Rishi Sunak has his pledges...

[JamesWales]

Good post again Eric. You're on the money again. I'd add that our 'dependency' on internet communication within society will contribute to our ultimate downfall. Switch the power off and I can't even type this. It's so easy to cripple a society.

I entirely agree with you both. I suppose I was specifically referring to COVID as a one off event, but that drift has been clear for years.

It's not just internet connections, it's the corresponding decline in human interactions which impacts our wellbeing, our tolerance and empathy and how we speak to eachother - as illustrated on this site as I don't doubt the conversations would be markedly more polite in person.

It's a serious issue and one which local authorities and the government(s) need to get a handle on, and it drifts into a great number of topics including working from home, cashless societies, being open to learning, experience, sharing ideas, mental stimulation etc and the net result isnt good.

We need human interactions on a regular basis and it is vital for our individual and collective wellbeing. Peter also cites a good example about of being overreliance on digital systems which taken to the extreme is also a national security issue.

I've seen this in public services in the last few years. My child's school doesn't even do proper parents evenings now. It's online. It's awful. Things have got much worse in my opinion and some rowing back is necessary

[Citizen's Nephew]

I entirely agree with you both. I suppose I was specifically referring to COVID as a one off event, but that drift has been clear for years.

It's not just internet connections, it's the corresponding decline in human interactions which impacts our wellbeing, our tolerance and empathy and how we speak to eachother - as illustrated on this site as I don't doubt the conversations would be markedly more polite in person.

It's a serious issue and one which local authorities and the government(s) need to get a handle on, and it drifts into a great number of topics including working from home, cashless societies, being open to learning, experience, sharing ideas, mental stimulation etc and the net result isnt good.

We need human interactions on a regular basis and it is vital for our individual and collective wellbeing. Peter also cites a good example about of being overreliance on digital systems which taken to the extreme is also a national security issue.

I've seen this in public services in the last few years. My child's school doesn't even do proper parents evenings now. It's online. It's awful. Things have got much worse in my opinion and some rowing back is necessary

To expand on Peter's experience, I had something very similar happen to me. It was only the retrieval of paper notes/scans/results that saved me having to endure 90 mins of brain MRI and was reduced to 45. This happens all the time. Mrs C has just had to pay £40 for her printed medical history. There is no digital file to transfer. The IT system is too fragmented and isn't joined up.

This isn't down to any political party either. It's been a problem that's been building for decades. The worst people in the world to decide on IT contracts are politicians (this was shown during COVID) and they are certainly unable to cost or project manage efficiently.

I know I've just gone off on a tangent but it's all connected. In other words, it's as scary as f*ck just how precarious our society is and our dependence upon digital, electronic systems with no backup systems is madness. All anyone has to do is imagine the destruction of internet servers or major power outage and we're in a dystopian society as a result.