When things work as they should

One half of Margabe

The other day my friend Abe sent me an email. At the bottom he'd casually written "why don't you download Skype, it's free and it works" or words very similar to that effect. Within 5 minutes I was sitting in front of my laptop laughing away as I video chatted with my friend on the other side of the Atlantic. It felt nothing short of miraculous.

In an age of digital ubiquity it's easy to forget the jaw dropping power and potential technology has to connect people all over the world. Its all pervasiveness leads to invisibility, just as once important prefixes like 'mobile' in mobile phone gradually fade anachronistically. What follows is the inevitable tragedy of human indifference to technological wonder. So it's nice when once in a while we're suddenly and forcefully confronted by this sense of wonder as though for the very first time. This is how I felt upon opening Skype.

Perhaps because digital feels so 'now' culturally speaking we're quick to dismiss personal feelings of digital nostalgia as being somehow oxymoronic? I don't believe this need be the case. I vividly recall two such occasions when I've been astounded by technology and specifically what it has done for my world: One was buying my first mobile phone- a Nokia 5120 as I recall, and the second was when I first installed wifi broadband in my London flat. Both times I felt as if the technology had somehow been invented for me personally. It seemed to fit my life so perfectly and intuitively that it surely couldn't be for anyone else, could it?

I wonder whether 'digital nostalgia' is a relatively untapped equity amongst the marketing community? It strikes me that my perception of the brands connected with delivering said experiences are far more positive than those who have not. It's as though Nokia, BT and now Skype are or were once true partners in my life's unfolding digital journey. It's a good feeling, and one I think that more technology brands would do well to recognise.

If only Abe had had something of interest to say besides how much he likes New York!