Way back around 1990 I bought my first computer from a colleague, it was a Canon Starwriter 80 Deluxe and looking back was a glorified typewriter, but was enough to make me feel as though I had entered the digital age. That machine revolutionised my life and I still have fond memories of producing professional looking documents for work and Church all neatly stored on floppy disks, loads of them.
A few years later I purchased my first PC which cost me a fortune, and was almost like another piece of furniture with the monitor, keyboard, speakers, printer and a spaghetti of cabling. I remember setting my pride and joy up and feeling bewildered by a whole new world I didn’t understand, I was about to enter a world of spreadsheets, word processing, databases and biggest of all, the internet. I still remember listening to that unique sound as my computer dialled into a whole new, scary world.
I purchased my most recent computer in autumn 2024, it is tiny in comparison to my first model and much faster in dealing with tasks, and has a mammoth storage capacity. Floppy disks and CD Roms are things of the past and the majority of connectivity is via bluetooth and WiFi, things I knew nothing of back in the early 90s. Today, there is no dial-up, my computers are permanently connected to the internet and most of my communications are by email, WhatsApp and social media. I am completely self-taught and I learn from getting things wrong. One of the best accessories I can recommend is children and even now grandchildren who have grown up with all this stuff and I learn most of my lessons from them these days.
Currently I am trying to dip into the world of AI. I sit with colleagues who say things like “I just ran it through Chat GPT” I nod my head, try to look intelligent, but I don’t understand. This is yet another reminder of how the world has changed in my lifetime and as a Church leader, I have two choices, I ignore it and let other people get on with it, or I embrace it, try to understand and see how it can best serve me and those I serve. Isn’t that the choice we face with so many things in life?