Text Messaging

Today, I have already sent and received a bunch of text messages… they have become a linchpin of our lives.  The simple convenience of SMS messaging is now such an integral part of each day that it is hard to imagine how we once lived without it.  A joy, a boon, a blessing [or sometimes a curse] … the ease of connectivity, of ‘staying in touch’, has been one of the greatest advances in my lifetime.

But beyond the text message, as an original 46-er from the baby boomer generation, I have had the fortune of witnessing the invention and refinement of almost everything that our Gen Zs now take for granted.

For a moment, thinking back:

• Our phone in Geelong was a wooden box on the wall, with a handpiece that hung like a ready-to-pick brown pear from a cradle on the side, its curly, fraying cord dangling beneath. In Lorne, where my grandmother stubbornly refused to connect such a new-fangled device as a wall-mounted telephone, making or receiving a call meant a trip through the next-door orchard to Aunty Lil’s house, where—like as not—she could be found listening in on the party-line chatter of the Norton or Clissold households up the Minapre hill.
• The radio dial shone with a vaguely malevolent orange glow from an ornately sculpted mahogany box in the corner, while our wind-up gramophone—the size of a modern industrial clothes dryer—had a hinged door that opened to reveal an internalised megaphone. Moreover, it had steel needles that had to be removed, sharpened, and refitted almost daily.
• My only after-dark contact with the outside world was through an under-the-eiderdown crystal set I had made for myself, following instructions from the every-boys-must-have-it magazine, Popular Mechanics.
• My job was to make the toast. I would skewer a hearty chunk of bread on a 3-pronged wire toasting fork—Gran never learned to trust electric toasters, electric fry pans, or those ‘purveyors of grunge’, the vertical grill.  Meanwhile, Gran would stir the porridge over a green enamel, wood-fired stove in the kitchen.  Also, in the corner of the kitchen stood a huge, wood-fired copper vat, patiently awaiting the weekly washday when the washing would be brought to the boil, stirred with a huge wooden pole, then taken outside to the back concrete for squeezing dry between the rollers of a massive hand-wound mangle.

Readers in 2026 might think that my grandmother’s house in Lorne was primitive—and by today’s standards, it was—yet it was typical of the way most post-WWII houses were in those days.

Since those halcyon days when we could still safely run from side to side on the Erskine Bridge without fear of being mown down by the traffic and play Pooh-sticks [ https://tinyurl.com/yxm9be87], just think of some of the things that have happened:

Communications … the transistor [1947]; the television [the first became available in Australia for the Melbourne Olympics in 1956 but it would be five more years before Dad bought one]; the personal computer [1970s]; the magic of email [1971]; the World Wide Web [1989]; then the silicon chip and the microprocessor.  From there, mobile technology proliferated  from the early cellular networks of the 1980s to modern, pocket-sized smartphones that combine computing, navigation, and global connectivity.  Most recently, AI technology … or more correctly, machine learning … now dominates the world.

Medicine and biotechnology … the structure of DNA [1953]; kidney transplantation [1954] and heart transplants [1967]; the development of life-saving vaccines [especially the polio vaccine in the 1950s]; medical imaging with MRI and CT [1970s]; then IVF, CRISPR and gene-editing technology.

Space exploration and utilisation … Sputnik 1 [1957]; the Apollo 11 Moon landing [1969]; satellites and GPS [last half century]; quantum theory, the qubit, and quantum computing.

Energy and materials … nuclear power [1950s]; the invention and mass production of synthetic polymers [Kevlar, Teflon, and modern plastics]; ‘renewable’ energy technology.

While each of these—and the many more that could be added to the list—has undeniably altered human existence beyond all recognition, it is perhaps the seemingly simple act of text messaging that has created the greatest shift in day-to-day human interconnectivity—or, oddly, has subtly promoted a lack of it.

Just think of how we now communicate in our ‘Blue Zone town’ of Lorne [see the Committee for Lorne page in last week’s Surf Coast Times].  Everything now seems to be sorted, arranged, and confirmed by text message.  Exchanging thoughts by talking, by ‘conversing’, now often seems a secondary occupation.

Entire back-and-forth conversations are now conducted via per-finger or voice messaging.  Once short and pithy, text messaging has burgeoned from:

TEXT: “Let’s meet at the pub at 6.00 for dinner”

REPLY: “Ok”

… into a chain of text exchanges, replete with emojis, in which neither texter seems to know when or how to stop replying.  When there are several parties to the arrangement, the texts multiply like emoji-laden mushrooms.

