First of all I need to apologise for my email from last week, or rather the one you never got to read because I ticked the wrong box, and it didn't go out.
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Technology can creep up on us all, but it's when it starts going backwards that you begin to wonder.
For example, during the week, I learned there is such a thing as a 'dumb phone'.
I remember my very first mobile phone. I was just about to start work for a TV station in Cairns, so I got myself a Nokia.
Well, to be fair, it should have been called a brick. But we all remember those, right!
Anyway, that phone made and received calls. That was it. No bells, no whistles.
Now of course, they are so much more: they are your mobile office, your photo gallery, your communication device, your wallet, and your tracking device (or is that just me?). Moving on.
But inevitably, just like double denim or puffed sleeves, what was old is now new again. Please don't hold my fashion sense against me, the 80's were my heyday!
And so 'dumb phones' are a genuine thing.
They make and receive calls apparently. Who'd have thought, just like a phone. You can also text, but there's none of the other fancy stuff.
Just a quick google and I found this: "The rising interest in dumb phones among young people can be attributed to several reasons: Digital Detox and Minimalism."
So it's not us more mature folk who are making the switch, it's the Gen Z's - Wikipedia tells me these are born between the late 1990s and the early 2010s - which is also interesting.
I get the minimalism bit - I mean Gen Z's can't even afford a house - let alone a decent phone.
And the digital detox I sort of get. Kids can't have phones in school these days, so that's probably carrying over into life outside the school gates, right?
Yeah, well we'll see.
Just in case you had a busy week, here's a few of the stories I thought might be worth catching up on.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Fiona Ferguson, The Northern Daily Leader editor
