by Max Lehmann

Created on: March 15, 2011   Last Updated: April 30, 2012

Computers have become an integral part of family life. From the box in the corner dedicated to homework, to the iPad in dad's hands, used to look up the names of familiar looking actors on TV, the machines have become commonplace in the living room. Mobile phone technology comes on in leaps and bounds and most people are now carrying around not only a communications device, but something which can do massive calculations, even if that power is largely dedicated to simulating alien invasion or exploding sheep in some frivolous game. Many people don't even recognise computers for what they are - clocks, washing machines and heating systems have chips and instructions at their hearts today and anyone would be hard pressed to avoid computers all together.

Parents, ever wary of the onslaught of technology and the potential effects on children, wonder when to introduce keyboard use to the kids, and just how to go about locking down systems to prevent the youngsters getting access to unsalubrious content. Meanwhile the new generation is growing up in a world where there is always a keyboard in reach if it hasn't been replaced with a touch screen, and information is almost ubiquitous on the end of a phone line. Oblivious to the strength and depth of their links to their friends and the world at large, many update online sites via a mobile device with the doom laden news that their internet connection is down - failing to really recognise that the very act relies on internet access earlier generations could only have dreamed of.

Schools are embracing the new technology and electronic whiteboards are a far cry from the blackboards of old, where data was written and deleted and lost for good, with only rudimentary tools available for editing. Every train station is alive with moving pictures as advertising takes on a new dimension, and the ease of desktop publishing and video compilation has given everybody a voice, but the question of how to get people to listen still remains largely unsolved. Indeed, television now comes in vast arrays of channels, and that's the vetted, approved and funded content.

Housewive's knee and tennis elbow have been pushed aside as people now suffer carpal tunnel syndrome as a result of overuse of keyboards and computer mice. Many's the driver who would be entirely lost without his satellite navigation, and motorway traffic is regulated by a complex network of traffic cameras and update screens where LED displays feed back safe speeds surrounding

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