2 . Computers vs. Books

Mia Murphy was tired when she got home from school last Friday. It had been a long week. She was working on a computer project and has stayed late at school to finish her work. After stepping off the bus and trudging home, she settled herself onto the chair in the kitchen.

“What’s up, Mia?” Mr. Murphy asked, He was making Mia her favorite after-school cheese sandwich.

“This project is taking me forever!” Mia replied. “I have to design a website page for my computer class.”

“Wow, fancy!” Mrs Murphy shouted from the living room. “When we were in middle school, we didn’t even know how to use computers.” She walked into the kitchen and sat down next to Mia. She asked her daughter if she had anyone to help her with her project.

“We have partners—mine is named Ali,” she explained. “Today we learned how to insert pictures into our page.”

Mr. and Mrs. Murphy looked at each other and smiled. Mia noticed their little exchange.

“What?” She asked, wondering what they were thinking.

“Well, we first met when we were working on a project on American Indian history together in high school.” Mr. Murphy explained.

Mrs. Murphy chimed in. “But we didn’t have computers back then, so we have to go to the library every day to do research!” She explained that they didn’t have online search engines; they could only rely on books. They didn’t have cell phones to text each other when they needed help. They have to work together at each other’s houses.

“But that sounds so tough!” Mia said. “I can’t imagine completing a project without the help of a computer.”

Mr. Murphy chuckled. “I know. But I have that project to thank for meeting your mom! All those countless hours in the library. We have to spend much time together,” he said.

Now Mia was curious. She wondered what else was different when her parents were growing up. So she asked.

Mrs. Murphy stared to list off things she didn’t have as a child, like MP3 player and a flat-screen television. “Also, since I have many brothers and sisters, we have to pitch in more. I helped my mom cook dinner, and we repaired our torn clothes,” she said, tapping Mia on the nose. “How about you help me cook dinner tonight then?” Mrs. Murphy suggested, laughing.

“Sure!” Mia exclaimed. “How about something that you used to make as a child?”

“Chicken noodle soup it is,” Mrs. Murphy said with a smile.

4 . When almost everyone has a mobile phone, why are more than half of Australian homes still paying for a landline (座机)?

These days you’d be hard pressed to find anyone in Australia over the age of 15 who doesn’t own a mobile phone. In fact plenty of younger kids have one in their pocket. Practically everyone can make and receive calls anywhere, anytime.

Still, 55 percent of Australians have a landline phone at home and only just over a quarter (29%) rely only on their smartphones according to a survey (调查). Of those Australians who still have a landline, a third concede that it’s not really necessary and they’re keeping it as a security blanket — 19 percent say they never use it while a further 13 percent keep it in case of emergencies. I think my home falls into that category.

More than half of Australian homes are still choosing to stick with their home phone. Age is naturally a factor (因素)— only 58 percent of Generation Ys still use landlines now and then, compared to 84 percent of Baby Boomers who’ve perhaps had the same home number for 50 years. Age isn’t the only factor; I’d say it’s also to do with the makeup of your household.

Generation Xers with young families, like my wife and I, can still find it convenient to have a home phone rather than providing a mobile phone for every family member. That said, to be honest the only people who ever ring our home phone are our Baby Boomers parents, to the point where we play a game and guess who is calling before we pick up the phone (using Caller ID would take the fun out of it).

How attached are you to your landline? How long until they go the way of gas street lamps and morning milk deliveries?