The world has changed so much and so fast.

Just twenty years ago, I never knew of the existence of the Internet. At the age of 12 or 13, I was marvelling at this new machine they called the "computer". And of all my friends, only one had this machine, which his family had purchased for nearly 10 thousand ringgit. It was something that would cost around 2 thousand ringgit today.

Through most of secondary / high school, I remember how letters were either handwritten to our very treasured friends or typewritten (using the conventional typewriter) to our less precious acquaintances. There was something about handwritten notes that reflected the quality of a friendship.

When I bought my first computer at the exhorbitant price of almost 5 thousand ringgit, it was years later, and was purely purchased for the completion of assignments given at the university. It was also subsequently that I discovered the power of the Internet. Even so, it was a rather obscure feature in our daily living. We went to cybercafes and friends' houses who had snail-paced Internet dial-up facilities.

By then, I had an email account. But still, the frequency of checking and replying my emails was probably fortnightly or monthly, which was extremely regular in comparison to that of my contemporaries. Such things were just never very much a part of our daily lives back then.

I don't remember having seen a mobile phone before during my schooldays. At university, I began by owning a pager, as a mobile phone was at that time a luxury for the rich and a necessity only for businessmen. My pager attracted admiration and stares from people around. It was technology.

Even when I subsequently owned a mobile phone, I had never heard of short messages (SMS). It was many years later that SMSes became a part of my daily way of communication.

Today, I am on the Internet practically every day. I check my email countless times a day. I communicate using my handphone from wherever I am. I can even check my email and surf the Internet using my handphone when I choose to.

I don't write letters anymore. I send emails. Ten years ago, people would've complained that I had lost the personal touch; but today, no one's complaining. Because that's what we're all doing now.

Things have changed so much and so fast. Has the world become better? Has the human race become better? Have people become better?

Have I become better?