is a blessing - and a curse. It makes it infinitely easier to keep in touch with relatives on the opposite side of the planet. It also makes it more convenient for your boss to contact you while you're on holiday in a previously unreachable location. Teenagers today can't even comprehend what it was like to arrange plans during school holidays without a mobile phone, and having to negotiate awkward conversations when their friends' parents picked up the only telephone, on a desk in the hall. In the workplace, the explosion of emails in the past couple of decades has been welcomed with open arms. It's made communication instant and cheered those who yearned for an environmentally friendly world, as it has dramatically cut down on paper, cargo and the mammoth carbon footprint of airmail.