Jayne Dowle: March of those proud to be a half-dinosaur

A survey has identified 50 tasks which have apparently been wiped out by technology. I am proud to admit that despite being something of an early adopter and never more than six inches from my smartphone, I still do at least half of them myself. I’m not saying that I fax things or use a pager or have a pen-friend, but I wouldn’t agree that my life has become totally futuristic. I am yet to be convinced to invest in a Kindle, because I actually like books, and relish that special smell of anticipation a new one brings. And I still sit there and check difficult sums on paper, and look up difficult words in a dictionary. I even use a real thesaurus, and it’s the same one I had when I did my A-levels, because I’ve never found an online version which works as well.

So I’m wondering if I am alone in this strange state of limbo. Are you half-dinosaur too?

Do, you, for example, still visit a proper shoe shop to try on shoes? I realise that this might be one for the ladies, but even so, I don’t know anyone who buys all their footwear online. Where’s the fun in that?

I know some girls who are serious internet shopping addicts, but I can’t think of one who would swap all those hours on the laptop for half an hour in Pied a Terre. Hand-washing clothes makes it in at number 39. It’s not clear whether this means hand-washing instead of bunging stuff in the automatic, but if it means “hand-washing instead of sending delicate items to the dry-cleaners”, then I’m all for it. Respect to dry-cleaners, but who has the money for that kind of luxury in the age of austerity? If I can’t wash it in the sink, I don’t buy it.

But do you still use payphones? Have you even seen a payphone recently? If we happen to pass one, my children are not really sure what it is. They think it’s a place where you stand to charge your mobile. They certainly won’t, in a few years, be stashing their 2p pieces like we did to ring the boy we fancied on a Sunday afternoon. He was never in, and there weren’t even answer-machines in those days, just a bemused mother promising to take a message. Text and Facebook? Pah. Children today have no idea how tough life was in 1980.

I find it all a fascinating snapshot of our lives, and it certainly gives a scary indication of how fast the pace of change has become. But there is a serious point to this survey, which was conducted by a company which specialises in providing online back-up services. And that point is, basically, don’t take technology for granted. This Top 50 is a bit of fun, but you have to give it credit for reminding us that we have to take responsibility for our personal information, important items and meaningful stuff. It never fails to amaze me how many people rely on their mobile phone to store vital numbers, and don’t keep a note anywhere else. I’ve dropped my handset down a toilet one too many times to be caught out by that one. And digital photos? It’s plain daft to leave them on your mobile or laptop without getting them printed off. There are even companies which will do that for you, and you have to agree that a nicely-compiled “real” photo album is a lot more entertaining that flicking through a load of onscreen images.

Well, my mother concurs at least. But she also thinks laptops are the best invention ever because they keep children entertained. She’s the biggest technophobe on the planet, but even she can see the benefit of games which children can play quietly by themselves and with each other, requiring minimal adult refereeing.

The survey also finds that 75 per cent of us think that having all these whizz-bang modern gadgets saves us up to at least two hours a week running errands. I’d definitely agree with that, although the spurious conclusion about them helping us to “bridge the balance between work and home” does not stand close scrutiny when you find yourself replying to emails in bed at 1am.

I will leave you with this thought. At Number 47 on the list of endangered activities is “buy newspapers”. I think the only thing left for me to say is that whatever else you leave behind in the rush to get with it, I hope you continue to do that.