My Wife just left the house and was about to drive away when I realised that she had left her mobile phone on the dining room table. I picked it up and ran out of the front door waving it like an idiot as she merrily drove away unaware of her imminent predicament.

After the incident it has really dawned on me how much we, as people, a nation, a planet, rely on technology in our daily lives just to get by. Simple tasks such as driving to work or visiting friends is now impossible without the use of a Satellite Navigation system. Our cars themselves are being packed with more kit to make them easier (and less interactive) to drive. I drive a car with an automatic gearbox and often make use of cruise control. So I can effectively span the entire country driving using only one hand and no feet (assuming the petrol doesn’t run out in which case more limbs might be required).

At home our reliance on technology is no different… I was just talking to a friend of mine who is currently sitting in a lecture 20 miles away; I used Skype last night to speak (and see) my sister in law in France; I am writing this now using a laptop computer whilst listening to my iPod whilst the washing machine makes sure I have something to wear tomorrow whilst the automatic central heating keeps me warm. And to top it off… all along I am wondering exactly how my Wife is going to function in the world without her mobile phone!!

My observation for the day is that we as a species are becoming so reliant on technology that I worry before long we shall just forget how to do all these things that people 50 years ago just knew how to do! I do wonder what’s coming next… a new product idea for Apple maybe, a subcutaneous mobile phone. A use somewhere there for their multi-touch technology I think. Or if Microsoft does it I can see the next ‘I’m a PC and Windows Cerebral was my idea’ advert.

So I suppose the morale of this is to go and buy a tent, leave your phone at home and only check your emails the twice a day instead of the once every five minutes that seems to be the norm for most iPhone and Blackberry users. I shall be here checking the curtain every two minutes to make sure my Wife get’s home safely (if she even manages to find her way).