In my nearly 30 years of working the legal profession, I sometimes think I have seen it all, but know, of course, that is nowhere near true. I started my career in the age of early computers with the green blinking lights on a black screen. Every desk had an IBM Selectric typewriter but not everyone had a computer. Copies were made using carbon paper and corrections were made with correction fluid or those little slips of paper that typed white over your mistake. When my law firm purchased their first fax machine, it printed on the thermal rolled paper that turned black if you placed it anywhere near sunlight.
Fast forward to 2013! Every day, I am grateful for my handheld mobile device and computer. What did we do without them all those years ago when life seemed a little simpler and a lot slower? Those devices now require us to work 24/7 and respond immediately to our clients, customers, friends, and employers. What would happen if you lost your mobile device? Did you know there is actually a term for this fear? It is called Nomophobia, a term created by the UK Post Office in 2008. It is the fear of being out of mobile phone contact or without your phone. I am sure we have all experienced it at some point in our recent lives. What a shame we can’t go back to those simple days of typewriters and thermal fax machines…. right? After thinking about it for a moment, I’m not sure I could handle those simpler days. Could you?