There are cogent reasons for this trend.  Telephoning can be inconvenient for the receiver and quite disruptive to their environment.  Loud conversations, often held on speakerphone, are increasingly seen as intrusive.  What could be better than a teeny tiny text announced by no more than a ‘ding’? And it can be answered later, at a time of convenience, right?… except that it commonly isn’t.

We humans are often very bad at delaying our responses.  A ‘ding’ should simply signal “look later”, but it doesn’t.  It irresistibly draws our eyes to our phones, where our fingers begin to scrabble across the touchscreen—with fat fingers mistyping and triggering autocorrect—as the endless electronic conversation begins.

I must confess I am as bad—if not worse—than most … a glasshouse occupant who, hypocritically, lobs stone after stone.  Along with the best of them, as my neck ever-further hunches and aches forward over my device, I sense I have become a new-age text junkie.  Mea culpa!

Our lives have become altogether too immediate … and it is not a good thing.  Mum and Dad used to encourage me to pause by a running stream, slow my breathing, slow down my thoughts, listen to the sounds about me, and clear my head.  In our modern electronic world of beeps, dings, and back-lit screens, I seem to have lost that art … and that, I sense, is to my shame.

John Agar

Feature Writer

A word from the chairman

Hello

What a gem is our Lorne Historical Society! Perched on the grassy knoll at the entrance to Lorne, behind an elegant yet understated façade, the Society’s rooms contain a wealth of information about all matters Lorne historical, from the fishing and timber industries, the area’s indigenous background and early European inhabitants, and the famous guest houses and stately homes.   The LHS is open each Sunday from 10-12am and is well worth a visit for locals and visitors.

I was assisting as a volunteer at the LHS exhibition last Sunday morning. With heavy wind and rain, we expected a very quiet time. A man came in with his three young children and asked for information about the recent floods and bushfires which decimated parts of our region. After providing him with what information we had, both personally and from the LHS records, I was shocked to hear him say, “You know these events are entirely predictable if you have the right data”. What followed was a 20-minute lesson (a bombardment of facts!) on the power of trends, numbers and statistics in the prediction of natural, economic and political events. This was no crank, but an educated man who had founded and grown a substantial medical business. He left me with a reading list which I will share with you in due course. You never know what you are going to learn on a Sunday morning. Keep an open mind!

Surf Coast Shire Council is inviting the Lorne community to help shape the future of walking and cycling in Lorne, by sharing feedback which will inform concept plans for safer and more connected active transport links throughout the township. Council is reviewing pedestrian and cycling connections to identify opportunities to improve access to community facilities, tourist attractions, local businesses and other key destinations. The community engagement is open until Wednesday 5 August. Please have your say at surfcoast.vic.au/SaferCyclingLorne.

Last Saturday, the Lorne Football Club hosted a celebration of past players from the 1976, 2001 and 2006 premierships. They were treated to good hospitality and a fine display of skills by the current crop of players with 4 of our 5 teams winning. After 12 rounds (of 18), all our Dolphins football teams are in the top 4, with the seniors, reserves and under 18s holding top spot. Well done to all our players and volunteers.

This week, we said farewell to two very different media personalities, Sam Neill and Derryn Hinch. Sam was the boy next door, a distinguished actor yet a gentle man of simple tastes and humility. His distinguished movie career included some Australian classics of which my favourite was “The Dish”. Derryn was the troublemaker down the street, flamboyant, hard- living, outspoken and controversial. Whether as a broadcaster, a senator or an advocate against child-abuse, Derryn approached life with passion, energy and unwavering self-belief. Two very different men who have touched many lives. RIP Sam and Derryn.

“Do not go gentle into that good night”.

John Higgins

Chairman

Lorne Ward Events Calendar

July

25 Lorne Dolphins Football and Netball V Irrewarra-Beeac, at Stribling Reserve, juniors match from 8:45am, seniors at 2pm

 

August

8 Lorne Dolphins Football and Netball V Simpson, at Stribling Reserve, juniors match from 8:45am, seniors at 2pm

15 Surfcoast Wonderfalls Trail Run, Starting at Cumberland River/Lorne from Distances: 6km 14km 25km 42km 52km 75km

22 Lorne Dolphins Football and Netball V Birregurra, at Stribling Reserve, juniors match from 8:45am, seniors at 2pm