The writings of Max Robinson: W W W

One hundred years ago, at least, The Open University set up a one day seminar to which it invited business leaders, the emergency services, community interests and so on. I was the Education representative.

I remember so clearly the hosting professor standing up and saying "You may have heard of something new called The World Wide Web, today I want to tell you about something within this you can use to send messages, instant letters, electronic mail.

We all sat around a giant table, each one of us had a computer terminal - state of the art then but antique now, while we were told how to use this electronic mail system. NOBODY could make it work ! I was sitting next to a friend who was the police school liaison officer, even working together we could not make this science fiction thingy do what the professor said it should.

"What do we need this for ?" I argued. "I have a phone in my office and my secretary types my letters !"

"But this is INSTANT," the professor countered. "And you can attach documents."

"Have you never seen a fax machine ?" I sniggered.

"Trust me," I declared, "it will never catch on !" Everyone in the room added their agreement.

Last Thursday contractors working in the road outside my home managed to damage the phone and internet line to my home. If they had cut my right arm off it could have been slightly less painful !

It took 8 different BT engineers 6 hours to yesterday restore my phone line but still I have no Internet ! The Internet is

more important than the phone, I have a mobile phone but am having to come into the radio station at the crack of dawn to use the Internet. The Internet - you know that thing I arrogantly told the professor would never catch on.

BT tell me it will be Thursday at the earliest before my Internet service is mended !

That thing The Open University failed to convince seminar members would work is possibly the greatest, NO CERTAINLY THE GREATEST, invention since the wheel.

The world's number one drug addict is not anywhere near as addicted to his substance as is the average person in the 21st century to the Internet.

4.53am. I have spent since 3am here in the radio studio using the Internet I do not have in my home. That's a bit sad.

Radio CRMK was launched in 1978 as a cable radio station. At 6am I will broadcast to the world using the Internet.

I love playing music and I get such a buzz when I see a new country pop up on the broadcast computer.

But is the Internet a good thing or not ?

An easy question to answer quickly but a very hard question to think about and answer properly.

Try to imaging the year 2019 without the Internet. Well the year 2019 as we know it just could not exist without the Internet but would what we had in its place, would that be better ?

I complain all the time that society is broken. The plight of the homeless is something so close to my heart. It is disgusting we need such an institution as The Food Bank but thatk goodness we have one. I could bang on and bang on for ever about issues like this.

If the Internet had not been invented would 2019 society be

better ?

I doubt it ? It's people not tools which decide what our world is like.

I play mainly retro pop. Here's something I have in the playlist for this morning's show.

Where is music like that today ?

Why does the younger generation so much like the music I play, music of their parent's and grandparent's generation.

Because it is better than the music of today ?

NO. Great music is out there BUT the World Wide Web instead of giving us an amazing forum for music has destroyed pop music as I knew it as a teenager.

I have been deprived of my Internet since last Thursday and

it will be next Thursday at least before it is restored. I am wondering if perhaps everyone should be deprived of this service for one week a year. Within that week those persons should replace this technology with the basics of speaking to people face to face. To turn their Facebook Friends into REAL friends. To STOP Twittering and say something important !